STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Milwaukee Public Schools' Bay View and Pulaski High Schools will be allowed to participate in the 2025 playoffs. The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association approved an appeal of a controversial punishment with a vote of 7-3.
TMJ4 reported in October that Bay View and Pulaski High Schools would have to forfeit all of their 2024 football games. The two teams would also be banned from the playoffs for two years. Bay View High School's athletic director Lisa Dawes told TMJ4 that the forfeitures and playoff bans stem from MPS' failure to turn in required paperwork. Both teams have already forfeited all wins from the 2024 season, and sat out of playoffs games.
Watch: Head coach, MPS director weigh in on WIAA's decision to approve appeal of postseason ban
"Everything that you've tried to put in the kids heads, all the summer conditioning, the lifting everything," Ray Ball told Reporter Jenna Rae Friday.
Ball's the head football coach at Bay View.
"It's a punch to the gut," Ball explained.
It's hard work that was ripped from the hands of both teams this season.
"You really sat there and were just like 'all of this was pretty much for nothing.' It's not so much about myself, but for the kids," Ball added.
2024 was the first time in years Bay View qualified for playoffs, but were unable to compete because of the administration failure.
"They're having to juggle home life, school, and football, and for that to be stripped away, it was a punch to the gut. A little frustrating, but with us winning that appeal it was fantastic," Ball said.
The WIAA Control Board approved the appeal meaning both teams will be eligible for playoffs next season.
"I was just, you know, holding a lot inside, but I really wanted to scream out for joy for what this meant for our students," MPS Director of Recreations, Lynn Greb, said.
Greb said since this happened in October, she's made internal changes to ensure on student experiences this again.
"There are a lot of deadlines that need to be met, and I think it's important that we have a number of eyes on that process, so that at the end of the day, it doesn't come down to you know one person," Greb explained.
That one person is MPS' Athletics Commissioner, Bobbie Kelsey, who wasn't at the appeal and hasn't talked publicly since the failure.
"Our commitment is that this won't happen again," Greb said.
A commitment to the district, its teams and its students.
"We just want young people to have the opportunities to compete, learn all the values that can be learned from high school athletics," Greb added.
"I'm glad that we won the appeal, and you know, as far as my student athletes, we've got a lot of work to do and can't take anything for granted," Ball said.
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