Sports : Viking/Knight matchup featured leading rusher, tackler

Gunner Tranel, the Class 3A leading tackler, helps stop Union's Wes Burnside Friday.

Burnside has been a leading rusher in Iowa for the past two seasons.

Dylan Rickels carries the ball for the Vikings.

QB Lincoln Riffey escorts his mom during Senior Night tribute.

Ryan Webster and his parents, Kevin and Rachel.

Cole Hinders gets a face full of Gunner Tranel on this backfield tackle.

Matt Walston tackles Wes Burnside early in the Vikings' season finale.

The matchup between Vinton-Shellsburg and Union Friday night in Vinton featured the leading tackler in Class 3A, as well as its leading rusher for the past two years.

Viking Gunner Tranel is fourth among all football classes with 155 tackles; the player with the most had 170 for an 8-man team.

Knight runner Wes Burnside, despite missing one complete game and seeing limited action in two other games because of a hamstring injury, is sixth in rushing in Class 3A with 1,252 yards on 161 attempts for an average of 7.8 yards per carry. He also scored 23 touchdowns this year. In 2010, Burnside earned Player of the Year honors as a junior. He had 290 attempts for 2,336 yards and 30 TDs and a 8.1 yard average.

Burnside and Union dominated Friday's game. Burnside ran for 146 yards while the entire Viking offense managed only 155.

Union Coach Joe Hadachek said that playing without Burnside created opportunities for his skill players and blockers to improve their game.

"Playing without Wes forced our team to step up, and other players to step up to fill different roles than when Wes was 100 percent," said Hadachek. "We had to change up some things, to utilize Trev Hadachek and Jay Scheel. But first, Mitchell Dierks and Andrew Osuna were well-prepared and ready to go. They expected to play and did well when called upon.

Playing without Burnside also "forced our O-line to get to another level of expectations," said Hadachek.

The Union defense has also gotten much better this year, says the coach.

"They improved tremendously from last year. Our front seven have come together to be better against the run than we have in the last five years," he said.

Union's defensive success begins with its front four: Josh Clark and Dalton Crosser, both juniors, are very physical players, says Hadachek. Defensive ends Cordt Holub, Kyle Ansley and Tanner Heckt were rotated in to keep fresh legs on the D-line and "performed their jobs at a high level," says the coach.

"Throw in Cole Hinders, Dylan McLaughlin and Will Crees at linebacker and it makes for a real tough front seven," says Hadachek. "Also, the safety tandem of Trev Hadachek and Shay Fehl have improved our run-stopping ability on the perimeter.

The depth at defense also helps, says Hadachek. "Our defensive staff has been able to play other players without hurting our abilit to stop the run -- Justin Murphy and Jon Porter, just to name two."

Union (7-2 and 5-2 in Class 3A District 5 games) begins its post season Wednesday when it hosts Washington. The Vikings' season ended with a 3-6 record.

See complete season stats for the Vikings HERE.