Parents of six former Ursuline football players filed an injunction in the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, attempting to have their children return to the gridiron.

A request for injunction was filed against the Ohio High School Athletic Association and OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute. The families are represented by Betras Kopp Attorneys at Law.

The goal is for a temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunction regarding the OHSAA’s decision to make Ursuline football athletes ineligible for the rest of the current football season, a declaration that the OHSAA decision is null and void, coverage of costs related to the court, administrative and attorney fees and for any relief the court deems equitable.

According to court documents, the parents listed have student-athletes that have or are pending transfer to other OHSAA member schools during the 2025 football season, and the athletes were not named in two lawsuits filed against Ursulline High School in September.

The request alleges that the families’ players were “unjustly forced to forfeit their ability to participate in high school football contests, as a member of the Ursuline High School Football team, or any school that is a member of the Ohio High School Athletic Association.”

It also cites OHSAA Bylaw 3-1-1 and 3-1-2.

Bylaw 3-1-1 states: The principal of the school shall be held primarily responsible in all matters pertaining to interscholastic athletics involving the school. The principal has the responsibility to educate the member school’s students, coaches, school personnel, boosters and other appropriate persons involved in interscholastic athletics regarding OHSAA bylaws and sport regulations that could affect them. Further, the principal shall monitor the school’s compliance with OHSAA bylaws and sports regulations and conduct an appropriate inquiry if information arises concerning a possible violation of OHSAA bylaws and/or sports regulations.

While 3-1-2 states: All school administrative and athletic personnel have a duty to immediately report violations that may affect the status of an athlete, team or contest.

The court document states that the players did not contribute to the cancellation of the Fighting Irish’s football program.

COUNT I

Count I of the request alleges that the OHSAA, Ute and his agents “have severely failed to fairly, properly and equitably apply Bylaw 4-1-1. As a result, the decision to make all Ursuline football athletes ineligible for the rest of the 2025 season was reached via an “illogical eligibility decision.”

Bylaw 4-11 of the OHSAA states: Each student shall meet all requirements in this bylaw to be eligible to participate in interscholastic athletic competition. Notwithstanding any provision of this Bylaw 4 to the contrary, if a student has met all of the substantive eligibility requirements of this Bylaw 4 but is declared ineligible due solely to an administrative error on the part of the school/ school personnel, the Executive Director’s office may, in its absolute and sole discretion, restore eligibility to that student (prospectively and retroactively), provided it can be shown that the student’s actions or failure to act did not contribute in any way to the administrative error that caused the declaration of ineligibility in the first place. Notwithstanding the restoration of eligibility, the school may be subject to additional penalties as prescribed in Bylaw 11.

COUNT II

Count II referenced the “close nexus” between the State of Ohio, public officials and the OHSAA. It alleges that the OHSAA violated the plaintiffs’ rights by not conducting an investigation, which then violated Article 1, Section 2, of the Ohio Constitution.

Article 1, Section 2, of the state constitution reads: All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit, and they have the right to alter, reform, or abolish the same, whenever they may deem it necessary; and no special privileges or immunities shall ever be granted, that may not be altered, revoked, or repealed by the general assembly.

Additionally, Count II also states that the OHSAA bylaws “fail to provide person of ordinary intelligence with fair warning of what conduct is prohibited and allows for arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.”

It also alleges that the OHSAA’s “inconsistent interpretation of the bylaws deprived the plaintiffs of their constitutional right to due process since an appeals hearing prior to the punishment was issued.

COUNT III

Count III alleges that the decision to suspend the athletes will cause “irreparable harm” to the students due to an inability to participate in interscholastic sports, citing the limited number of high school athletic contests during a student’s high school career.

LAWSUITS AGAINST URSULINE

The need for a request for injunction began when Ursuline High School was named in two lawsuits filed against the school.

The first lawsuit was filed by The Chandra Law Firm on Sept. 2, and the second was announced on Sept. 10. Both lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

The first lawsuit alleges that members of the Ursuline football team engaged in hazing and sexual assault against a teammate in a hotel room while on a trip to several southern college football camps over the summer.

The second lawsuit alleges that a football player took a female student to the ground twice during a summer gym class in June 2023 when they were both freshmen. The football player allegedly also “sexually harassed, stalked and menaced” the female student.

THE OHSAA’S RULING

As the overseer of interscholastic athletics in Ohio, the OHSAA ruled on Sept. 15 that Ursuline athletes were eligible for the remainder of the 2025 football season, even after transferring to another OHSAA member school.

The OHSAA also ruled that any football players who transferred before the end of the 2025 season are ineligible for the rest of the season. They would regain their eligibility once they sit out the required 50% of contests — which would require a football player to sit out for five games — or until they are approved under an exemption, whichever comes first.