Trevor Heitland has been known around Kennedy High School the last two years as a tough, hard-nosed football player who gets the most out of his ability.

Now his fame is growing as a tough, hard-nosed basketball player as well.

Heitland, a 5-foot-11 senior, is leading the Kennedy basketball team in scoring, assists and steals, but that only hints at the contributions he's made as the emergency point guard for a winning club.

Darius Fuller was supposed to start at point guard this year, but was suspended for the first 10 games. Antonio Bolden might have been next in line, but he left Kennedy and transferred to Linn-Mar after the school year began.

That left Heitland, who averaged just 1.4 points last year as a defensive specialist. He was happy to take the ball and see what he could do.

"First of all, I think he's done an outstanding job accepting his role," Kennedy Coach Bob Fontana said. "It's a role he got thrown into, it wasn't a role we intended for him.

"For him to fill that role and do it in the fashion he's done has been very gratifying."

Heitland is averaging 12.5 points, which is roughly 900 percent more than a year ago, and is contributing 4.2 assists and 4 steals per game. It's unlikely the Cougars would have a 5-1 record at the holiday break without him.

Heitland thought he might start at off-guard this season and downplays his switch to the point, claiming it's not a big deal in Kennedy's offense.

"I just accepted it and tried to do what I could with it," he said modestly. "It wasn't a huge change."

Fontana begs to differ and thinks Heitland is a major reason the Cougars have gotten off to a good start. "I think he deserves a lot of credit," the coach said. "He's contributing in a lot of ways."

Heitland has been filling up the boxscores this season. He collected 9 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 6 steals in a 57-47 victory over Waterloo West and had 11 points, 7 assists and 6 steals in a 54-45 verdict over Xavier.

He finished with a career-high 22 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in a 59-54 victory over Iowa City High and had 18 points, 3 steals and 2 assists in a 62-57 loss at No. 3 Dubuque Senior, Kennedy's only setback this year.

Heitland never imagined he'd be the leading scorer, but then Josiah Coleman and Fuller got suspended for half the regular season for violating school rules and Heitland helped fill the void.

"I was hoping I could do whatever I could, but I never thought I was going to do that much," he said. "I didn't have any goals in mind. I just wanted to do as much as I can and try to win as many games as possible."

Heitland has been averaging 29 minutes in 32-minute contests, compared to approximately 7 or 8 minutes a season ago. "It's a good example of a young man who paid his dues last year," Fontana said.

Heitland initially came to prominence at Kennedy as a football player. He rushed for 929 yards and scored 10 touchdowns as a junior, then became a hybrid tailback/wide receiver this season and rushed for 714 yards, caught 29 passes for 542 yards and scored 17 TDs.

He helped the Cougars make back-to-back trips to the Class 4A playoffs and finished his varsity career with 2,185 yards of total offense and 27 touchdowns.

Growing up, he was known more as a basketball player than a football player. "I always seemed to like basketball a little bit more," he said. "But things changed in high school."

Heitland has been talking to small colleges about playing at the next level, but is leaning toward the gridiron. "I want to play football in college as of now," he said. "We'll see what happens."

Kennedy returns to action next week with home games against Dubuque Wahlert on Tuesday and Cedar Rapids Washington on Friday. Fuller and Coleman will be eligible to play against Des Moines North on Saturday, Jan. 14, which means they'll miss Kennedy's big game against undefeated Jefferson on Friday, Jan. 13.

Coleman averaged 10.1 points and 5 rebounds last season and is the top returning player in both departments. Fuller averaged 3.5 points last year and was third on the team in assists.

Kennedy has featured a balanced attack with Heitland (12.5 points), Elliott Christians (10.5), Cody Bell (9.2), Alex Hayden (8.2), Josh Jahlas (7.8) and Benjamin Struss (4.5) leading the way. Christians tops the rebounding at 7.3 per game.

The Cougars have been ranked in the top-10 this season and barely missed the ratings heading into the holidays, even without Fuller and Coleman.

"I think we've handled it really well," Heitland said. "We're not using that (two missing players) as an excuse for why we lost a game. We know we're a good team. We've been playing well together."

Fontana said the chemistry on this year's club team has been excellent and he's looking forward to being at full strength in two weeks. He praised his players for accepting new roles and handling them well.

"I think it's going to make us stronger in the long run," he said.