Lakers Win 1st Annual Quad Cup at Mason City Country Club
A new tradition has started in the ICCAC in the form of a four team match play tournament involving Iowa Lakes, Iowa Central, Des Moines Area, and North Iowa Area community colleges; the Quad Cup. Team were seeded one through four based on the previous years regional tournament results with Iowa Central getting the one seed, DMACC the two, Iowa Lakes the three, and NIACC the four. Two eighteen hole matches were played with eight players in an alternate shot, best shot, and better ball format every six holes with the one seed taking on the four seed and the two seed competing with the three seed.
"The guys were extemely excited for this tournament. We don't normally get to play match play events which why we coaches decided it would be a great idea to have an annual tournament with rival schools each fall," said Coach Weber. "The guys came to play today and really wanted to take home a victory and they did just that in a very entertaining and drama filled day."
Iowa Lakes took on DMACC in their first matc and after the four groups came in there was a draw with each team winning two matches. The result was a sudden death playoff between coaches picks in an alternate shot format. Coach Weber chose Carlton Rahn and Nate Kyle (Kyle was sub in to start the day because of roster size) to compete against Des Moines Area's Fuhs brothers, Alec and Avery.
Coach Weber had this to say about the playoff: "Carl and Nate played well in their first match together and had a lot of confidence and team chemistry, so there was no question of who I was going to throw out there. I knew immediately who Coach Seaboch was going to play and, rightfully so. Alec and Avery are two of the best players in the conference and had previously won their match 5 and 4. Carl pulled his drive to the left into the trees but so did DMACC. Nate hit a good shot to get up by the green but ended up in a green side bunker while DMACC was short of the green by about 30 yards. After DMACC pitched up to about 15 feet, Carl hit the clutch shot of the morning by hitting his bunker shot to about two feet. DMACC missed their par attempt, and Nate made his putt and we won the playoff. It was a very exciting moment that a lot of kids live for. Carl loves playing on a stage and thrives in pressure situations, and I could not be happier for the guys after that first round win over a very good DMACC roster."
After taking down DMACC the Lakers went on to face Iowa Central who defeated NIACC 3 to 1.
"There was no chance I was going to shake up any of our pairings. The guys played well together and had a lot of confidence and chemistry so I just ran with it," said Weber.
The first match went to Iowa Central while the second went to Iowa Lakes. Sterling McIlravy and Aaron James took care of business in the anchor spot and won their match 5 and 4 to give the Lakers a 2 to 1 lead with one match still in play. Yet again, it came down to Carl and Nate to finish off what the team had started. After being down three with six holes to play, Carl and Nate got hot and won three of the next five holes to push the match to all square heading to eighteen. All the Lakers had to do was halve the hole to halve their match and win the Quad Cup 2 1/2 to 1 1/2 over Iowa Central.
"The guys knew exactly where they were when I spoke to them on the tee," said Coach Weber. "All they needed to do was halve the hole. Luckily for us we had two guys playing some really good golf today and they were ready for the moment. Both guys went right off the tee but managed to get out of trouble. Nate had a look at par from just off the green while Carl hit another clutch shot to about eight feet for a look at birdie. After Iowa Central missed their par putt, all Carl had to do was two putt. He made things a little interesting by running his first putt a few feet past but burried his par putt to win the hole and win the match, and the tournament. It was another great moment for Carl and another great moment for this team."
Iowa Lakes won their match over Iowa Central 3 to 1 and took home the first annual Quad Cup.
Coach Weber closed the season with this about his team: "The guys have come a long way in a short amount of time. They started the season off a little rocky and hit some bumps throughout the season, but today really showed the resolve and fight that I have been looking for all season. They showed a lot of confidence in each other and in themselves, and I couldn't be more proud of them. Everybody won a match today, so everybody contributed to this win. Hopefully this will show them what they are truly capable of and we use this heading into the off-season to get hungrier for more and get better and ready for the spring."