(Van Meter) Van Meter is on the verge of a 6th straight state semifinal appearance. The 2nd rated Bulldogs host #6 Underwood in a Class 1A quarterfinal Friday night.
Van Meter coach Eric Trudo refers to 9-1 Underwood as a very complete team. “They threaten you in a lot of ways offensively. They have a lot of great receivers. The quarterback is really good. Their offensive line is outstanding. Defensively they really do a lot of things to try and create a lot of havoc and disruption for an offense.”
At 9-0 the Bulldogs have done a lot of things well, but one of the things coach Trudo has been most pleased with is the effort they’ve put forward. “Just the work ethic to continually work to improve from back when we started in August when we didn’t even know if we were going to have a season up to the point we are now. We’ve just been focused on trying to get better every week. Our kids bought into that.”
Junior Dalten Van Pelt leads the offense with 1,433 yards rushing and 16 TD’s. Jack Pettit has completed 62% of his throws for 974 yards with 15 touchdowns and only 1 interception. Defensively they’ve been a balanced unit with four shutouts. “Nobody really seems to stand out. We have six or seven guys within ten tackles of being our leading tackler. That emphasizes a team approach that they’ve bought into with everyone doing their job, but we do have hopefully quite a few good players.”
Van Meter has made the playoffs every season since 2008. They have a playoff record of 26-17.
