WOLFE STILL PLAGUED BY BAD LUCK.

Byline: GERRY GITTELSON Community Sports

Hart High's Ryan Wolfe is undoubtedly among the Foothill League's best athletes, a 6-foot-3 junior who's a terrific receiver and defensive back in football, and a slam-dunk jumper and tenacious defender in basketball.

But he seems to have the world's worst luck staying healthy. As a sophomore, he sliced open his hand so severely during a football game that longtime coach Mike Herrington said it might have been the worst cut he'd ever seen.

``I looked down and could see the tendons and the bone,'' Herrington said at the time, and Wolfe ended up missing three weeks.

Then, after working his way from junior varsity to varsity basketball last winter, Wolfe suffered a torn ACL in his knee during the summer. The injury required surgery, and Wolfe missed nearly the entire football season, although he did return for the playoffs and made some key plays to help Hart win the Southern Section Div. II championship.

And now Wolfe has suffered a high ankle sprain, which could sideline him from the basketball team for as long as a month. Wolfe twisted the ankle in a game Friday against Canyon - the same opponent he faced when he injured his knee during a summer football event - and the swelling has yet to reduce, according to basketball coach Tom Kelly.

Fellow basketball starter Brian Elledge also won't be available for Friday's game against Burroughs because he has scheduled an official football-recruiting visit to San Jose State. So Hart will be significantly shorthanded against Burroughs in a game that figured to be competitive in the best of circumstances.

Brandon Williams and Ryan Russell are the likely candidates to be the replacement starters.

--Former Hart football player Steve Defeo, who blossomed as a defensive lineman after transferring to Edison High of Huntington Beach this past season, said he's uncomfortable at Edison and would like to return to Hart for his senior year next season.

Defeo, a starting defensive lineman for Hart's JV team as a sophomore in 2002, started 10 games for Edison this past season, totaling five sacks to help the team reach the Southern Section Div. I quarterfinals. The 6-1, 200-pounder is living with his father in Huntington Beach but said he is trying to arrange a move back to Santa Clarita.

--The Canyon High boys' basketball team won its first six games with junior Dejon Negron in the lineup. But since Negron was ruled academically ineligible, the team entered the week with just four victories in the past 10 games, so Negron's departure clearly has proved significant.

Also a promising football player, Negron has been declared academically ineligible for the second year in a row.

``Dejon was doing a great job while he was in there, but he just hasn't woken up yet,'' basketball coach Chad Phillips said.

--Well, it's official: The installation of artificial turf and all-weather tracks begins in April at local high schools Hart, Canyon, Valencia and Saugus.

However, that doesn't mean varsity games will be played on the campuses, certainly not at Hart, which has a big enough crowd draw to fill its home stadium at College of the Canyons and has no intention of installing bleachers.

Saugus also plays at College of the Canyons and doesn't have plans to switch, and Canyon always has played at home and now will simply have the luxury of a better field.

But Valencia, which has played its home games at Canyon High and College of the Canyons over the years, immediately plans to build bleachers to sit nearly 5,000. Coach Brian Stiman agreed there's a ``50-50 chance'' the stadium project will be completed in time for football season in September. However, there's still the issue of building a press box and snack bar, along with having enough toilets. Stay tuned.

--Valencia High junior varsity basketball standout Kevin Delange, at 6-8 one of the region's tallest and most promising sophomores, is expected to miss at least two more weeks after injury his knee early this month.

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Hart's Ryan Wolfe (20) could miss a month with his latest injury, a high ankle sprain suffered Friday against Canyon.