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The Glenville football team is back in the playoffs. Well, for now at least.
On Tuesday, Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Andrew J. Santoli sided with Glenville in the Tarblooders' case against the Ohio High School Athletic Association's decision to remove them from the playoffs.
In his conclusion, Santoli wrote that Glenville was "arbitrarily" removed because the OHSAA admitted that its investigation was not complete prior to taking the Tarblooders out of the tournament.
According to cleveland.com's Matt Goul, the OHSAA had already filed a motion to appeal in Columbus prior to the ruling on Tuesday. The organization issued a press release, stating that there will be a appeal in Cleveland today.
"This Court emphasizes that it is not asked, nor permitted, to determine who is entitled to play in the Playoffs," Santoli wrote in his conclusion. "It is beyond the scope of this Court's authority to order that one team be entered into the Playoffs over another, or that one team advance in the Playoffs over another.
"The limited issue before this Court is whether Plaintiffs have proven the elements necessary for injunctive relief and, subsumed within that analysis, whether OHSAA's decision banning Glenville from the playoffs was made arbitrarily. As this Order explained, Plaintiffs have proven by clear and convincing evidence that this decision was arbitrary because it was made before the investigation was completed and shall remain in the Playoffs at this time."
The trip to court could affect one Mahoning Valley team.
Salem is supposed to host the winner of Glenville and University School this Friday at Sebo Stadium. The decision to let the Tarblooders back in the postseason came three days prior to the kickoff of the Quakers' regional quarterfinal.
There will be more information on Salem’s opponent today, according to the OHSAA.
The OHSAA's investigation focused on players that attend Ginn Academy, a non-OHSAA member magnet school in the CMSD. According to the OHSAA, the players can play sports at public schools, but they must play for the school closest to their parent or guardian's residence.
Glenville was scheduled to face University School last Thursday. But the OHSAA removed the Tarblooders from the Division III, Region 9, tournament after the Cleveland Metropolitan School District failed to produce proper residential information regarding 10 players and that six additional players were not addressed at all, according to the OHSAA. The OHSAA's representatives reiterated in court that the players had not been officially ruled ineligible.
On Sept. 28, the OHSAA contacted the Cleveland school district to get residential information for 25 of the Tarblooders' 64 players. The school district didn't provide information until Oct. 22, according to the OHSAA.
According to the state's interscholastic governing body, Glenville was contacted on Oct. 25 - which was one day after the official end of the regular season - notifying them that information was still missing.
Members of the OHSAA and Cleveland schools met on a Zoom call on Thursday afternoon to review the situation, and Glenville was removed from the tournament.
On Friday, the court granted the Tarblooders a temporary restraining order to return to the field. They arrived for their playoff game on Saturday, but University School said on Friday that it had no intention of playing the game.
The Tarblooders arrived at an empty stadium on Saturday, with game officials and University School absent. They "kicked off" to start the hypothetical game.
Santoli wrote that the OHSAA now has to determine if the Glenville-University School game will be played prior to Friday, if University School's Saturday absence results in a forfeit or finding another solution.