In a clash of Marion County high school Class 1A football teams, Pella Christian and Pleasantville will meet tonight on the gridiron in the Tulip City.

Both schools are looking to get back on track tonight, after dropping their games last week. Pella Christian returns home after falling 15-13 to Sigourney-Keota last week, while Pleasantville dropped their second straight game last Friday in a 27-0 loss to Central Decatur. 

While sharing a county connects the two teams battling this evening, the two schools also share another connection. Pleasantville head coach Mack Jorth was an assistant coach for Pella Christian head coach Rich Kacmarynski at Central College in the 1990’s. Additionally, Trojans assistant coach Tyler Baethke played for Kacmarynski at Central. Competing against friends this evening, Kacmarynski is looking forward to a fun but hard-fought game.

“They’re great people and they’re doing a great job at Pleasantville, so I know they’re going to bring their A game. Have a lot of respect for those guys, and so I know it’ll be a clean game and it’ll be a hard fought. So, we’re not taking anything for granted. We know we gotta work cut out for us, but quality, quality coaching on the other side, quality men, a class program. So yeah, it makes it fun.”

Pleasantville Head Coach Mack Jorth added that it’s always fun to compete against someone you know, and that they hope to have a little more success in the matchup than in years past.

“He’s got a real good program and it’s always good to go up against somebody you know and you have a history with. So, that part is fun and hopefully we can be competitive against them as we move forward down the road a little bit as he’s got such a great program over there and does a great job leading that program. So, it’s a good program for us to look at and try to emulate and follow and hopefully pattern our successes in the future after.” 

Coverage of Pleasantville vs Pella Christian football can be heard live on the KRLS2 stream and the Pella Christian High School Youtube channel, with Tyler Crabb and J.D. Boer calling the action, beginning with the Smash Park Radio Pregame Show at 6:30 p.m.