West Salem Into The MVC For Football In 2014

The WIAA Board of Control voted today to support four separate conference

realignment proposals as its hearing today.

The plan receiving the most attention involved the Coulee, Mississippi Valley and Southwest Wisconsin Conferences. The decision moves West Salem from the Coulee to the Mississippi Valley for football only and requires mandatory crossover games between the Coulee and Southwest Wisconsin Conference in weeks three and four of the season beginning in the fall of 2014. Failure by any school in the three conferences to honor the plan will result in its removal from the football playoffs for four years.

In other realignment action, the Board approved final consideration of a plan that moves Augusta from the East Division of the Cloverbelt Conference to the Dairyland Conference for all sports beginning in the fall of 2014. Final approval of a plan to move Hortonville from the Bay Conference to the Fox Valley Association and place Menasha in the Bay from the FVA for all sports was also supported for 2014-15.

Membership rules required a 40-day window for schools involved in realignment plans to appeal the first consideration of the Board before it takes final action. Thus, schools had until Wednesday to file an appeal of the Board’s initial vote on September 13th.