WARREN A Trumbull County judge has granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) against a ruling from the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) that prevented Ursuline transfer students from playing football in 2025.

Attorneys with Betras Kopp Attorneys at Law have filed an injunction on behalf of three students who transferred to Girard High School following the cancellation of the remainder of Ursuline's football season due to allegations of hazing, sexual assault and harassment against members of the football team.

The suits further allege that the school's administration and coaching staff tried to ignore, downplay or cover up the situation.

In the days following that cancellation, the OHSAA a different school would not be allowed to play football for the remainder of the 2025 football season.

In its ruling, OHSAA cited bylaws that said if a player has played for a member school and transfers to another member school within the same season, that player will be ineligible to play for the remainder of the season, as well as five regular-season games the following season.

The attorneys argue that these bylaws do not specifically address situations such as Ursuline's where the remainder of the school's football season was canceled.

Just as they did in a separate injunction filed in Mahoning County, the attorneys further argued that OHSAA Bylaw 4-1-1 states that students' eligibility to play could be restored if it can be shown that a student's actions or failure to act did not contribute to the administrative error that caused the declaration of ineligibility.

"None of the plaintiffs in this complaint caused or contributed to the alleged wrongdoing which caused Ursuline to cancel the remainder of the 2025 football season," the injunction reads.

Trumbull County Judge Ronald Rice agreed with the attorney's arguments and granted the TRO.

Judge Rice's ruling contradicts the Mahoning County's ruling, where a magistrate had denied the attorneys' request, stating that in order for the students to get an exemption, they would need to go through the application process outlined by OHSAA, and that the court itself could not grant an exception.

Additionally, Mahoning County's ruling said that granting the request would cause harm to third parties. However, Judge Rice thought differently, as laid out in his ruling.

"Any injury to third parties would be minimal compared to the irreparable injury that would be suffered by the plaintiffs. This is an extremely unfortunate situation that was outside of the plaintiffs' control. ... These students should not have this time and opportunity taken away from them because of misconduct caused by third parties," Judge Rice wrote.

"The court understands that another court has ruled differently on this issue, however, this court is not bound by such a ruling," Rice continued.

Despite Judge Rice's decision, it's important to note that Girard High School is still at risk of consequences if it allows these students to play.

According to the injunction, the plaintiffs had already sought to be deemed eligible to play football, but Girard's athletic director determined that they were not eligible to play based on OHSAA's ruling.

OHSAA's bylaws state that if a school does allow ineligible students to play, any games played with them on the team could be forfeited. 

Attorney Frank Cassese said the firm plans to appeal Mahoning County's ruling. Court records do not show an appeal filed in the Mahoning County case at this time.

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