Court orders Glenville back into football playoffs

Glenville High School will play in the Ohio high school football playoffs after a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge ordered the team reinstated. Judge Andrew Santoli issued the ruling on Tuesday afternoon. He found that the Ohio High School Athletic Association, known as OHSAA, acted arbitrarily when it removed the Tarblooders from competition. The removal happened before the organization finished its investigation into the eligibility of 10 players.

Santoli ordered the OHSAA to determine Glenville's opponent for the Division III playoffs. The judge outlined three ways to resolve the scheduling issue. The association could reschedule the first-round game against University School. It could declare that University School forfeited the first round after declining to play a rescheduled game last weekend. Alternatively, the association could send Glenville directly to the second round against Salem.

The OHSAA released a statement a few hours after the ruling. The group said it intends to appeal portions of the decision. However, it agreed with one conclusion from the court. The statement noted that the court is not permitted to determine who is entitled to play in the playoffs. It is beyond the scope of the court's authority to order one team into the playoffs over another, the statement read.

The association revealed new details about its investigation in the same statement. It described conflicting residency documentation submitted by Glenville and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, or CMSD. The OHSAA stated that 63 of the 64 student-athletes on the roster do not attend Glenville. It added that CMSD has not successfully proven that many of those student-athletes should have been participating at Glenville.

The conflict began last week when the OHSAA removed Glenville from the playoffs. The organization cited an ongoing investigation involving players from Ginn Academy. Students at Ginn Academy are permitted to participate in sports at the nearest CMSD high school to their residence. The OHSAA investigated whether the district allowed Ginn Academy students to play at Glenville when their residency required them to play for another school.

During a two-day hearing, the OHSAA argued that CMSD could not provide documentation for several players. The association said the district did not have a reliable process for assigning Ginn Academy students to athletic programs. The OHSAA claimed these issues violated its bylaws. It removed Glenville from the playoffs before the first-round game scheduled for Oct. 30.

Santoli determined that the OHSAA's action was arbitrary because no bylaw sets a specific deadline for submitting paperwork or verifying residency. He found it problematic that the association removed Glenville while its investigation was still ongoing and while it was still communicating with CMSD. The judge noted that the investigation remained open. No Glenville player had been declared ineligible at the time of the removal or at the time of the Tuesday ruling.

The judge wrote that the sanction was issued against CMSD, not the players. He noted that it is the players who are prohibited from suiting up and standing with their teammates to play the playoff games their on-field play earned them. University School declined to participate in the rescheduled game. The school said it would rather have the court determine the outcome of the game through its decision rather than through play on the field.

Glenville was removed from the football playoffs for the same issue in 2018. The school was fined $5,000 and placed on probation through 2021. Glenville won Division IV state football championships in 2022, 2023, and 2025. The team moved up to Division III and entered the 2026 playoffs as the No. 5 seed in Region 9. More information regarding the second-round game against Salem will be released on Wednesday.

The OHSAA stated that it will release more information about the second-round game against Salem on Wednesday. The association's statement confirmed that the second round is the next step in the process. The ruling ends the immediate standoff between the school and the athletic association. Glenville remains in the tournament while the legal dispute continues.