Paperwork mistake turns winning record into 0-8, Demons now 0-10
By Mike Ramczyk
Through four games of the fall high school sports season, the Burlington High School boys varsity soccer team was 4-0, making history with their first win since 2013 and the turnaround of a fledgling program.
A promising start took a nasty turn Sept. 9, when head coach Joel Molitor was told the Demons had a player mistakenly cleared to play that was ineligible due to grades.
Instantly, a 5-3 record became 0-8, as Burlington is forced to forfeit the games in which the ineligible player participated, according to Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) rules.
“It’s pretty brutal,” Molitor said over the phone Tuesday night. “We told the boys before the Waterford game Friday. It was a paperwork mistake. He should’ve been ineligible from day one. We self-reported it as soon as we knew.”
“We were really turning this program around,” Molitor said. “It feels like a punch in the gut to have those wins taken away.”
The player’s suspension was lifted Tuesday.
Molitor said this setback isn’t going to defeat the boys, whom he said are very mature and level-headed.
They still won the games they played, but rules are rules.
The Demons must climb out of the desperate hole created by their new record, which dropped to 0-10 after Tuesday night’s home defeat to Lake Geneva Badger.
“We know we won those games,” Molitor said. “And we know who we are as a team.”
“I’m not sure I’ve been around an amazing group of boys like this. They shake off losses right away.”
Burlington will look for its first Southern Lakes Conference victory Thursday at Westosha Central.
Lake Geneva Badger 7, Burlington 3
The Demons played “like heroes” Tuesday night, Molitor said, despite a 7-3 loss to Lake Geneva Badger at Burlington.
Marco Hernandez scored two goals, and Molitor said the team’s three goals is the most against Badger in his tenure.
“Lake Geneva is one of the best teams in the conference, and we played with a different intensity,” he said. “We had physicality and determination, and we didn’t want to lose.”
“Marco decided he didn’t want to get shut out.”
Hernandez scored in the 8th and 23rd minutes. His first tally was assisted by Gerson Soto.
Alex VanWhye scored in the 20th minute.
Burlington led, 3-2, by the 23rd minute, but the Badgers took a 5-3 lead into halftime and added two more tallies in the second half.
Waterford 2, Burlington 1
On Sept. 9 in Waterford, Hernandez scored the Demons’ lone goal, an unassisted shot in the 5th minute.
But Waterford rallied with two second-half goals, in the 75th and 86th minutes.
Burlington out-shot Waterford, 12-9.
Goalie Joey Gabor led the way with six saves.
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