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An emergency meeting was set up with the coaches, players, and parents do decide what to do. Rather than get caught later and have a possible state championship revoked, they decided it was best to go straight to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletics Association and let them know of the infraction. Holmen was eliminated from the playoffs. An appeal was set the next day, and nine players, their parents, the head coach, and the principal were off to the WIAA headquarters to plead their case. An additional witness, the coach of the team the boys had just beaten, appeared to say Holmen deserved to go on in the playoffs, and that the roles of the two players in question during the game were minimal and did not decide the outcome at all. It was a very classy move. The vote of the WIAA officials was unanimous, 9-0. Holmen was forced to forfeit their last game, finishing the season not on the field, but in a boardroom. The heart of the school had been broken. Students cried openly in the hallways. The high hopes of all were dashed and the mood of the entire school was somber. It was a terrible place to be. Some of the students blamed the two that had been suspended. I told those who came to me about it that the two did break the rules after the Onalaska game, but after that they did as they were told. They were not allowed to dress the first game. They were not allowed to play the second game. They sucked it up and accepted the consequences of their actions, as people should. They would have sat out the rest of the season if they were told to... they weren't. None of my students openly held it against the two at all. The activities director, the one with all the WIAA rulebooks in her office, offered her resignation. It was not accepted. Life went on at Holmen High School. |