(Underwood) #3 (10-0) Underwood hosts #7 (9-1) Pella Christian Friday night in a Class 1A Quarterfinal.
Underwood coach Nate Mechaelsen provides this break down of Pella Christian. “They are a really good football team, a complete team. Offensively they are big and physical up front. They have a big, physical back. They prefer to run the ball, but they have the ability to throw it which makes them very tough to defend. Their quarterback has put up some big numbers. Overall they rush for 8.5 almost 9 yards per carry. Super hard to stop. Defensively they are very aggressive. Very big and physical on that side of the ball too. They create problems all over the field. It’s going to be a pretty tough task for us on Friday night.”
Pella Christian eliminated South Hamilton last week by a 38-30 final while Underwood beat ACGC 62-14. “It’s a continuation of what we’ve been doing, but I think we maybe executed at higher level on Friday than we have in the past. Offensively we felt like our receivers had some pretty good matchups and they did a fantastic job of getting open and Alex (Ravlin) was really on on Friday. Defensively other than a couple of drives being out of alignment and out of position we really played pretty well.”
Coach Mechaelsen’s squad has been stopped by the eventual state runner-up in each of the last two seasons. They are hoping for a better outcome Friday night when they play in their 3rd straight quarterfinal. “It’s something that we don’t necessarily address, but it’s something that drives our team. Especially those kids that have been a part of those losses and played in those games. I think they’ve been antsy to get to this point and in their minds want to get some redemption for those tough losses the last two years.” Mechaelsen says, “We try to keep it in perspective and treat it as another game. Obviously our kids are smart enough to know the ramifications of things. I think they’ll be pretty excited to get to Friday.”
Senior quarterback Isaac Kacmarynski is Pella Christian’s biggest weapon offensively with a team best 1,073 rushing yards along with 963 passing yards. He has 26 offensive touchdowns. Underwood counters with an elite signal caller of their own as senior Alex Ravlin leads Class 1A in passing yards with 2,214 and passing touchdowns with 30.
2002 was Underwood’s last trip to the dome. Pella Christian was in the state semifinals in both 2017 and 2018.
Underwood coach Nate Mechaelsen:
