T-Birds alive, well in tournament
I-S boys win fourth straight regional
By Greg Seubert
Two more wins.
That’s what stands between the Iola-Scandinavia boys’ basketball team and the program’s first trip to state since 2008.
The Thunderbirds added wins No. 25 and 26 over Colby and Markesan to their undefeated season. A 69-50 win over Colby March 5 gave the T-Birds their fourth straight WIAA Division 4 regional championship and the team advanced to the final March 4 with a 49-34 win over Markesan.
The win over Colby sets up a sectional semifinal matchup between the top-seeded T-Birds and No. 2 Stratford at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 10, at Wautoma High School. The winner of that game will then face No. 1 Roncalli or No. 3 St. Mary Catholic for a sectional championship at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 12, in Auburndale. The winner of that game advances to state.
I-S 69, Colby 50
Colby trailed 25-19 at halftime and cut the T-Birds’ lead to 45-41 with just under six minutes to play, but Iola-Scandinavia outscored the Hornets 24-9 the rest of the way.
Kaden Jueds led the T-Birds with 16 points; Parker Prahl and Isaiah Hoyord added 13 each; and Brock Wester finished with 12.
Brody Decker led Colby with 17 points.
“Colby’s one heck of a team,” coach Sam Bertsch said. “We were able to withstand runs. We don’t know a lot about these teams, but you’d be surprised how much work our assistant coaches put in to prepare and say, ‘What are they going to run this time?’ Sure enough, that’s what they were running and we knew what they were going to.
“We talked quite a bit about how this would be the third time this year where we played back-to-back (games),” he said. “They were all tough. We are a team that is used to doing this.”
I-S 49, Markesan 34
The T-Birds set a school record for most wins in a season.
Prahl scored eight of his game-high 15 points to send the T-Birds to the locker room with a 21-15 halftime lead.
Iola-Scandinavia then outscored the Hornets 28-19 in the second half.
Wester and Hoyord added 14 and 13 points, respectively, while
Austin Grams and Micah Kracht led Markesan with 10 each.
Bertsch has used the same starting lineup of seniors – Prahl, Hoyord, Wester, Jueds and Will Cady – all season and doesn’t plan to stop now.
“Twenty-six games in a row and I think the odds are pretty good we’re going to try No. 27 on Thursday night,” he said. “What makes it so special is they’ve got the connection with each other because they’ve been playing so long. Coach (Jon) Prahl’s coaching his brother. Coach (Scott) Tappa’s able to coach his son. Coach (Mark) Wester is coaching his son. They’re doing a good job coaching. They’re not dads out there. They’ve been around these guys a long time. They know what buttons to push.”
The T-Birds’ 2020-21 season ended last March with a 61-57 loss to Blair-Taylor in a sectional semifinal. This season, the T-Birds will have to get by Stratford, which won its regional championship with a 56-45 win over Marathon.
“We’ll have a great game plan,” Bertsch said. “We have plenty of film on Stratford, so we’ll start looking at some game film and breaking it down. Coach (Curt) Schmidt is approaching 400 career wins and he’s been in some big games himself. He’ll have his team ready to go.
“We will take it one game at a time, but our goal is to play another 36 minutes,” he added. “Anytime you can play in sectionals, relish it. We went through a little drought, so we’re really going to enjoy the moment. A lot of things are coming together. Let’s keep it rolling.”
