The high school football season begins tonight in earnest across the state of Iowa, and the Pella High Little Dutch are out to defend their back-to-back state championships.
The opponent is Oskaloosa, who is coming off a 2-7 season, but does return most of the players from its 2015 team.
Pella Coach Jay McKinstrey says that week one is always challenging because you don’t have current game film on your opponent, and it’s made extra challenging this year because the Indians have a new coach – their former defensive coordinator Jake Jenkins.
“With some new things they’re probably doing on offense and defense, it certainly creates a lot of challenges for us because we don’t know. We kind of know a little bit about their kids, but you don’t know if they’ve got them positioned differently because of the offense they’re running and the defense their running.”
“It’s kind of exciting,” he added. “That thrill of being able to go against something unknown. But at the same time, you’d like to have a little bit of comfort of knowing what they’re doing.”
The Little Dutch will be doing things a little differently themselves this year, tweaking the offense to account for the transition at quarterback from Noah Clayberg to Nick Finney.
You can learn more by joining us for the Jeromy Dingeman Concrete Football Friday Night Radio Preview Show tonight on KNIA & KRLS – as Nick Finney is tonight’s “Player Profile.”
Opening kickoff between Pella and Oskaloosa is at 7:30 at Pella High School. Trevor Castle and Randy Sikkema will have the call live on 92.1 KRLS, click here to listen live, and our free KRLS mobile app, beginning with the Midtown Tire Team Radio Pregame Show at 7:00.