Four Huskies earn All-Conference honors
The Owatonna Huskies were notified last week that four players – Blake Burmeister, Ty Creger, Evan Dushek and Brayden Williams – all earned Big Nine All-Conference team honors.
Owatonna’s four selected athletes made up the largest number of athletes from one team on the all-conference team.
“It’s well deserved. No question it’s well deserved after what they were able to accomplish. It started back in third, fourth, fifth grade with these guys. It started before their passion for the game,” said Owatonna head coach Josh Williams.
Burmeister, Creger and Brayden Williams were all selected to the team as guards while Dushek slots in at his usual forward/center position.
It’s been a memorable season full of records and personal bests for the four selected athletes.
Back on March 9, Dushek became the Owatonna High School all-time leading scorer by breaking Drew Lundberg’s record of 1,565 points set back in 2007, while Brayden Williams also made his mark on Owatonna basketball by surpassing the 1,000 points mark against Park of Cottage Grove back in January.
The elder Williams said that seeing his athletes reach milestones and break records along the way while working together tirelessly every day to accomplish their dream of a state championship has been special to watch.
All four athletes, whom Williams has coached and watched grow over the years, earn their honors in what is shaping up to potentially be Owatonna’s breakthrough year at the state tournament.
The four nightly starters played through a regular season that saw them produce the Big Nine’s most explosive scoring offense en route to a perfect 22-0 in-conference record before dominating the section playoffs with three straight wins.
Now, ranked as a No. 2 seed in the MSHSL State Tournament, the four have their eyes set on the next goal: a state title.
“There aren’t even words to describe it. I’m so happy for the team. We put in so much work during the offseason and the regular season. We deserve it so much. I’m just so happy for my teammates, and I’m so happy for this team,” said Creger.
The No. 2 Huskies faced off against the Cretin Derham Hall Raiders in the opening round of the MSHSL State Tournament on Tuesday, March 22 after this edition went to press.