Union Knights Football Team

By Cheyne Reiter

The defending 3A State Champion Union Knights will move down to 2A District 3 for the next two seasons.

The Knights last played in 2A in Head Coach Joe Hadachek's first year where he led Union to a 6-3 overall record, finishing third in 2A D4 behind North Fayette and Waterloo Columbus Catholic. Following that season, the Knights jumped up to 3A and made the postseason for the next four years, winning one district title in 2010 while claiming the state title in 2011. The Knights record in that four-year span of 3A play was a sensational 36-9.

As we fast forward to the upcoming 2012 season, the Knights will play an entirely new set of teams. Let's take a look at the records of the seven teams in 2A D3 from the 2011 campaign.

Central Springs: 0-9 (0-7 2A D3)
Waterloo Columbus Catholic: 2-7 (1-6 2A D3)
New Hampton: 7-3 (6-1 2A D3, No. 2 seed and lost first round of playoffs)
Osage: 6-4 (4-3 2A D3, No. 4 seed and lost first round of playoffs)
Waukon: 2-7 (2-5 3A D4)
Hampton-Dumont: 3-6 (2-5 3A D3)
Union: 12-2 (5-2 3A D5, won state championship)

Since the 56 2A teams are divided into 8 districts of 7 teams, each team will play a non-district game during it's bye week. In Union's case, they will play Cascade, Western Dubuque from 2A District 4 (not the same Western Dubuque team from last season).

In addition, the two traditional non-district games to open the season will be released in the coming weeks.