Amherst high school football team remains out of WIAA playoffs after judge denies request
The Tomorrow River School District’s appeal to overturn the WIAA’s ruling that the Amherst High School football team must forfeit all but one of its wins this season for using an ineligible player was denied Monday.
Portage County Circuit Court Branch 1 judge Michael D. Zell heard arguments and ruled in favor of the WIAA in the case of Amherst High School vs. Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
The school district filed for a temporary restraining order after Amherst’s victories prior to Oct. 11 were declared vacant by the WIAA.
Amherst had a 7-2 record on the field this season and won its final seven games, including a 28-21 victory over Stratford on Friday in a game that would have decided the Central Wisconsin Conference-Large champion. The Falcons were in line to receive one of the top seeds in the WIAA playoffs.
Due to the forfeits, Amherst did not qualify for the playoffs after its record dropped to 1-8 overall and 1-6 in the CWC-Large. Stratford shared the conference title with Wittenberg-Birnamwood with 6-1 records.
Attorney Keith Bruett of Quarles & Brady LLP represented the school district. Bruett argued the WIAA went too far in forcing Amherst to forfeit all of its wins. Bruett noted that Amherst defeated Manawa 49-0, Spencer/Columbus Catholic 54-0 and Nekoosa 38-0. With all of those games ending up being running clock games in the second half, Bruett said the WIAA’s rules allow consideration of the player’s impact on the outcome of the game when assessing penalties.
“We were simply suggesting that common sense should prevail in a case like this,” district administrator Mike Richie said in a news release from the district after Monday's ruling. “Everyone agrees that there was no intent by anyone here to play an ineligible player. We didn’t know until last week. WIAA had the opportunity to apply common sense during our appeal in front of their board of control. They could have decided to allow those three uncontested victories to stand, making us 3-5 to that point in the season. That would have been painful to our football program, our school and community, but we would have accepted that conclusion because it has some basis in logic.”
The WIAA was informed last week that Amherst may have used a student-athlete who was participating in his fifth year of high school athletics. WIAA regulations state a student-athlete may not compete in WIAA sports for more than four consecutive years.
MORE: Durkin, Pechinski, Helminen lead way at WIAA girls state golf tournament
In a news release last week, the school district wrote “the ruling handed down by WIAA is that an Amherst Falcons football player had previously exhausted his athletic eligibility because he participated in football at a different school district in 2018. TRSD officials argued that this eligibility issue was not known to the school and could not have been discovered by the school nor its athletic director Shawn Groshek via WIAA procedures in place at the time.”
The release said Groshek was advised Oct. 10 by the WIAA that the association had received an allegation from an outside, unidentified person of an ineligible player participating on the Amherst varsity football team. The release added Groshek and TRSD administrators immediately began investigating the allegation and responded with an appeal document to the WIAA on Oct. 11.
The next day, the WIAA informed the school district of its decision and offered the district the opportunity to appeal to the board of control. The board of control then voted 9-0 in favor of upholding the ruling, leading to Monday’s court hearing.
WIAA playoffs
Central Wisconsin first-round games
Division 1
Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln at Wausau West
D.C. Everest at Hudson
Division 2
Pulaski at Marshfield
Division 3
Lakeland at Medford
Merrill at Rice Lake
Shawano at Mosinee
Division 4
Baldwin-Woodville at Adams-Friendship
Division 5
Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau at Colby
Kiel at Wittenberg-Birnamwood
Division 6
Cumberland at Stratford (Stiehm Stadium)
Fall Creek at Auburndale
Division 7
Pacelli at Regis
Turtle Lake at Edgar
Pittsville at Assumption
8-Player
McDonell Catholic at Newman Catholic
Port Edwards at De Soto
This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: Amherst high school football team remains out of WIAA playoffs
