On Jan. 19, the Mayfield High School football team was handed down sanctions in regards to alleged recruiting-related offenses.

A press release issued by the Ohio High School Athletic Association states, “Mayfield High School’s head football coach violated Bylaw 4-9-4 and Bylaw 4-9-3, Recruiting, when he sent electronic communication directly to the parents of students who do not attend Mayfield’s middle school and invited them to a pizza party in the cafeteria prior to a varsity football game.

“The students also joined the varsity team in a ‘walk to the field for warmups,’ a visit to the locker room for pregame activities with the varsity team, and a walk with the team on the field for the game.”

Because of these offenses, Mayfield High School has been fined $1,500 and head coach Ross Bandiera will be unable to coach in the first two playoff games of the 2017 season, should Mayfield qualify.

In a statement released via the Mayfield Wildcat Football Facebook page, Bandiera wrote:

Mayfield Wildcat Football Parents and Players,

The week of the last home game vs Eastlake North I decided that it would be a nice gesture to invite all of our middle school football players along with the St. Paschals Football players from Mayfield to come in before the game and celebrate their seasons. Both our middle schools were undefeated and St. Paschals went to the playoffs. Like any rookie head coach I checked with Keith Leffler our AD and we decided to follow the rules of the OHSAA and invite all the St. Paschals players and not just the ones that attended Mayfield Middle School. This is how we interpreted the rule in the OHSAA handbook. Unfortunately for us we misinterpreted this rule. We had 2-3 players from St. Paschals come that night that were not Mayfield residents. Someone forwarded the E-mail invite to the OHSAA. They in turn started an investigation and today they came up with our punishment. Luckily for us we received a $1500 fine and myself not being eligible to coach the first 2 rounds of the playoffs this year. I am glad that this will NOT result in the players suffering any punishment.

We run a very “by the rules” program at Mayfield. At no time have we or would we ever go outside our district to recruit a player. However, in this day and age with players having so many opportunities to choose where to attend high school we have to recruit our own Mayfield kids to stay and attend what we wholeheartedly feel is their best choice for academics and athletics.

The night of October 21, 2016 was intended to be a celebration of all the hard work and dedication our Mayfield Middle School football players put into their season.

We will continue to follow the rules and celebrate the accomplishments of our student athletes. We will learn from this mistake and keep fighting the good fight of helping your sons become the best young adults possible. The reason why I chose to be the head coach of such a great school district is because of your kids. They always have been and always will be the complete focal point of our decision making. If you can please spread this message to as many people as possible we would greatly appreciate it. Mayfield Football is built on great integrity and we will never do anything to intentionally jeopardize our reputation.

Thank you for your time and Go Wildcats!

Sincerely Yours,

Ross Bandiera

This is the first time the Mayfield football program has been penalized by the OHSAA since Bandiera took over as head coach prior to the 2016 season.