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Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas by Judge Andrew J. Santoli ruled in favor of Cleveland Glenville on Tuesday after two days of hearings, ruling the OHSAA’s decision to remove Glenville from the playoffs was arbitrary and preceded the completion of the eligibility investigation.
Santoli previously issued a temporary restraining order after the OHSAA removed Glenville from the Division III, Region 9 playoffs late last week as part of an ongoing investigation into Cleveland Metropolitan School District inaccurately assigning student participation opportunities to Glenville.
Glenville, the No. 5 seed in the region, was scheduled to host No. 12 seed Hunting Valley University School. The game was canceled after the OHSAA announced it was removing Glenville from the playoffs.
The alleged issues stem from students who attend Ginn Academy, which is a non-member magnet school that does not offer sports and is under the control of Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Students who attend Ginn Academy can only participate in athletics at the Cleveland Metro school that is closest to their residence.
On Friday Santoli ordered the game between Glenville and University School to be played pending the outcome of the full hearing. Glenville players took the field on Saturday morning to warm up for a re-scheduled game but University School said in a statement it was not participating and would await the outcome of the legal proceedings.
The winner of the originally scheduled playoff game was slated to take on No. 4 seed Salem in the second round.
The OHSAA responded Tuesday night with a statement, stating it agreed with part of Santoli’s ruling that the court “is not asked, nor permitted, to determine who is entitled to play in the Playoffs.”
“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 statement said.
The OHSAA also stated it will challenge other aspects of the ruling in appellate court in Cleveland today.
“More information regarding Salem's playoff opponent this Friday will be released Wednesday. The OHSAA has stayed in communication with Salem and appreciates the school's cooperation and patience,” the statement said.
The OHSAA said in its statement that it requested student residential information from Cleveland Metropolitan School District on September 28. The OHSAA received an initial batch of information from CMSD on Oct. 22, it stated. On Thursday in a meeting with Glenville, “the school did not object to the findings of the OHSAA audit.”
The OHSAA also released in its statement that the lawsuit last Friday was brought by two student-athletes from Glenville, not by Cleveland Metropolitan School District or Glenville High School.
The OHSAA said since the middle of last week, Glenville and Cleveland Metro has submitted conflicting residential documentation of numerous student-athletes on the Glenville football team.
The information from the OHSAA also states that 63 of the 64 student-athletes on the Glenville football roster this season do not attend Glenville High School and “Cleveland Metro has not successfully proven that many of those student-athletes should have been participating at Glenville.”