But Maryann Cappello, the athletic director for Cambridge Public Schools, said she did not file the waiver application by the Dec. 15 deadline because she became seriously ill on Dec. 13 and was then hospitalized for six days.
By the time Cappello filed the waiver application in January, the student had played in four of the team’s five victories and the MIAA ruled the school had to forfeit those games. The school received word today that an appeal of the decision had been denied.
“It’s not their fault,” Cappello said of the team, which has a 5-10 record. “They went out there and they played. It’s on administration, it’s on me. It should have been in on the 15th. I was sick and I wasn’t able to do it.”
Peter Cohen, whose son Byron Cohen is a captain of the hockey team, said forfeiting the games ruins any chance the team has of making the state playoffs this year, and it could also affect individual achievements, such as being one of the top goal scorers in the league.
Cohen wrote a letter to Rindge and Latin School Interim Principal Damon Smith Tuesday asking that the school petition the MIAA on behalf of the hockey team so the games wouldn’t have to be forfeited.
“We feel strongly that the students should not be penalized due to an error that was soley the responsibility of [Cambridge Rindge and Latin School] administration,” Cohen wrote.
Smith did not respond to a request for comment Friday, but Cappello said the school did appeal the ruling this week, and was informed this morning that the decision was final.
Wetzel said the MIAA allowed Rindge and Latin to file a late application for the student’s waiver because of Cappello’s illness. But Wetzel said the MIAA did not find there was sufficient reason to grant the request for the fifth-year waiver, and the hockey team must still forfeit any victories in which the ineligible student played.
“It’s over,” Wetzel said of the chances the decision could be overturned.
