Home » Uncategorized » Ash, Huettner made their mark with Comets, T-Birds

Ash, Huettner made their mark with Comets, T-Birds

Beau Ash and Brianne Huettner probably don’t know each other, but they do have one thing in common: they’re both pretty good in their respective high school sports.

Ash, a recent graduate of Waupaca High School, and Huettner, who will be a junior at Iola-Scandinavia High School, have been selected as Waupaca County’s male and female athlete of the year.

Ash said his most memorable accomplishment was kicking the game-winning field goal in November that gave the Comets a 16-14 win over West De Pere in a Level 4 football playoff game. He added a 92-yard touchdown run against the Phantoms, the two-time defending state champions in Division 3.

“Sometimes, you just have to let the senior have control of the game,” Waupaca football coach John Koronkiewicz said after the game. “He was here in 2009 when we lost to West De Pere in a heartbreaker. Today, it was our time.”

“It was one of my greatest highlights,” Ash said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”

The win over the Phantoms sent Ash and the Comets to the Division 3 state championship game, which Waupaca lost to Waukesha Catholic Memorial.

Huettner’s accomplishments include hitting a pair of grand slams for the Thunderbirds in a softball doubleheader sweep of West Salem. She finished the day with four hits and 11 RBIs. She went on to be named the Central Wisconsin 8 Conference co-player of the year and helped lead the T-Birds to a regional championship.

“It was quite humbling to see the conference coaches recognize Brianne as conference co-player of the year,” I-S softball coach Tom Anderson said. “Brianne had an incredible year and deserved the honor.

Huettner said she wouldn’t have received the award without her teammates.

“I felt that our team had good chemistry,” she said. “We all got along really well.”

Before softball, Huettner also suited up for Waupaca’s first-ever girls’ hockey team, which also included players from Iola-Scandinavia and Manawa.

Speaking of hockey, Ash also played four season of varsity hockey for Waupaca and was named to the Great Northern Conference all-conference team as a defenseman.

“I pretty much went into hockey right after state (football),” he said. “It took awhile to get back into hockey shape.”

From hockey, it was on to baseball, where the Comets shared an Eastern Valley Conference championship with Clintonville and won a Division 2 regional.

While Huettner is setting her sights on two more years of high school sports, Ash is heading to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where he plans to play football and major in elementary education.

Scroll to Top