School: Burlington
Nickname: Huskies
Colors: orange and black
Stadium: Husky Stadium
State championships: 1992 and 1994
Times worth remembering: Led by lineman Mike Aagard — now the team’s coach — and all-everything star Justin Hopkin, the Huskies were a team to be feared in the early 1990s. Burlington went 8-1 on its way to the championship in 1992, then after a brief dip to 4-3 in 1993, the Huskies returned to the top in 1994 with a perfect 8-0 season. Both times, Burlington beat Hulett in the championship game.
Times worth forgetting: It can’t get much worse than what happened to the Huskies in the late 1980s. After a winless season in 1988, Burlington didn’t field a team in 1989. By 1990, the Huskies were back, but still struggled on the field until turning in their state championship season in 1992.
Best team: The Husky squad of 1994 was the only team in school history to go undefeated. With Hopkin, Aagard, Brandon Preator and a host of others, the Huskies were only occasionally challenged — their closest game of the season was the 36-20 win over Hulett in the state title game.
Biggest win: To get to the 1992 9-man title game, the Huskies had to pick up a 26-20 road win in the semifinals over East Conference champion Big Horn. It was a winnable game from the start — Burlington had beaten Big Horn 20-19 earlier in the season on the Rams’ home field — and the win in the playoffs help assure the Huskies of their success. And after Hulett upset Dubois on the other side of the bracket, Burlington rolled to the title, setting the stage for sustained success.
Heartbreaker: In both 2004 and 2005, Burlington had its hopes for a state championship crushed in ways no team should have to endure – on the final play of the game. Both times, Guernsey-Sunrise played the role of the crusher. In ’04, the Vikings won 24-21 in overtime on Shawn King’s field goal; in ’05, David Castle caught a touchdown pass as time expired as the Huskies lost 25-22.