Sports : Teammates and friends: Union seniors will end years of playing football together in 2A State Championship Game

No matter who they play on Friday (or a Saturday in the UNI-Dome) the Union offense and defense know that come Monday, they will have to line up against some of the best that Iowa high school football has to offer: Each other. One of the top defenses in the state has had to practice each day this season against one of the best running backs in Iowa: Isaiah Vaughan. Vaughan set a Dome record last Saturday, when he ran for 397 yards and five TDs vs. Mount Vernon in Union's 49-28 win. "Isaiah runs our scout team on offense,"� says Coach Joe Hadachek. "It makes our defense better to have a scout team player like him."� The 15 Union seniors joined the Knight underclassmen in their final practice as high schoolers this week, and enjoyed one final team meal and heard one final evening pep talk from Coach Joe before winding up their careers tomorrow. Union (11-1) enters Friday Class 2A State Championship game averaging 30 points per game more than their opponents this season. Boyden Hull-Rock Valley, however, has a nearly identical point differential; the Knights will have to play their best to bring Union its first state title since 2011. Both teams are 11-1 heading into Friday's scheduled 2:06 title game. But no matter the opponent, the Knight seniors say this is a game they have been planning on participating in since they were in seventh grade. That's the year that Union last won the 2011 Class 2A State Championship. It's also the year that the current Class of 2016 went undefeated in seventh grade football. "We were undefeated in seventh grade, and had one hiccup in 8^th grade,"� says senior John Boisen, the Union punter (36 yard average kick) and second-leading receiver (39 catches, 3 TDs). "We always thought we would be here, and to actually play here in the Dome last week was an incredible feeling."� Of Vaughan, who has been one of his best friends since middle school, Boisen says: "I am glad he is not playing against us. He runs with such purpose."� Like many of his teammates, Boisen, who grew up a big UNI football fanm, attended many Panther games in the dome and is pondering a college football career. But right now, he says, all that matters is his last game in a Knight uniform, and his last game with guys he started playing football with in third grade."�

When the Class of 2016 was in seventh grade, they watched the 2011 Knights win a playoff game against a team that had earlier beaten the Knights in the regular season. This year, the Knights did the same thing, avenging 56-21 loss at North Fayette by beating the Tiger Hawks in the second round of the playoffs.

"We remembered the 2011 team,"� says Boisen, who also recalls learning from the Class of 2014, who lost by less than a TD in the second round of the playoffs.

"Those guys taught us a lot,"� he says of the leaders who were seniors during his sophomore year.

"It's weird to think this is last time we play together,"� Boisen said. "I am going to focus on enjoying this last one, with all of the guys I have played with since I started. "I am a little nervous, but not much,"� says Boisen, who adds that finishing a high school career in the state championship game is the best way to end it. Dylan Stech, one of those who has played Union football since seventh grade, shares those same feelings. "Our senior class has always been really close,"� says Stech, who intercepted a pass in the end zone during last week's win in the Dome, and has scored six TDs on offense this season. "Some of us weren't friends until we met in middle school but you would think we have been friends forever, the way we mess with each other,"� says Stech. "We were in 7th grade the last time we all sat in the Dome watching Union become champions. We knew we wanted to do the same thing and we had the teammates to get it done."�

Of facing Vaughan in practice, Strech says:"�Isiah is always pushing our D hard at practice in case they have to face someone like him in a game."�

Stech is also one of the Union players who was on the state champion Wolf Creek Rugby team with Vaughan this past summer.

"In rugby, they tried to tackle Isiaah but it was rarely accomplished, and when they did, it took a lot to get him down. He's too fast and slippery,"� says Stech, who as corner back is the Knights' second-leading tackler behind UNI recruit Brock Hadachek and junior Jace Glenn.

After 12 games, Stech observes that he has made a few less tackles than in 10 games last season. That, he said, is due to a stronger front line and linebackers who stop runners before they can make it to the backfield.

"Our O- and D-line are incredible this year,"� he adds.

The offensive line includes center Carter Brehm, a 6-3, 290-lb junior, and senior guards Michael Ahrendson (6-1, 305) and Keaton Newgren (6-4, 280). Ahrendson also plays nose guard, and is among team leaders in tackles for loss and QB sacks.

On Saturday, Stech will put on another uniform and play a sport he has played even longer than he has played football: Hockey.

"Dylan didn't start playing any football until 7th grade,"� says his mom, Heather. "We didn't let him play youth because it interfered with hockey. I remember he was so mad after the first day of 7th grade football practice "� he came home saying he stunk because he didn't get to play earlier. He had a lot of catching up to do in middle school but the middle school coaches and his fellow teammates worked with him to get him caught up. His hockey teammates and coaches are supportive of football but they can't wait for him to get back to playing with them. He gets to return to the ice on Saturday and they are very happy."�

While he too, is contemplating a college career, perhaps at a D3 school like University of Dubuque, Wartburg, St. Ambrose or Simpson, Stech also is focused this week on his last high school game and his final chance to make memories with the players who have been at his side for the past six seasons.

"I will always remember all the fun we had in practice with our great coaches,"� he says. "We support other Union athletics as a team in the student sections and can get pretty rowdy. We have been lucky to enjoy team meals together every week that our parents or community members have provided."�

Lineacker Brock Hadachek, a nephew of coach Joe, is Union's leading tackler.

Unlike many of his teammates, Hadachek already knows where he plans to play college football next year: In the same UNI-Dome where his high school career will end on Friday.

And, he says, Friday's game perfect ending to an incredible journey of football, friends, family and faith.

"It's been a blessing to play with this group of guys since grade school. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way,"� says Hadachek, who has verbally committed to UNI and plans to sign with the Panthers next year, as soon as NCAA guidelines allow. "When we were all in KYFC (Knights Youth Football Club) I remember saying that we were going to win the state championship. I couldn't be more grateful that God has put this in his plan for Union football."� And like many of the seniors, he calls Isaiah one of his best friends, and has several years of memories of playing football with "� and against "� him and the rest of the Knight players who have been teammates for most of the past decade.

"It's fun,"� says Hadachek.

"It's very competitive,"� says Vaughan.

"It makes them better,"� says their coach.

And Friday, for Hadachek and Vaughan and their teammates and coaches, it can make them State Champions.