Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

Wisconsin Sports Network and WisSports.net are happy to announce Iola-Scandinavia's Bryce Huettner as the 2018 recipient of the Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch Award as the most outstanding senior running back in Wisconsin, part of the WSN Senior Football Awards.

Huettner broke the state's career rushing record in a state semi-final win over Grantsburg and has been a fixture on the varsity team at Iola-Scandinavia, playing in 48 games so far in his career.

A two-way player virtually the entire time, he broke out for 2,830 rushing yards last season, and is currently sitting at 2,456 yards with 39 touchdowns heading into the state finals. His 6,714 career rushing yards is the new state record. He's scored 39 rushing touchdowns this year and 87 for his career.

With 158 yards in the victory against Grantsburg, Huettner now has 6,714 career yards, which eclipses the previous record of 6,707 yards set by Hilbert's Mike Firkus from 2000 to 2002.

"It's an awesome accomplishment," said head coach Scott Erickson on Football Friday Night after the game. "It's exciting for him, it's exciting for the program. It's so exciting when someone works as hard as he does but he gives all his props to his linemen and receivers that block for him."

Huettner was named a WFCA Small School All-State player earlier this week.

Finalists for the award were Huettner, Joe Aguilera of Abbotsford, Darios Crawley-Reid of Martin Luther, Dylan Hendricks of Pulaski, and Brady Redwine of Elk Mound.

Past winners of the award include Appleton North's Steve Lichtfuss (2009), Kenosha Bradford's Melvin Gordon (2010), Waunakee's Leo Musso (2011), Big Foot's Mason Dixon (2012), Saint Mary's Springs' Ike Floyd (2013), Waunakee's Troy Laufenberg (2014), Kimberly's Blair Mulholland (2015), Darlington's Hunter Johnson (2016), and Waukesha West's Peter MacCudden (2017).

The award is named after "Crazylegs" Hirsch, a legendary athlete from Wausau High School who later starred at both the University of Wisconsin and the University of Michigan. Hirsch spent 12 seasons in professional football, including nine seasons with the Los Angeles Rams who moved him to end. His 1951 season is one of the greatest receiving years in NFL history. He caught 66 passes for a record 1495 yards and 17 touchdowns. The yardage mark wasn’t broken for 19 years while his 17 touchdowns tied the record and wasn’t broken until 1984. He later served as the Wisconsin athletic director from 1969 to 1987, overseeing a revival of UW athletics. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968. Hirsch passed away in 2004. 

The voting panel for the WSN Senior Football Awards consisted of:  Travis Wilson, WSN General Manager and Head Football Writer;  Norbert Durst, WSN Content Manager; Dennis Semrau, ESPN Madison; B.J. DeGroot, WSCO The Score 95.3 in Appleton; Curt Hogg, NOW Newspapers; Dan Barwick, WSN Contributor; Colton Wilson, WSN Content Producer; Fan Vote