Hawks Happy Mudge Decided On One More Try

Like any high school senior, Lakeland’s Jared Mudge had high hopes this fall.

Play some football, basketball, hang out with buddies. Stay off crutches.

He had a tortuous junior year. He broke a bone near his ankle in the second quarter of the second football game and was lost for the season. With the OK of three doctors, he returned for basketball. Early on, though, he re-broke the same bone and was sidelined again.

“Last year ruined a lot of things for me,” Mudge said. “I wanted to come back my senior year hoping it would be different.”

Instead, it was painfully similar. He tore a knee ligament in football.

“It happened on the same spot of the field, in the second quarter of the second game, near the 20-yard line again,” he said.

He had surgery and missed out on Lakeland’s march to the Intermountain League title.

“I went over to see him after his surgery and asked him how he was doing,” Lakeland basketball coach Trent Derrick said. “He said, `Coach, I don’t know if I could go through it if I got injured again (in basketball). I’m tired of being injured.’

“I told him, `I’m going to leave it totally up to you to decide.”’

By mid-January, after spending nearly 10 months on crutches the last two years, Mudge tired of being a spectator.

“I gave it a lot of thought. I talked to coach and some of the players about it,” said Mudge, who started as a freshman, sophomore and junior before he was injured. “I was kind of worried about tearing (the ligament) again, but you can’t live like that. You only get to play basketball once.”

Mudge’s return has helped spark the Hawks, who started the season 0-8. Lakeland was 2-9 pre-Mudge, 5-2 after his return. Last year, Lakeland was 2-10 minus Mudge and 4-1 with the 6-foot-3 forward in the lineup.

“There’s a correlation,” Derrick said. “The most impressive thing about it is when he said he wanted to come back, he said he didn’t have to play a minute, he just wanted to be out there.”

Mudge is thankful to be healthy - knock on wood - and contributing.

“My ankle still gets a little sore, but it’s OK. My knee is pretty weak, not like it used to be,” he said. “But we’re playing good and I’m happy for the guys. They worked so hard. Things are starting to come together.”

Panhandling

I’m not in the habit of ripping brethren and sistren in the business, but it’s lame when the Associated Press can’t get 10 lazy sportswriters to fill out prep poll votes. Three boys’ basketball polls were canceled, including the final regular-season rankings, due to dawdling scribes.

Our prep writer, Greg Lee, used to gather votes for a girls’ poll, but tired of having to remind supposed professionals to cast ballots.

Former Coeur d’Alene High assistant basketball coach John Astorquia is returning to CdA after the conclusion of San Diego State’s season. There, he assisted former College of Southern Idaho coach Fred Trenkle, who has resigned.

Astorquia, a key figure in CdA’s boys state-title team in 1997-98, will study employment options before determining if he’ll return to the Viks’ sidelines.

“We’ll see what job turns up,” he said.

Idaho has moved Jordan Kramer, son of Vandals legend Jerry Kramer, from running back to free safety. Kramer, who ran a 4.5 40 this winter, will compete with Brad Rice at free. Bryson Gardner will move to strong safety.

The Vandals will go into spring drills with Michael Moody as the No. 1 running back. He’ll be challenged by Anthony Tenner, Rahimu Pettit and walk-on Kyle Lucas.

Don’t forget about Central Valley’s Tyree Clowe, who won the Washington state 215-pound wrestling title Saturday. Clowe originally planned to wrestle just in dual meets, but he ended up going undefeated.

“He’s the best recreational wrestler in the country,” CV coach Brett Racicot said.

On the topic of coming from nowhere, consider ex-St. Maries wrestler Ry Stone, who took second at 184 pounds for North Idaho College at the NJCAA championships. As a junior and senior at St. Maries, Stone didn’t place in the top six at state.

Saturday, he was one point - one blown call actually, according to coach Pat Whitcomb - from winning a national title. “It wasn’t a fluke,” the coach said. “He was confident the whole way.”

Grad school

Ex-Lakeland High wrestling star Kole Clauson has a 14-4 record at Wisconsin. The 174-pound junior is rated No. 8 in the nation.

The Big Ten championships are March 6-7.

Front row

Wall-to-wall hoops. Sandpoint and Lake City stage a rematch tonight at 7 in the A-1 Region I championship game at Lake City. Sandpoint won 62-58 Friday night. If Lake City wins tonight, an if-necessary game will be Wednesday at 7 at LC.

The A-2 District I title game is Thursday at 7:45 at Lake City.

North Idaho College’s men can wrap up a Region 18 Tournament berth against rival Ricks at 7:30 Saturday. NIC’s women take on 26-3 Ricks at 5:30.

And finally, Idaho and Boise State renew hostilities Sunday at 1 in the Kibbie Dome. There’s a remote chance the East Division title could be on the line.

Idaho can finish as the No. 1, 2, 3 or 4 seed in the East.