CLEVELAND — Glenville High School is officially out of the state football playoffs after an appellate court ruled Thursday the Ohio High School Athletic Association has the authority to sanction the school and its district.
The decision from the Eighth District Court of Appeals ends a week of legal wrangling and clears Hunting Valley University School to advance directly to Friday night’s Division III regional quarterfinal against fourth-seeded Salem.
The ruling upholds the OHSAA’s Oct. 29 sanction barring the Tarblooders from postseason play.
The association disqualified Glenville after an investigation into student residency and eligibility records within the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. State athletic officials noted the district had inaccurately assigned student participation information, leading to ineligible players taking the field.
Glenville briefly secured a temporary restraining order on Oct. 30 from a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge, briefly halting the disqualification.
That evening, 12th-seeded University School refused to take the field against Glenville in their scheduled first-round matchup, leaving the bracket in limbo while the OHSAA challenged the trial court’s jurisdiction.
In Thursday’s ruling, the appeals court reinforced the principle judges lack the authority to dictate athletic tournament brackets.
“The Court … is not asked, nor permitted, to determine who is entitled to play in the Playoffs,” the court wrote. “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.”
OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute said member schools must adhere to statewide governance.
“The OHSAA and our member schools are committed to the integrity and fairness of our tournaments,” Ute said in a statement.
“While it is a difficult decision to remove students from a tournament, all member schools must abide by the rules and regulations that they have voted into place and that the OHSAA works to enforce,” Ute said.
The OHSAA said its inquiry into the Cleveland district’s eligibility reporting remains ongoing.
In its filing to the appellate court, the OHSAA warned allowing the trial court’s preliminary injunction to stand would create an “untenable” postseason scenario and fundamentally upend high school sports governance across the state.
The association requested an emergency ruling by noon Thursday, emphasizing Salem High School is scheduled to play its regional semifinal game Friday night without yet knowing who its opponent will be.
The legal showdown followed a fast-moving series of events that began Oct. 29, when the OHSAA banned Glenville from the Division IV postseason tournament following a monthlong audit into student residence records.
The association determined the Cleveland Metropolitan School District failed to provide required documentation verifying the residential eligibility for 10 football players and cited the district for failing to exercise proper administrative control.
Under OHSAA regulations, students attending non-traditional schools without athletic programs, such as Ginn Academy, may participate in sports only at the public high school closest to their residential parent’s home.
According to the audit records, 63 of the 64 players on Glenville’s roster attended Ginn Academy, with 25 initially showing home addresses closer to other Cleveland high schools that offer football.
Hours after the postseason ban was issued, two 17-year-old Glenville players enrolled at Ginn Academy, Emiere Lemons and LaNeil Watson, filed a lawsuit through their mothers against the OHSAA in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
Neither student was individually ruled ineligible, but both argued the disqualification of the entire team caused irreparable harm.
Judge Andrew J. Santoli granted an emergency temporary restraining order Oct. 30, directing the scheduled first-round playoff contest between Glenville and Hunting Valley University School to proceed.
However, University School declined to take the field for the rescheduled game, stating it would await the final legal resolution.
After an evidentiary hearing, Santoli issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday, finding the OHSAA’s playoff ban “arbitrary” because it was imposed before the association completed its investigation and before finding any individual player ineligible.
Santoli ruled that Glenville must remain in the playoffs and ordered the OHSAA to “determine Salem’s opponent forthwith” by either rescheduling the game against University School, declaring a forfeit, or finding another remedy.
Santoli denied the OHSAA’s initial request for a stay Wednesday morning, prompting the immediate appeal to the 8th District.
In its appellate motion, OHSAA attorneys Joseph and Joshua Fraley argued Santoli overstepped judicial boundaries by effectively deciding which teams participate in the postseason.
“The trial court, without any authority, is deciding who plays in and who advances in the post-season tournament,” the motion stated, adding that forcing a rescheduled first-round game in the middle of the week before a Friday contest poses an unacceptable safety risk to high school athletes.
The OHSAA also argued that allowing two individual players to challenge an administrative sanction against a member school establishes a dangerous precedent, warning it could effectively create “over 350,000 potential plaintiffs” among student-athletes statewide.
The association said it removed Glenville from the playoffs under similar circumstances in 2018 for assignment and administrative-control violations, a penalty that was upheld on administrative appeal.
Attorneys for the student-athletes maintain that the players complied with the district’s documentation requirements and that stripping them of their postseason run without completing the inquiry violated basic standards of due process.
