Schneid Remarks

It is Homecoming Week - one of my favorite times of the year. It is fun to see alumni returning, especially for the Friday football game.

Last week there was a question whether or not there would even be a football game after the Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop football team cancelled their next two games due to a school policy violation. GFW was WEM's scheduled opponent for the Bucs annual Homecoming game. WEM Activites Director Jeff Boran received a phone call from the GFW A.D. Wednesday morning, Oct. 5 telling him they would be forfeiting to the Bucs and to Norwood-Young America (Oct. 7). Boran was as shocked as anyone when he received this phone call. Boran said he was informed that due to disciplinary reasons GFW was going to have to forfeit their next two games. In a release by GFW Superintendent Tami Martin, she said the district was made aware of actions that fell under the GFW Hazing Policy Sept. 29.

After two full days of investigations, it was determined many students had violated their hazing policy. GFW called the Minnesota State High School League, and Martin said they did not have enough information to serve individual penalties. Because of their school policy and the number of football players involved, it was determined they would forfeit their next two games. "We want to emphasis that no individual students are being penalized under the MSHSL, this is a school policy violation penalty, we will be forfeiting the next two games," Martin said in a statement.

With the forfeit being set, Boran had his work cut out for him. Do we accept the forfeit? Do we schedule another game? Who can we play? Would Norwood-Young America be available? Is WEM's Homecoming football game finished?

Boran said he really had no idea what to do upon hearing the news from GFW. If at all possible, WEM did not want to take Friday night off due to a forfeit. First thoughts were to play a Big Nine school's junior varsity team. After a call to Kevin Merkle of the MSHSL, it was determined playing a junior varsity team which is currently playing a varsity schedule would not work. Thoughts were given about playing Norwood-Young America, knowing they had their Homecoming this week also. A possible Tuesday game was briefly discussed, but safety of the players and general preparation for the game were taken into consideration and the NYA game talk was stopped. There were also brief discussions with a couple of area schools, one of which had forfeited a game a couple weeks ago. It was decided this wasn't going to work out for either team.

Boran said he contacted the Twin Cities Football District Director who forwarded WEM's open date to St. Paul Humboldt High School. Humboldt did not play a varsity schedule this year, due to a lack of upper classmen. With only seven total juniors and seniors on their team, Humboldt they decided to forgo their varsity schedule and play a junior varsity schedule. Humboldt is in the process of trying to rebuild their program and they plan on having a varsity team in 2017. So after a couple of phone calls between Boran, WEM head football coach Jon Bakken, and the coaches and AD at Humboldt, an agreement was reached. WEM will face the St. Paul Humboldt junior varsity team at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14. So by Thursday, Oct. 6 the annual Homecoming football game had been rescheduled.

Boran said if this game would have fallen through, he was going to try and contact a handful of Wisconsin or Iowa schools. Fortunately he never had to do this. This would have also been a tough schedule because Wisconsin schools are playing their eighth game this week.

Boran said this was a very taxing situation, especially since Homecoming is such a big event. He said the incidents at GFW must have been very serious for them to forfeit two games. "They have to do what they feel is the right thing to do in this situation," Boran said. "We have to respect their decision even though it created an issue for us."

One other thing which could be affected by the forfeits and/or game with a junior varsity team is the Section 2AA rankings. Section 2AA uses the QRF rating to seed teams for post-season play. No one knows the formula used in determining the QRF ratings, so playing a JV team or receiving a forfeit may hurt WEM's seeding chances. They are currently seeded fourth, just in front of Blue Earth Area. The top four teams in the Section host a first-round game. Hopefully a victory over Humboldt won't hurt WEM's seeding.

The positive thing is there will be a game thanks to a lot of hard work by a number of people, but mainly by A.D. Boran. I know he worked very hard for almost two days trying to secure an opponent for the Bucs Friday.

One reminder, please be respectful of the Humboldt team if WEM does build a large lead, which they are expected to do. Enjoy Homecoming and cheer on each and every player involved, especially those from St. Paul. They are doing our school district a huge favor playing in this game.

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