Sports

     Vinton-Shellsburg Sophomore runner Wyatt Lyons finished sixth at the state qualifying meet in Manchester, and will compete at the State Cross Country Meet on Saturday, Oct. 29. He finished with a time of 17:03.      As a team, the VS boys took fifth place. The girls finished 9th. Emma Horst led the Vikettes, coming in 39th place at 17:52.

By Cheyne Reiter      I'll save a majority of the adjectives for the post-game article, but I guess I'll give you one to put this game in perspective...UNBELIEVABLE. The Knights won tonight's first round contest over the Washington Demons by a 22-15 final in absolutely breath-taking fashion.      After Union took an early 7-0 on their opening possession, the Demons responded late in the second quarter with a touchdown of their own.

     South Tama beat Vinton-Shellsburg 3-0 in the first round of the Regional Tournament Monday night.     Scores were: 16-25; 18-25; and 20-25.

      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.

Defensive POW: Cole Hinders, Trev Hadachek, and Dylan McLaughlin Def Scout POW: scout offense unit Special Teams POW: Kickoff Coverage team Offensive POW: Reid Monroe, Logan Sallee, Brad Gallup Offensive Scout POW: scout defense unit Rapid Recap: Knights overpower Vikings, 51-0 By Cheyne Reiter The Union Knights manhandled the Vinton-Shellsburg Vikings tonight by a final of 51-0.

       On my first visit to the old Busch Stadium in 2002, I was walking around before the game, observing all of the pre-game rituals: The grounds crew. The fans. The historical displays. Batting practice.      Along with the ever-present music blasting from speakers, and the growing crowd noise, there is a another pre-game noise continually echoing through the stadium: The crack of the bat hitting the ball as the players take batting practice.

       Center Point-Urbana joined Union among the area football teams that qualified for post-season play with a win Friday night, while a win by Benton Community was not quite enough to get the Bobcats to the playoffs.      The Stormin' Pointers, who had defeated Vinton-Shellsburg 28-27 two weeks earlier, earned the fourth playoff spot in Class 3A District 5 with another 1-point win.

  The Vinton Parks and Rec Department Adult Flag Football League championship game recently took place.      The winning team, "Don't Care," had a 5-1 record in the regular season and won the championship game against the "Clickstop Raiders"  with a final score of 32-0.      The members of "Don't Care" are: Front (l-r): Cody Robertson, Nic Cory, Brady "Mullet Island" Fisher, Joel Winsor.

The Knights are starting to regain their rhythm. After a 35-15 defeat to 3A District 5 leaders in the Maquoketa Cardinals two weeks ago, the Knights pounced on the Bobcats of Western Dubuque, 42-17, and followed that win with a 45-14 drubbing of Marion this past Friday night on Senior Night. Things looked promising from the very beginning for Union as the Indians muffed the opening kickoff and were forced to start inside their own 5-yard line.

     For most of the year, Vinton-Shellsburg eighth grade students Lily Horst and Bristi Gerber have finished first and second in middle school cross country meets.       The two finished first and second again at the Oct. 10 WAMAC middle school 8th grade girls race, leading the VS girls to second place.             The two girls train together, both at practices and other events such as the Bring the Noise 5K in August.