One of the best small school rivalries in Central Iowa takes center stage tonight as class 1A number five Pella Christian makes the short drive up Highway 163 to battle class 2A number four PCM.

The teams have squared off for each of the last 13 years, with the Eagles holding a 7-6 advantage in the series.  But it’s been streaky, with PCM winning three of the first four, Pella Christian rattling off six in a row, and the Mustangs having won the last three.

The big story in tonight’s game is the return of PCM’s top two playmakers.  Quarterback Auggie Stock and running back Aiden Anderson will be seeing their first action of 2021, and coach Greg Bonnett says it comes at just the right time.

“We’ve been waiting patiently for these two to come back.  And now that they’re back, it’s just a matter of putting everything together.  Everyone is really excited and I think that everybody has kind of picked up their pace a little bit (this week in practice).”

Pella Christian coach Rich Kacmarynski says that they’ve been working hard this week in practice to prepare for the PCM run game.

“The years that they’ve been really good, they’ve run the ball really well.  When you do that, you can run play action and you can take shot plays.  So we feel that we have to stop the run, or at least contain it.  We can’t let them run the ball all over us and through us.  That’s going to be a key focus for us tonight.”

Kickoff is tonight at 7:00 at PCM High School.  Trevor Castle and Jeff Lindsey will call the action live on 92.1 KRLS, beginning with pregame coverage at 6:30.