On Thursday, Judge Ronald Rice of the Trumbull County Common Pleas Court issued a temporary restraining order that barred the Ohio High School Association from ruling former Ursuline football players ineligible for the rest of the 2025 football season.

The request for a restraining order against the OHSAA ruling was filed by attorneys Brian Kopp and Frank Cassese of Betras Kopp Attorneys at Law on behalf of two former Ursuline players who transferred to Girard. The players transferred to Girard and wanted to join the football team after Ursuline’s season was cancelled on Sept. 12 due to two ongoing federal lawsuits against the school. One lawsuit alleged hazing and sexual misconduct by members of the football team while on a trip to several college football camps, while the other alleges that an Ursuline football player harassed and took a female student to the ground during class.

The now-Girard students were not named in the federal lawsuits against Ursuline.

Rice ruled in favor of the Girard students after determining that the bylaws that the OHSAA cited did not apply to their specific situation.

“Upon review of the Plaintiffs’ Verified Complaint and after hearing the oral arguments from Counsel, the Court finds that the process set forth by Defendant bylaws does not account for or contemplate Plaintiffs’ situation,” Rice said in his ruling. “To rigidly require Plaintiffs to attempt to seek relief through the currently stated bylaws, which do not account for the situation at hand, would be futile and would deprive Plaintiffs of any relief given the very short timeframe at issue. Plaintiffs most certainly will be irreparably harmed if they, as innocent parties, are prohibited from playing during the 2025 season as that is time that cannot be replaced or compensated. Any injury to third parties would be minimal compared to the irreparable injury that would be suffered by Plaintiffs. This is not (a) typical situation of a student transferring schools midseason as contemplated by the OHSAA bylaws. This is an extremely unfortunate situation that was outside of Plaintiffs’ control. Lastly, the Court finds that public interest will be served in allowing these Plaintiffs to enjoy playing in the remainder of the 2025 football season at Girard High School. These students should not have this time and opportunity taken away from them because of misconduct caused by third parties.”

On Sept. 15, the OHSAA announced that any Ursuline football players that transferred midseason would be subject to sit out the rest of the football season.

The first attempt for a temporary restraining order was filed in the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas on Sept. 23. The next day, the court denied the request for the restraining order.

The plaintiffs are also seeking a preliminary injunction. A hearing on the injunction is set for Oct. 15.