Maryville native Jalen Sundell prepares to start NFC Championship game for Seattle Seahawks

MARYVILLE, Mo. (KQTV) -- We're less than one day away from the Championship games in the NFL, a former Maryville Spoofhounds football player is starting in one of those matchups and he has a chance to now go play in a Super Bowl for the first time. 

The Seattle Seahawks prepare to face NFC West rival the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship on Sunday for the right to go play in Super Bowl 60. The two teams split the matchups when they faced in the regular season. Starting at center for the Seahawks. Maryville High School alum Jalen Sundell. Sundell expects another tough back and forth slugfest to play out.

"It's going to be a gritty game. It's going to come down to a lot of small things, a lot of extra things, a lot of effort," said Sundell. "I think a lot of these football games come down to who's willing to do the small things and the small details better."

Sundell's had an incredible football story. A state champion with the Maryville Spoofhounds, a multinational champion with his time at North Dakota State in college, and now one game away from playing in the Super Bowl in just his 2nd season in Seattle.

In his first year as an NFL starter, Sundell started 13 games this season. He fought his way back from a knee injury and helped pave the way for running back Kenneth Walker III to rush for over 100 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground in a 41-6 thumping over the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round.

"We haven't done anything too special. We just keep trying to get better every week. It's something that we take pride at every week. We're at week 20 of the season. We're still trying to get better on things and especially in the run game," said Sundell. "We're not doing anything different than we did week one. We're just kept attacking it and getting better at the same things and that's paying off for us right now."

Sundell's Seahawks finished the regular season with an NFC best. 14-3 record. He credits the philosophy second-year coach Mike Macdonald has preached as the reason for it and the reason Seattle is still alive in these playoffs.

"It's a culture of holding each other accountable, a culture of getting better every day. Focusing on the small things that make the difference, not letting any detail go unnoticed before a game," said Sundell. "It's been good. The culture that's been set, everybody's been pushing together as one."

What's been more special than anything for Sundell has been representing his hometown of Maryville and the Northwest Missouri area as a whole on the big stage.

I'm super proud of where I come from and being from Maryville and the football culture that I grew up in. I remember way back when, playing middle school football, we went undefeated, the high school went undefeated, college went undefeated," said Sundell. So it's a cool place to call home and super proud to claim where I come from. The football culture that's there is unreal. I take a lot of pride. I've had quite a few people come and support me out way out here in Seattle, so it's been pretty fun."

Sundell and the Seahawks kick off against the Rams on Sunday, January 25th at 5:30 pm in the NFC Championship game.