YOUNGSTOWN  Ursuline High School has officially announced the cancelation of the remainder of the 2025 football season.

A statement sent to families from Ursuline High School says that the school is "saddened" and "shaken up" by allegations recently brought to light in two lawsuits accusing members of the football team of hazing, sexual assault, and much more.

The suit further accuses Ursuline's coaching staff of dismissing the alleged conduct as "just boys being boys," and accuses the school's administration of not properly investigating reports from the alleged victims and their families.

Since these allegations were brought to light, Ursuline Head Football Coach Dan Reardon has been suspended, and Assistant Coaches Tim McGlynn and Chris Syrianoudis have been placed on administrative leave.

The district previously issued a statement to parents and media outlets saying that disciplinary action was taken against some of the students involved, but others had left the football program or the school before proper disciplinary action could take place.

"At the same time, we had hoped to continue our season with dozens of student atheletes, band members, cheerleaders and other students, along with coaches, parents and others not alleged to be involved at all. ... It became increasingly clear, however, the season could not continue, and therefore, this difficult decision had to be made," the statement reads.

The statement goes on to say the school intends to overcome these challenges and restore faith in the school.

"As we have for many years, we will continue to offer our efforts and support for the many other student accomplishments in the classroom and our substantial roster of rewarding student activities and service opportunities in our school," the statement reads.

Prior to the cancelation of the season, Ursuline had only played two games so far against Steubenville and Bishop Hartley. From there, Ursuline canceled its September 5 game against Farrell.

Following the Farrell cancellation, several other schools canceled their games against Ursuline, including Warren G. Harding, Austintown Fitch, Saint Vincent-Saint Mary, and most recently, Chaney High School.

The only two teams that had not officially canceled prior to Ursuline's announcement were Walsh Jesuit and Cardinal Mooney.

Columbus Dispatch Sports Reporter Dave Purpura weighed on what this could mean for football players unrelated to the allegations, whose season ended Friday, less than halfway into the regular season.

"They played two games right before all of this happened, I mean if that doesn't apply for some kind of hardship exemption I don't know what would," said Purpura, referring to those who might weigh transfer options.

According to the OHSAA Bylaw 4-7-3, any student that plays a regular season contest, and transfers midseason, is ineligible for the rest of the season. However, there are exemptions:

"4-7-3 If a transfer, as defined in Bylaw 4-7-2, takes place during the sport season in which the student has participated in a regular season interscholastic contest in a sport, the student shall be ineligible in that sport for the remainder of all regular season contests, as well as the OHSAA tournament, in that sport at the school into which the student has transferred"

"You hope they can apply for something like a hardship exemption and that you could be able to go to a new school without having to lose any time. I think it's just a matter of whether the OHSAA would approve that," said Purpura.

Purpura who has been covering high school sports for more than 20 years recalled a time where student athletes at a school in the Columbus area faced a similar situation.

"We had a district down here that failed a levy and they had to get rid of athletics period, and you saw those kids scattered to all points of the compass around here and they were able to play right away," Purpura explained.

It's unclear if the governing body will make any exemptions for the student athletes affect at Ursuline.

OHSAA is evaluating whether cancelled games will be counted as forfeits or no-contest games.

You can read much more about both lawsuits and Ursuline's responses to them in our related coverage below.

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