Football preview: Pella vs Newton

Colin Peters, The Oskaloosa Herald, Iowa
·2 min read

Sep. 22—Who: Pella (0-4) vs No. 9 Newton (4-0)

Where: Pella Stadium in Pella

When: Friday, Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m.

Matchup history

Pella owns a 7-1 advantage over Newton since 2010 with the Cardinals lone win coming in 2011 while the Dutch have won the past six meetings. Last year was the closest of those meetings with Pella pulling out a 24-14 win.

One key player for Pella

Trey Van Hauen has been a difference maker on both sides of the ball for Pella this year. Offensively he is coming off his best game where he caught seven passes for 68 yards and one touchdown. Defensively Van Hauen sits third on the team with 21 tackles and a pick-six. Look for Van Hauen to make a big play at some point in this game on either side of the ball.

Keys for Pella

Pella may be 0-4 but they have been trending in the right direction over the past two weeks with tough battles against Indianola and Bondurant-Farrar. Newton keeps Pella's ranked opponent streak going as they enter the rankings at number nine this week to make it five straight weeks with a ranked opponent for the Dutch. This is an interesting one as Newton enters having played a much easier non-district schedule (12-24 opponents record) compared to Pella (26-10 opponents record). Throw away both team's records for this one with the Cardinals knowing they haven't beaten Dutch in over 10 years. Newton brings in the current top scoring offense in the district at 34.5 points per game led by one of the top running backs in the class in Cody Klein, who has 510 rushing yards on 73 carries with seven touchdowns. Quarterback Brody Bauer has also been good completing over 70% of his passes for 751 yards and nine TDs with no interceptions. The Pella defense will provide a good test while the Pella offense will need to flush their last few possessions against B-F and get back in the right direction. It's homecoming week for the Dutch as they'll have a good matchup and a chance to start district play by picking up their first win of the season.

Colin Peters can be reached at 641-672-2581, by email at cpeters@oskyherald.com or on Twitter @ColinPetersOH.