Coupeville Sports

   Three years after Wiley Hesselgrave lost a chance to participate in a playoff game, the WIAA may finally change the inane rule which prevented him from appealing. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly.

Three years after Coupeville High School football star Wiley Hesselgrave was shafted by an asinine rule, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association may finally change it.

Maybe.

During Senior Night against Concrete in 2015, Hesselgrave, a rock-solid guy who played the game as hard, clean, and full of passion as any Wolf ever, took a hand-off and went left, slashing for yardage.

Taken down by a tackler right in front of the press box, he was assaulted by a second Lion who launched themselves onto his prone body.

It was a blatant late hit and Concrete was flagged.

But…

Despite no evidence to support such a call, the ref ejected Hesselgrave, saying he threw a punch at a Concrete player as they got back up.

And I’m telling you, IT NEVER HAPPENED.

I’ve seen high school players throw punches, and, in one case, during an Oak Harbor girls basketball game, solidly connect, fist to chin.

Wiley didn’t even shove the Concrete player as he stood up, much less swing.

This wasn’t across the field. The entirety of the play was right smack-dab in front of me (and two former coaches who were also occupying the dilapidated old CHS press box.)

Wiley was innocent.

But the ref made a (poor) judgement call and Hesselgrave was tossed, and ejections merit an immediate one-game suspension.

Which meant no mini-playoff game the next week against Chimacum for Coupeville’s best player.

And there was nothing anyone could do about it, since WIAA rules specifically prohibit schools from appealing ejections on judgement calls by the refs.

EVEN IF YOU HAVE CRYSTAL-CLEAR VIDEOTAPE PROOF THE REF IS BLIND.

But, that may be changing.

The WIAA Representative Assembly (35 high school delegates and 19 middle school delegates) will vote on a whole new raft of amendments between April 27-May 4.

A 60% vote of approval is necessary for an amendment to pass. Those that do go into effect Aug. 1.

A lot of the possible changes are minor, or affect things which have little to no impact on Coupeville.

But ML/HS Amendment #10 wants to strike right at the heart of this doozy from the current WIAA rule book:

Ejections resulting from a judgment call by a contest official may NOT be appealed. Pictures, video evidence and/or replay recording devices may not be used.

Instead, it would be replaced with this:

Ejections resulting from a misinterpretation or misapplication on the part of the ejecting contest official(s), or a judgment call that resulted in an ejection, may be appealed.

School approved video evidence, submitted by the principal or designee, may be used to determine whether an ejection was due to judgment, misinterpretation or misapplication on the part of the ejecting contest official(s).

I understand the desire to protect refs by their association. They have a hard job as it is, and are constantly being second, third and fourth-guessed.

But not allowing schools to show video evidence, when it would prove an ejection and suspension was unwarranted, does the athletes a great disservice.

This is something which has needed to change for a very long time, and I give big props to to the Mid-Columbia Conference and the Greater Spokane League for stepping up and submitting this amendment.

In their rationale for the move, they say:

High school and middle level officials at times make mistakes in judgment that lead to the ejections of players.

To not have a source of appeal, with these decisions directly impacting student/athletes, is wrong.

If we are kid-first than we are responsible to provide DUE PROCESS, a process that increases fairness and prudency.

They also point out other states, such as Oregon, allow the use of video when appealing ejections during high school play.

And, obviously, professional and collegiate officials have existed for many years with an appeal system in place.

There is no reason Washington state high school sports should be any different.

If the ejection is valid, there would be no appeal. End of story.

But to deny a player such as Hesselgrave a chance to have an obvious correctable wrong reversed leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouths.

Time for the WIAA to rinse, spit and embrace rightful change.