I’ve covered or watched sports for most of my life and there’s one lesson that usually rings true at the high school level — if you’re starting a freshman, you’re either a very small school or you’re in trouble.

It’s not a knock on freshman, it’s just the way it usually is. Freshman usually aren’t physically or mentally mature enough to handle the rigors of a varsity sport and the isolation they may feel from their older peers can easily catch up to them.

That’s why this last basketball season was so special for the Austin and Hayfield boys basketball teams. Each squad started a freshman guard and each one came up big in the postseason.

For the Packers, freshman Zach Wessels, a 6-foot tall slasher, didn’t walk into the starting lineup but he was a pretty big part of the lineup from day one. I watched him grow from a hesitant shot taker to someone who wasn’t afraid to take it the rack against much taller players throughout the year.

By the time the playoffs, rolled around, it was Wessels who hit a key shot to turn the momentum around and lift Austin to a home victory over Faribault. In the second round at Winona, Wessels hit an early hoop that helped give his team momentum early on.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Wessels showed some solid maturity on a play in the second half where he was tied up with a Winona player, thrown to the ground — and called for a foul (his fourth personal in a close game).

Some players would’ve thrown a fit or at least begged to their coach that it wasn’t their fault.

Wessels calmly walked off the court grabbing his shoulder in pain and sat on the bench.

You can’t teach composure like that and I look forward to seeing the Packers in the future if their young guard continues to mature along with sophomore big men Joe Aase and Tom Aase.

In Hayfield I caught a glimpse of point guard Cole Kruger, a 6-1 freshman, before the season even began.

It was the annual teacher-student game and I was covering the event in anticipation of the real season when a kid I didn’t recognize was putting on a pretty impressive display.

It wasn’t so much the fact that he was hounding teachers on defense, but it was his explosiveness to the rim that I noticed. When I later found out he was a freshman, I thought it was a misprint at first.

Kruger started for the Vikings from day one on a squad that had just two seniors in the rotation. He wasn’t afraid to post up or to thread a pass in the paint, but he didn’t really like to shoot three-pointers.

Then came the Vikings’ postseason contest at Kasson/Mantorville where Hayfield trailed by one with a few seconds remaining. Hayfield had missed four field goals and four free throws over the last four minutes, but Kruger didn’t hesitate.

He showed the maturity of a senior as he dribbled past K/M’s press and although it may have required a little luck, he banked in a game winning three from the wing in the face of K/M’s defensive pressure.

That’s big from anyone, much less a freshman.

While both of these players are off to solid starts, I hope they keep working at it and continue to grow. The area can always use some great basketball players.

It’s also important to note that the upper classmen on both of these teams deserve a ton of credit for supporting their younger teammates.

Sometimes it isn’t easy to watch a younger player out-shine you, but I didn’t see any dissension on either squad.