Sports
Braaten Athlete of the Year
Tyler Ohmann
11/19/2013
After the conclusion of last Friday’s Dakota Bowl senior Hunter Braaten received a great surprise as he was selected as the nine-man Senior Athlete of the Year.
“It means a lot, and I didn’t even know that I had a chance at it,” Braaten said.
The Sioux senior started as quarterback for all four years of his high school career. He also started at linebacker and defensive back, returned kicks, punted, kicked and this season was the long snapper. He rarely took a play off.
“All-purpose yards he’s had over 7,000, so I don’t know that I have to say too much more,” his coach Tom Nesvold said Friday after the game. “Throughout the playoffs, but the first three games, he rushed for about 850 against pretty good competition.”
For the season Braaten unofficially finished with 1,922 yards rushing on 238 carries for an average of more than eight yards a carry. He had 27 touchdowns and 11 two point conversions on the ground as well.
Through the air the quarterback had 1,187 yards and 10 touchdowns. He added a 90 yard kick return for a touchdown and two punt returns for touchdowns. He averaged more than 26 yards per punt return and 28 yards per kick return.
Braaten gives a lot of credit to his teammates.
“I can’t do it without those guys, and this group was definitely a good group to play with,” Braaten said.
He wasn’t just an offensive threat, but a great defender as well. He made 136 total tackles, 96 of them solo and 16 of them for a loss. He forced and recovered four fumbles, defelected four passes and added two sacks, two defensive touchdowns and an interception.
Braaten also holds several school records including: tackles in a season (139 in 2012); career tackles (310); career tackles for a loss (30); pass deflections (18); career rushing yards (4,360); career touchdowns (83); career completions (273); passing yards (3,502); career carries (682); touchdowns in a season (39 in 2013); completions in a season (110 in 2012) and scoring in a season (284 points in 2013).
Braaten hopes to continue his football career in college.