Eric Muszynski remembers well his first reaction to seeing Powers North Central up close.

“Everything I remember about them, they looked like a Class A school,” Muszynski said. “They have great balance for a Class D school to have the shooters like they do; the Bilski (Dawson Bilski) kid, then to have (Jason) Whitens. To see that on the same floor in a Class D game you don’t see that.”

Forty games after that 2015 matchup, Powers is on the cusp of history. A win tonight over Bark River-Harris would give the Jets 66 consecutive wins, a new Michigan high school record.

Among Powers’ 65 consecutive victories, two of them have come against local teams who have had a chance to stop the Jets’ run into the record books. Hillman and Onaway have each matched up against Powers, but both teams have come out on the losing end.

In 2014-15, Hillman put together its best season in program history, going 23-1 en route to winning league, district and regional titles. After dispatching St. Ignace in the regional final, the Tigers earned their shot at the top-ranked Jets in the quarterfinals and put up a fight for as long as they could.

The Tigers lost the game 63-51, but were impressed by what they saw. With a lineup that featured a front line that went 6-6, 6-5 and 6-3 along with the talents of Whitens in the backcourt, the Jets were as good as advertised.

“I just remember how fundamentally sound they were as freshman, watching them and scouting them thinking, ‘This team legitimately has a shot to win four straight state championships,'” Muszynski said. “It was sweet to go toe-to-toe with those guys and have one of the closest games all year and actually have them on the ropes.”

Hillman kept pace with Powers into the fourth quarter, but eventually the Jets’ defensive pressure was too much and they pulled away too far for Hillman to rally. Powers converted at the free throw line, going 8-for-9 in the fourth quarter and limited Hillman’s offensive chances.

The Jets started the game on a 9-0 run, but Hillman clawed back to cut the deficit to 9-8 and led after the first and second quarters.

Whitens led Powers with 24.

Last season, Onaway got its chance to derail Powers in the quarterfinals and also came up short, losing 75-52.

Like Hillman, the Cardinals were in the midst of a record-breaking season, having won their first district title since 1989 and first ever regional title.

Onaway overcame several runs by the Jets and came within a few points of the lead two different times. But Powers had two many offensive weapons to stop and ultimately pulled away for good in the second half. The Cardinals cut the lead to two early in the third quarter but at the end of the period, Powers was leading by 14 and Onaway’s deficit was too big.

Whitens led all scorers with 30 points.

“I think we brought everything we had tonight, but we ran up against the best team in the state,” Onaway coach Eddy Szymoniak said after the game.

Muszynski and the Tigers know the difficulty of maintaining winning streaks. Since the 2014-15 season, the Tigers are 75-5 and have regular season, North Star League and home court winning streaks of 50, 47 and 39 games respectively.

Still what the Jets have accomplished, including their playoff runs, has impressed Muszynski and the Tigers try to mimic the Jets in terms of how they work together to achieve team goals.

“We’ve had a couple losses in the playoffs, but to do it for almost three straight years now, understanding how difficult it is to do in the regular season and within your league, it’s impressive,” Muszynski said. “I don’t care what level you play, whether it’s Class A, B, C, D. I don’t care what conference your in. To be perfect night in and night out and to execute night in and night out as a high school squad, it’s amazing.”

James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.