SELMA — The Wapahani High School boys basketball team is playing for more than a championship.
They're playing to inspire their small town after an EF-3 tornado tore through the community.
People in Selma gave the Raiders a final sendoff from the school Friday before they play Brownstown Central for the Class 2A title at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday.
Wapahani won their first ever semi-state title in Lafayette two days after the tornado touched down.
"The team embodies what I believe is this community, which is everybody working together," said Jeff Goss, whose nephew Mason Barton is a senior on the Wapahani basketball team.
Goss erected a large sign in his yard for the team shortly after their semi-state win.
"I think it was part of the healing," Goss said about the semi-state win. "It did a lot for not just the team to go out and play, but it did a lot for this community.'"
Kendra Waymire experienced the tornado with the Wapahani coaches at Selma's American Legion Hall.
"I went back and told the coaches because the boys had just left from eating dinner," Waymire said. "Within minutes, it came ripping through town."
Waymire said the Wapahani team has made Selma proud not just because of their winning ways, but because of their character.
"On Thursday night and Friday right after the tornado, the boys wanted to help clean up," Waymire said. "The coaches kept them focused and said, 'We've got to go to Lafayette.'"
Whether they win or lose the state title, Wapahani's boys basketball team is already immortalized as an inspiration to a town who needed it.
"Little kids will walk up to them and say, 'Can I have your autograph?'" Waymire said.
"There's just a lot of togetherness," Goss said. "Everybody is together, everybody supports this team, and we're really proud of them."
