Local high school basketball fans will be treated to 24 games over three nights next week as Iola hosts the second annual War on 54 midseason tournament.
All three of Allen County’s schools — IHS, Humboldt and Marmaton Valley — will be a part of the festivities, as will nearby Crest, Yates Center, Anderson County, Cherryvale and St. Paul.
On the boys side, Iola’s Mustangs (5-3) will take on winless St. Paul in opening round action at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the IHS gymnasium, and then will take on either Cherryvale (1-5) or Marmaton Valley (2-4) in semifinal play Thursday evening.
The other side of the bracket pits Humboldt (7-1) against Crest (3-4) at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Iola Elementary School, and winless Yates Center against Anderson County (2-4) at the elementary school at 6:30.
The winners and losers of those matchups will take on each other Thursday.
IN GIRLS action, Iola (2-6) hosts Crest (5-2) at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the high school. From there, the Mustangs will take on either Humboldt (6-2) or St. Paul (3-6) Thursday.
On the other side of the bracket, Marmaton Valley (5-1) will take on Cherryvale (4-3) in what could be a dandy opening round matchup at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at IES. Anderson County (6-0) will play Yates Center (0-6) at the elementary school at 6:30 p.m. Those pairings will determine the semifinal matchups.
The third and final round will be next Friday.
THE GENESIS for War on 54 came about in the winter of 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With officials limiting attendance at high school sporting events that year, most of the midseason tournaments were called off.
In response, Iola, Humboldt, Marmaton Valley and St. Paul agreed to a round-robin tournament of their own, with games hosted by the three Allen County schools.
Intrigued by the thought of the local schools getting the opportunity to play each other more often, Iola and Yates Center administrators huddled the next year. 
Yates Center agreed to host the 2022 midseason tournament, knowing construction of the Iola Elementary School, which opened that fall, would add another site to allow Iola to become the full-time host after that.
“Once we got the second gym built, it pretty much became our thing,” Iola High athletic director Matt Baumwart explained. “Keeping it close and local was part of the deal, too.”
The midseason tournament also could give the schools something of a barometer on where they stand as they enter the heart of the 2023-24 schedule.
