Members of the Union football team celebrate their victory over ADM in their Class 3A semifinal state football game Monday, Nov. 14, 2011 at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

CEDAR FALLS — When this football season began, Jay Scheel was a wide receiver and Trev Hadachek a quarterback.

A shoulder injury to Hadachek in the fourth game left him unable to throw, so he and Scheel flip-flopped positions. The rest is history.

Perhaps state championship history.

Sophomore Scheel threw three touchdown passes, one to Hadachek, and had an unreal 82-yard scramble for TD as LaPorte City Union outscored Adel-DeSoto-Minburn, 42-28, Monday night in a hellacious Class 3A playoff semifinal at the UNI-Dome.

“Jay’s been doing a wonderful job behind center, especially for a sophomore,” said Hadachek, who also had two interceptions. “He makes plays. I’ve been playing quarterback my whole life, and when I went out with that shoulder injury, it was pretty devastating. But once I went in at wideout, and we got rolling, I couldn’t be happier.”

Running back Wes Burnside also did his thing for Union (11-2), scoring three touchdowns and rushing for 162 yards as part of a big-play offense that produced five TDs of 57 yards or longer. The Knights play Decorah (11-2) for the 3A title Saturday afternoon at 4:05 in a rematch of the season opener Union won, 20-17.

“These kids love football,” said Union Coach Joe Hadachek, Trev’s father. “Every once in awhile, you have a special group of guys. These classes, they just love football.”

There was little to no defense in this highly entertaining game, one that featured both teams’ quarterbacks taking snaps out of the shotgun and running and throwing it up and down the field. The teams combined for 896 yards, a whopping 507 from Union.

The Knights never trailed, scoring 2:21 in when Scheel connected with Burnside on a 62-yard catch and run. The Knights also got a 57-yard catch-and-run touchdown from Scheel to Hadachek, an 82-yard Burnside run and 70-yard pass play from Scheel to Brad Gallup early in the fourth quarter that official broke the back of ADM (12-1).

Union's Jay Scheel (2) runs down the sideline after slipping by ADM's Austin Schmidt (56) during the first half of their Class 3A semifinal state football game Monday, Nov. 14, 2011 at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

No touchdown was prettier than Scheel’s 82-yarder to open the third quarter. He sidestepped a rush on a third-down play and headed up field, weaving through traffic and instinctively spinning just as he was about to get tackled about 10 yards downfield.

Scheel then hit the sideline, picking up a pair of huge blocks that broke him loose. Definitely one of the best plays you’ll ever see.

“It was a designed pass, but they had it covered,” Scheel said. “I just ran it.”

Scheel accounted for 351 yards rushing and passing.

“You’ve got to understand that Jay is a threat running, as well as pasisng,” Coach Hadachek said. “You’re seeing a guy that’s going to be a great one. There’s no doubt about it. Some of the things he does, you can’t teach, you can’t coach. That’s just players making plays. Let’s be honest.”

The offense began early in this one. On Union’s third play from scrimmage, Scheel rolled to his right and threw back left to a wide-open Burnside, who made a cut at the 10-yard line en route for a 62-yard touchdown. The extra-point kick was shanked.

ADM drove inside the Union 30 on the ensuing possession, but quarterback Gavin Glenn underthrew his receiver on a corner route, with defensive back Shay Fehl intercepting at the Knights 15. Union drove right back downfield on mostly a series of short Burnside runs, including a 2-yarder to the end zone.

Scheel connected with Gallup in the right corner of the end zone for the two-point conversion and a 14-0 Union lead in the final minute of the first quarter.

You could just tell that wasn’t going to be the end of the scoring, and it wasn’t. ADM got back into the game with a 11-play drive that paid off with a Glenn-to-Jordan Grove 6-yard touchdown pass on fourth down. The extra point made it 14-7 with 8:43 left in the first half.

But there was more offense in the short offing. Scheel hit Hadachek on a deep route to about the ADM 25, with a pair of juke moves in the open field springing Hadachek for the 57-yard TD and a 21-7 lead after Brady Petersen’s extra point.

But ADM closed within seven at the half on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Glenn to Lucas Thompson. First-half yardage was incredibly similar: Union 237, ADM 235.

Here is the game boxscore: