Having pulled off the narrow upset against #6 ranked West Burlington Saturday, the Pella Christian boys basketball team now turns their attention towards another run at the State Tournament.

The Eagles are no strangers in Des Moines as this season’s appearance at Wells Fargo Arena will be their 17th trip since 1990. In those 17 trips to State, Pella Christian has brought home the title three times in 1990, 1992, 1993, and finished runners-up five times in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2009, and 2017. Qualifying for the State Tournament for the second time in his three seasons as Eagles head coach, J.D. Boer knows what it means to the community to continue this tradition of success.

“Well, you know, it means there’s a lot of pride and I feel like our guys carry that with them, that pride. You know, they’ve been around this, they know what it takes, and you can see it on the court right now, just all these people that are surrounding these young men and supporting them. And I’m just, I’m happy for them and I’m happy for this whole community because you know what these boys sacrifice a lot. They work really hard. They’re an excellent group of young men to work with and their parents as well. It has just been an absolute joy to coach them. So, to carry on a tradition to find our way back to Des Moines is a pretty special thing and hopefully one that these guys will enjoy here as we keep going.”

Pella Christian earned the four-seed in the Class 2A State Tournament and begin the journey at Wells Fargo Arena against the fifth-seeded MFL MarMac Bulldogs Monday March 6th at 7:15 p.m.