East football set to leave VFA
WAUSAU - Wausau East's football team will leave the Valley Football Association and instead try to find success competing outside the structure of one of the largest conferences in the state next fall.
The Wausau School Board on Monday approved a request for the school to take its football program independent, roughly two months after the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Association rejected East's proposal to move from the Valley Football Association to the Great Northern Conference, where school officials believe East athletes would be both more competitive and safer.
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East closes out the regular season Friday with a game at Kimberly, the top-ranked Large Division team in The Associated Press state poll. East, the smallest school in the VFA-North Division, has not won a game since Oct. 23, 2014, and its last conference victory came on Sept. 12 of that same season.
East has a student enrollment of 1,021 this year, but is projected to be at 950 students in 2019-20. Kaukauna is currently the second-smallest school in the VFA-North with a student enrollment of 1,161. Appleton North is the largest at 1,921 students, followed by D.C. Everest at 1,627 students.
Last season, 18 East players suffered serious injuries, six involving concussions, and school leaders are concerned that student athletes will continue to be in peril if they stay in the VFA.
Wausau East's next step is to send letters to both the WIAA and other member schools of the VFA, informing them of school's intention to go independent.
"We're looking at our students and their safety. That's been the main issue from the start," Wausau East Principal Brad Peck said.
The move could result in a legal battle between the school district and the WIAA over the WIAA's bylaws on penalties for schools that leave a conference.
An independent move would leave East ineligible for playoff consideration for four years, and the WIAA could punish East's other athletic programs for the football team's rebellion. The other programs could lose conference schedules and postseason play for two seasons.
East's position is that the football team is independent from the other athletic programs at the school, which compete in the Wisconsin Valley Conference. The Valley Football Association is a football-only conference.
Thom Hahn, the Wausau School District's director of secondary education, said the WIAA has told Wausau school officials, "that the WIAA can make their own interpretation (on East's conference standing) based on their bylaws and that if we move forward its very possible all sports could be adversely affected."
Hahn said school officials plan to meet with the WIAA as soon as within the next week and lay out East's plan with the hope the situation could be settled without a legal challenge.
"The whole idea behind it is Wausau East is seeking safety for its students and football program," Hahn said.
Hahn said that the proposal to move forward as an independent program would be dropped if other athletic programs would be at risk.
"Maybe with (the WIAA) knowing that there is a strong (school) board support here and there's interest in filing a legal challenge against them, perhaps they will reconsider their (stance)," Wausau School Board President Lance Trollop said.
Two residents spoke at Monday's meeting in support for East becoming an independent program.
"I as a parent can not continue to see my son and all of (the East players) go out every game and lose and risk getting injured against schools that are twice or three times the size of (East's enrollment)," said Lisa Myles, whose son, Cordell, is a junior on the East team. "Our boys are playing both ways, they don't come out of the game.
"We shouldn't be in this position. The WIAA should have taken care of this problem for us and moved us into a conference where we belonged," Myles said. "So we are asking that you as a school board act on behalf of our children for their safety."
East junior Caleb Moses, a tailback and safety for the Lumberjacks, said a move to an independent program might give some relief to a battered Lumberjacks program. Moses said in the current situation said he feels, "the school morale for the football team is just going downhill at this point.
"Going out and losing every game isn't easy and it isn't fun," Moses said. "But every day we practice just as long as just as hard as every team that we face"
Tim Johnson: 715-845-0731, or timothy.johnson@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @timmyjo11