“I would never intentionally cheat in a football game,’’ said Mortarelli, whose team went on to lose the Super Bowl, 28-21, to Beverly. “I feel horrible that this whole situation happened.”
But Plymouth South believes its team paid a price for obeying the rules. “The Wilson ball provides a significant advantage,’’ said Hanna.
The board went into executive session for close to an hour. Their decision? Believing that Natick never should have asked about using the Wilson ball and doing so was an unsportsmanlike act, the board ordered all Natick football coaches to attend not one, but all three classes offered by the National Federation as well as the MIAA’s class on sportsmanship.
“I view this as a mistake by the Natick coaches. I view this as a mistake by the officials,” said Lyons.
East Boston principal Mike Rubin summed it up for many of his colleagues. “I’m very disappointed in this whole situation. It’s disgusting.”
. . .
The board voted, 10-3, to eliminate boys gymnastics as an MIAA sport. This winter will be the final season as an MIAA-sponsored sport . . . Neal said the MIAA is down $200,000 from Dec. 31, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, in major part because of the record low turnout at Gillette and the bad weather at both the semifinals and Super Bowls. He said he hoped a strong winter tournament would make up for it . . . Eleven schools will appeal their divisional alignments at the next MIAA Football Committee Jan. 22.
Dave Nordman of the Telegram & Gazette staff contributed to this report.
