It’s the final non-district tuneup tonight for the Pella High football team, and it’s the most challenging game on their regular season schedule as defending state champion Cedar Rapids Xavier makes the trip to the Tulip City.

The Saints are 2-1, having lost to Williamsburg two weeks ago, while the Dutch are 1-2. Coach Jay McKinstrey thought that his club would be more of a run-oriented team when the season began, but is realizing that their strength might be in the passing game, as evidence by going to the air to get back in last week’s game at Indianola. He says that they’ll have to have success throwing the ball tonight to have a chance.

“You will not beat them running the ball. Watch every game in the past, you don’t beat them running the ball on them. Nobody runs the ball on them. You can take Lewis Central, you can take Western Dubuque, North Scott, they haven’t run the ball on Xavier. You’ve got to throw it and mix a little run in here and there, but you’re going to have to be able to spread the field and see if you can get some kids to make some plays.”

This is the seventh meeting between Pella and Xavier in the last decade. The Dutch won the first two in the 2014 and 2016 semifinals, while the Saints have won the last four. The two regular season meetings the last two years have been decided by a combined score of 75-3.

Tonight’s game kicks off at 7:30 at Pella High School. Trevor Castle and Randy Sikkema will have the play-by-play on 92.1 KRLS, beginning with pregame at 6:30. Audio commentary will also be available with video on the Pella Dutch Live YouTube channel.