Sorry for the delay... I've had a hella busy week...
However, here is my column that will appear in this Friday's Lakeland Times edition (11-9-07)

Throughout the years I’ve learned the WIAA is laughable
By Adam Krebs of The Lakeland Times
When someone asks me what I think of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA), I usually just look them in the eye and sputter a quick, “Ha.”
Not much more is needed in my opinion.
That one syllable giggle defines the joke that I have come to realize about the WIAA. After this past fall sports season, the reasonings throughout the state are obvious.
Originally, the WIAA, like the NCAA and other scholastic athletic conferences, were companies based off helping students learn grow and prosper in life. That’s what high school sports are all about – learning teamwork, discipline, hard work, fair play and sportsmanship.
The WIAA is here to, in my personal opinion, service the young ladies and gentleman of our state. I don’t mind paying the big whigs in Stevens Point to service students, but I do mind when the service becomes tedious and politically driven towards money like the NCAA.
In the football season alone, they as an organization have floundered numerous programs and schools from giving the athletes a fair shot at bringing home the title as “Best team in Wisconsin.”
It all started with the seedings for this year’s football playoffs.
The WIAA was over an hour late in posting the seedings and brackets. Granted, the WIAA is usually late, so it didn’t surprise me as much as it upset me, considering I needed to reach a deadline and tell you fine readers which division and bracket Lakeland played in, and who they were to play.
Being late didn’t bother me. What did bother me was when Winnebago Lutheran Academy (WLA) informed the WIAA of illegal actions.
WLA had used a freshman as a kicker at all three levels during the season, which is a no-no in Wisconsin high school football.
The news came out before the early afternoon, and the WIAA could have somewhat have revamped the brackets.
However, to their credit, they couldn’t take out Team A and just plug in Team B. They would have had to have gone to the list of playoff qualifiers to see which was the next team to get in.
The qualifiers would have changed, though, because of the newly forfeited games of WLA, but a team still would have had to emerge as the top candidate to fill their spot.
A new set of playoff brackets could have been set by late Friday night, if not Saturday morning.
Even on the WIAA’s website, there is a spot in the rules that states: The WIAA football playoff field shall consist of 224 teams.
Unfortunately, the next team to get in was in a different division. Instead of just fixing the Division IV bracket alone, they would have had to plug a team into Division III, drop a team to D-IV, and then a domino effect would take place for all the smaller divisions.
The WIAA decided against making the tournament fair by allowing the next best team to get in (either Horicon or Marinette) and instead just dropped the spot and awarded WLA’s playoff opponent, Kettle Moraine Lutheran, a bye in the first week.
Of the 223 teams in the pool, 222 had to prepare for their next opponent in just three days time. Kettle Moraine Lutheran was given eight days. Fair? Apparently so in the eyes of the seemingly lazy WIAA.
Kettle Moraine is still in the playoffs, and will be facing Somerset in the semi-finals, who just beat Tomahawk in the Elite Eight.
Last year, your very own Lakeland Thunderbirds were in the semi-finals, only to lose the game to Waupaca at Thom Field in Wausau.
This year, because of rules in regards to how many home games a team can host in the playoffs, Lakeland (the fourth seed) was set to take on the number two seed, Menomonie, at home.
However, a Menomonie protest had the game moved to Wausau. Personally, I feel that the third level of the playoffs should be played on a neutral field, regardless of records. However, because of the WIAA’s rules, Lakeland originally should have been granted a home game.
The game was moved to Thom Field. Menomonie had said that LUHS could not have accountable bleacher space for the some 2,000 or more fans the Indians would bring. Also noted as possible liabilities at LUHS: bad, torn up field (as seen in the sloppy, rainy River Falls game), travel time (186 miles, compared to Lakeland’s 190 to Tomah), and other political tidings that Menomonie could get away with, seeing as they are a perennial state football powerhouse.
The WIAA bit at the bait of possibly turning in a huge profit at the gate for the game, and moved the game to Wausau, which took away any sort of home-field advantage for Lakeland.
Not only did the game get moved, which upset every on the Lakeland coaching staff and team, but the officials hired for the game are not known throughout the area (or even the state) as top-end officials.
I don’t like to harp on high school officiating, because those men work on their own time and do it for the love of the game. That and they are a lot further from perfect that college or NFL coaches are.
However, in this Division II game, the officials showed why they were not looked at very positively.
Numerous times throughout the game, the officials wouldn’t signal that a play was dead until a player fell to the ground. However, in accordance with the safety rules, once a player is stopped and forward momentum has halted, blow the whistle to prevent injury.
Throughout the game, the officials failed to blow the whistle in regards to safety. The calls weren’t just against Lakeland, but against Menomonie as well.
This led to one of the worst blown calls I have witnessed in the history of my life.
Lakeland’s Billy Kuchler was stopped on a first down play at Menomonie’s 40 yard line with just over five minutes to play in the game. Lakeland was trailing by five points.
The refs never blew the whistle.
Two refs, though, did rummage through the pile after Kuchler had been thrown to the ground, five yards back from when progress was stopped, and were looking for the ball. Another ref was spotting forward progress with his foot.
Another ref slowly walked in to make sure everyone was alright and no one was injured. Lakeland head coach Don Scharbarth was already giving his quarterback the next play.
All of a sudden, the whistle no one had heard finally blew – at the south endzone.
Apparently, when Kuchler was being carried up and down Bridge Street by Menomonie's front seven, a defensive back joined Ocean’s 11’s crew and stole the ball and made it to the 20 yard line before anyone in the stadium knew it.
Not a single ref blew the ball dead and returned the players to the northern half of the 50. Instead, they slowly trotted downfield and set the ball up for an extra point.
No explanation was given to Lakeland. I’m pretty sure not one official, outside of signalling one of many unsportsmanlike penalties against the T-birds, looked towards Lakeland’s bench for any reason.
Not only was this a terrible call, but earlier in the game another call was blown.
After Lakeland scored their first touchdown, Menomonie had a third down and long from the far side of the 50. Menomonie threw the ball through the spotty T-bird defensive backfield and completed a pass.
Cory Kuchler hit the receiver so hard, the ball flew out of the wide out’s hands.
The ball flew into the endzone and rolled out of bounds – thus meaning an turnover and touchback in which Lakeland would be on offense at their own 20 yard line.
The official said that the ball didn’t come out until after the player was ruled out of bounds, which is a far cry from the truth. What happened was Kuchler hit the player in bounds, about a yard from the sideline, and on impact of hitting the Indian, the ball came out, landed fairly, and trickled out of the endzone.
Because of this bluster, Menomonie got the ball at Lakeland’s four and scored with three minutes to play in the half, leading 14-7.
Lakeland went down the field and kicked a field goal to trail 14-10 at the half. However, had the TD been erased, the score could have been 10-6 in favor of Lakeland – a huge momentum changer with LUHS getting the ball to start the second half.
By my count, Menomonie was given 14 points in the ball game, which would have made the final score 17-14 Lakeland (in theory).
I cannot say that Lakeland would have scored if Billy Kuchler’s fumble had been called back, but I do believe the citizens of the Northwoods will forever be entrusted with a “What if” debate on this very football game.
How much did Menomonie’s politics play in the game?
The field was changed, the conditions were changed, and the game may have been altered.
Oh yeah, Menomonie exaggerated a little bit in their estimation of the number of Indian fans – by about 1,200 people.
Either way, the game, the location, and the playoffs were not found to be consensual in my eyes.
I can’t wait to see what the WIAA will rig up for the winter sports season.
Adam Krebs can be reached at akrebs@lakelandtimes.com.