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UPDATE: PIAA Overturns WPIAL Decision on Seneca Valley Football Player's Transfer to North Catholic

Lucas Wildman will be allowed to play football in the fall for North Catholic.

Former Seneca Valley student and football player Lucas Wildman will be allowed to play football in the fall for North Catholic High School.

"The PIAA ruled unanimously that he was eligible to play," said Davy Wildman, Lucas Wildman's father.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, the state's governing for school athletic programs, today overturned a July decision by the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League’s board of control that said the teen could play any sport except football in the 2011-12 school year.

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The hearing took place at 8 a.m. at PIAA headquarters in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County. Davy Wildman said PIAA officials deliberated for about five minutes before ruling his son was eligible to play football for North Catholic.

Davy Wildman said the PIAA's ruling is final. He added that his son, an offensive lineman, would be able to participate in a North Catholic football scrimmage on Saturday.

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Although he was not allowed to play in scrimmages or games, Lucas Wildman had been allowed to participate in North Catholic football practices until the resolution of his appeal, his mother, Mary Wildman said. The rising senior starts classes at his new school on Monday.

The WPIAL reviews transfers of student athletes and in some cases may hold hearings to ensure that athletics are not the sole motivation for school transfers.

On July 12, the WPIAL’s board of control found Lucas Wildman's transfer to be motivated at least in part by athletic purposes, WPIAL Executive Director Tim O’Malley said.

The outcome disappointed the Wildman family, who maintain the transfer stems from academic and not athletic reasons. Davy Wildman, Lucas Wildman’s father, also has clashed with Dave Holl, Seneca Valley’s varsity football coach. 

In November, Holl filed a civil lawsuit in Butler County Common Pleas Court in which he said Davy Wildman slandered and libeled him in comments he made and a letter he distributed at a 2010 school board meeting regarding Holl’s behavior.

In his response to the lawsuit, Davy Wildman acknowledged writing and submitting a letter to the school board, but said he did not make false statements about Holl, according to court records.

That lawsuit is ongoing.

Check back with Cranberry Patch for more updates to this story.


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