(9-5-25) Ursuline High School in Youngstown has canceled tonight’s football game after backlash from a federal lawsuit claiming a number of the players hazed and sexually assaulted a former freshman student during a team camp this past June.

Diocese responds to Ursuline hazing allegations

WFMJ

Lawsuit — Case: 4:25-cv-01822 Doc #: 1 Filed: 09/02/25 (200 page pdf file)

Portion of lawsuit—

NATURE OF ACTION

  1. This is a federal civil-rights action brought by a high-school football player and his family
    against a high school, its officials and coaches, and various football players and their parents. It alleges violations of Title IX of the Education Amendment, as codified under 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681, et seq., with supplemental claims for Ohio, Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee legal violations, including statutes establishing civil liability for criminal acts like hazing, disseminating child porn, tampering with evidence, tampering with records, obstructing justice, culpable negligence, child neglect, and failure to report abuse; and other state-law civil claims for negligent and reckless hiring, training, supervision, and retention; disseminating intimate images, assault; battery; intentional infliction of emotional distress; negligent infliction of emotional distress; and spoliation.
  2. Ursuline High School is a Catholic high school within the Catholic Diocese of
    Youngstown. Rather than act in accordance with its stated values and motto “Soli Deo Gloria” (Latin for “Glory to God alone”), Ursuline and several of its administrators, coaches, and students opted to violate those values and acted solely for the glory of its football team alone.
  3. In June 2025, during a school-sanctioned football-camp trip, several football players
    engaged in criminal activity, including hazing, physical and sexual abuse, kidnapping, production and dissemination of child pornography, and theft, all of which the three football coaches who attended the trip knew before, during, and after the incidents.
  4. When school administrators, soon after the trip, learned of the misconduct, they engaged in their own misconduct and failed to take the appropriate actions to address the misconduct and protect the victims.
  5. Ursuline’s culture of hazing has existed for many years—due, in part, to the school’s
    negligent and reckless hiring, training, supervision, and retention of football coaches who engaged in prior misconduct, and the School’s willingness to turn a blind eye to the sexual victimization of students it is entrusted to protect—all because the School elevates the glory of the football team above basic values.
  6. Victims, both named and unnamed, have endured permanent and lasting harm,
    degradation, humiliation, intimidation, and retaliation—all of which Ursuline, its administrators, and its coaches could and should have prevented.
  7. Now, because of the actions detailed in this Complaint, the School must be cleansed.1
    And it must be held accountable

In a statement the school confirmed its board of education made the decision to cancel the game, which had been scheduled to take place tonight at Stambaugh Stadium. Earlier Thursday, the Farrell Area School District in Pennsylvania sent out a post on Facebook announcing that they “were just notified” of the game’s cancellation.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Northern Ohio’s U.S. District Court and claims the alleged teen victim was attacked multiple times while staying with players during the camp, causing both physical injuries and “continued humiliation” as well as the need for psychological help. It also alleges Ursuline coaches and administrators knew of the hazing but did not take adequate steps to investigate or put a stop to it, part of what the plaintiffs’ lawyers say is a “culture of hazing has existed for many years.”

Ursuline High School football game vs. Farrell canceled amid federal lawsuit

WKYC Channel 3

Following a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Ursuline High School in September 2025 concerning allegations of hazing and sexual assault by football players, there is no public record of a formal statement from the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) regarding the specific lawsuit. 

However, the lawsuit mentions that Ursuline had previously been sanctioned by the OHSAA for illegal recruiting under the same head coach in the past.

Ursuline started the 2025 season out 2-0 with wins over Steubenville 37-7 and Bishop Hartley 34-7.

Highlights: Ursuline vs. Steubenville high school football

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