After battling adversity for much of the first part of their season, the Pella Christian football team overcame it to show progress during the second half of the year.

The Eagles faced four district champions and four ranked opponents over the course of the first five games of the season, and gave up an average of 470 yards of offense and 41 points per game to their opponents. In that same span, Pella Christian averaged just 319 yards of offense and scored just 21 points per game. In the final five games of their season, the Eagles saw those averages flip heavily in their favor. Pella Christian’s opponents averaged just 322 yards of offense and 25 points per game in the second half of the season, while the Eagles averaged 349 yards of offense and 41 points per game. The change in those averages correlated to the success Pella Christian saw on the field, as after an 0-5 start to the year, they finished the fall by going 3-2.

Highlighting the Eagles’ turnaround in the season was their two games against PCM. Hosting the Mustangs on September 19th, Pella Christian was outgained in yardage by a margin of 504-309, ultimately falling in that contest 58-27. In a rematch at PCM in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs last Friday, Pella Christian outgained the Mustangs in yardage 395-346, and while they also fell in the second contest, cut the final margin from 31 points to just 14. Head coach Rich Kacmarynski said that one reason for the Eagles success in the second half of the season was the progress they made in the trenches.

“I was super proud of our defensive line. They were slugging against some big dudes [from PCM] all night long, and I felt like PCM was not able to dominate us the way they were able to in the first game. And then on the offensive line, we were able to do some really nice things. We were able to rush the football and have some success against a nice defensive line they have [at PCM] as well. So, I’m super proud of our kids. They made a lot of progress and it kind of bodes well for the future as well.”

Pella Christian finished the season with a 3-7 overall record and will graduate 11 seniors from the program.