Ahrens season comes to early end
Tiger junior suffers broken leg
By George Starks

VERSAILLES- Before the start of Saturday’s championship game between Versailles and Anna, the buzz was all about Kyle Ahrens becoming the next 1,000 point scorer at Versailles.

To add to the hype, Ahrens would have hit that milestone faster than any the player in the history of the school, needing just 18 points to achieve that mark.

With 3:29 left in the first half, Ahrens was going after a ball that was heading out of bounds, in an effort to keep the play alive.

Ahrens, going to his right, got to the ball but came down with all his weight on the wrong leg.

His left leg.

At that point, the gym went silent as Ahrens was screaming in painful agony. While the speculation was a torn or ruptured Achilles tendon, no one could say for sure. Sunday in a phone conversation, Tigers coach Scott McEldowney confirmed that his star player had broken both his fibula and tibia in his left leg.

Ahrens was taken to Upper Valley Medical Center where he was first diagnosed. According to McEldowney, the early prognosis is that Ahrens will be on the shelf for anywhere from 6-8 weeks.

“This kid has a high threshold for pain,” said McEldowney. “When he went down, he automatically tried to bounce right back up. He was in church Sunday morning even though his parents told him to stay home and rest. He’s just an unbelievable kid.”

If Ahrens is out of action for that length of time, it will dramatically change the look of the team. Before the injury to Ahrens, I seriously thought Versailles was a legitimate contender to make a post season run to the state title.

I hate to sound like all hope relied on the Tiger junior because it takes five guys working together as a team to be successful.

With Ahrens gone, so is a possible 30 point a night scorer and no matter what kind of team a coach has, it’s hard to replace that kind of offensive firepower.

I remember a kid named Kyle Gehle. Here was a kid that could shoot lights out from anywhere on the floor. I had never seen anyone like him and to be honest, I thought I never would again.

Then one night, I was talking to one of my cohorts, Dean Eversole. Dean told me there was a kid coming that was much better than Gehle and his name was Kyle Ahrens.

I thought the man was crazy and I told him so. Of course, in true Eversole fashion, he laughed it off and said, “Just wait and remember I told you so.”

Eversole was right. Ahrens is, without a doubt, the best all-around player I’ve ever watched play the game in my 28 years of writing.

Ahrens was helped off the court, still five points short of the coveted 1,000 point mark, having netted 13, and may not have the chance until next season.

With any luck at all, he will be back for the post season tournament but if his coming back puts his career in jeopardy, then I say take the time to get that leg where it needs to be.

This young man has the ability to play major college basketball and possibly a pro career. Having a state title under your belt would be sweet but it’s not worth the risk.

Then again, I really don’t think I need to say this. I’m merely stating the obvious.