ST. LOUIS 鈥 In a statement from attorneys, parents of several Cardinal Ritter football players pepper sprayed by police after a game Oct. 3 say they鈥檙e 鈥渙utraged鈥 by the actions of officers and say both the police and Ohio school officials there 鈥渉ave doubled down in an attempt to justify their bad behavior.鈥
A scuffle broke out after the game, a 28-14 win by Massillon Washington over Cardinal Ritter. Massillon鈥檚 police chief says the officers acted properly and followed department policy when they pepper sprayed several Cardinal Ritter players at midfield.
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Attorneys for 17 Cardinal Ritter players and their families released a statement Friday strongly disagreeing with the chief鈥檚 characterization.
鈥淭he Cardinal Ritter College Prep players and their families are outraged that police officers with the Massillon Police Department took such drastic measures over high school football players having a disagreement on the field following the game,鈥 the statement reads. 鈥淲e have never heard of another incident where police officers pepper sprayed football players. Interestingly, these officers did not pepper spray any Massillon Washington High School players, coaches or staff.
鈥淭o add insult to injury, neither the Massillon Police Department or the superintendent of Massillon City Schools have taken any responsibility for their respective roles in this unfortunate incident. Rather, they both have doubled down in an attempt to justify their bad behavior. This is simply unacceptable and, on behalf of these amazing parents and student athletes at Cardinal Ritter College Prep, we will not tolerate this response.鈥
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The lawyers have been hired to conduct 鈥渁 thorough, independent investigation鈥 into the circumstances surrounding the incident. The statement also references alleged unnecessary use of force in the past by Massillon officers.
鈥淲e will leave no stone unturned in our investigation to determine not only how this happened, but also why it occurred. This is sadly not the first incident involving unnecessary use of force by officers with the Massillon Police Department.鈥
Massillon Police are still being adjudicated after a man鈥檚 arrest in a domestic dispute ultimately resulted in his death, a complaint in that suit read.
In the Cardinal Ritter incident, the police chief鈥檚 response alleges Ritter players repeatedly ignored verbal commands to leave the field and that officers used pepper spray only after 鈥淩itter players again charged at Massillon players who were now near the band.鈥
Post-Dispatch photographers capture tens of thousands of images every year. See some of their best work from September 2025 in this video. Edited by Jenna Jones.
