Iola American Legion advances to state

FORT SCOTT — The Iola Indians hadn’t lost two games in a row this season, and they weren’t about to start when the games mattered the most.
After surviving a scare Friday in its loss to Silver Lake, Iola rebounded to win its next three contests in the zone tournament to earn a spot in the Kansas state tournament.
“You know I expected this team to do well,” said Roland Weir, the Iola’s head coach. “I think they wanted it this year to prove last year was a fluke.”
After blowing out Fort Scott 20-3 in the opening round of the zone tournament, the No. 1 seeded Indians struggled to regain their offensive firepower Friday against Silver Lake, which was the tournament’s No. 2 seed.
Silver Lake defeated Iola, handing Weir’s team its first loss since late June when it fell in the last round of the Adam LaRoche Tournament to Fort Scott.
“(The players) all kind of disappeared,” Weir said. “I hope they were embarrassed.”
Because the zone tournament was fitted to be double-elimination style, Iola was still alive after its loss.
But another defeat would send the Indians packing and end their largely successful year on a sour note, just like last season’s team when it was shockingly eliminated in the zone tournament.
Iola’s next matchup came later Friday night after Fort Scott and Osawatomie battled to determine who would face the Indians in the semi-final.
Osawatomie won, setting up its win-or-go-home matchup with Iola.
Osawatomie went home. Iola pressed forward, winning 13-5.
“It wasn’t a pretty game” Weir said. “We took advantage of mistakes.”
Despite the clutch victory to avoid elimination, Iola was then faced with the challenge of defeating Silver Lake in not just one, but two games on Saturday.
Because Silver Lake had not lost in the double-elimination tournament, it could afford to drop the first matchup as long as it took care of business in the second.
But Iola never gave Silver Lake the chance.
The Indians took both games, the first 8-0 and the second 11-4, to capture its fourth zone tournament in the past five years.
Iola will head to Colby to face the host team in its first-round matchup Wednesday night at 8.
Although Iola had captured a momentous win and a clutch comeback in the tournament to achieve its goal of returning to state, the celebration seemed more matter-of-fact than jubilant.
There was no dog-pile on the mound or caps thrown in the air.
The players simply exchanged handshakes and posed with the trophy.
“With (Saturday’s) weather, we were all just drained,” Weir said. “It was just draining mentally and physically.”
The back-to-back games were played from 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m., when the temperature topped out at 98 degrees. But it felt more like 105.
So even when the players doused their coach with the traditional water bucket dump, it seemed more practical than anything.
Now the Indians turn their attention to Colby. The team will make the six-hour trek Tuesday night to get some rest before its game Wednesday.
Weir, as always, said he has confidence in his players to get done what they know they need to get done.
“The message isn’t going to change,” Weir said. “I’m not going out there overconfident, but I know these kids will respond.”