Eleven Cleveland Glenville football players sat out the Sept. 11 game at Bishop Watterson after being charged in an Aug. 27 theft at a Dick's Sporting Goods in Grove City.

Watterson rolled past the shorthanded Tarblooders 35-13 at Ohio Dominican University's Panther Stadium on Sept. 11, overcoming a second-quarter 13-0 deficit to extend its winning streak to 34 games.

The suspensions stem from an Aug. 27 incident at the Dick's Sporting Goods on Stringtown Road in Grove City. The Glenville team had traveled to the Columbus area for its Aug. 28 game against Olentangy Liberty near Powell. Grove City police said about 15 juveniles entered the store just before 7:30 p.m. and stole approximately $4,552 worth of merchandise, including football gear, arm bands, mouthguards and clothing.

Head coach Ted Ginn Sr. and athletic director Paul Lewis helped identify the 11 players from store surveillance footage, according to NBC4. Nine are juveniles. The two adults charged are Ty Martin and Eason Hankins, according to a Fox 28 report.

The Dick's Sporting Goods manager told police the company intended to press charges against all 11.

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District said each student would be suspended from school and barred from two games. Cleveland.com reported the school suspensions carry a maximum of five days for first-time offenders.

Grove City Police Lt. Jason Stern described the surveillance footage in the Sept. 1 Fox 28 report: "The video was outside the changing room from kind of the back corner of the store … You could just see what it looked like — kids walking every which direction and picking through stuff on the shelves."

After police located the group at a nearby Drury Inn, Ginn returned two bags of clothing and a pair of football cleats. Glenville still beat Olentangy Liberty 34-13 the next day.

For the Watterson trip, Glenville changed its travel plans. The team drove to Columbus on Friday morning rather than staying overnight in a hotel, as it had before the Liberty game.

It didn't help. Watterson, the Division III two-time defending champion, trailed 13-0 in the second quarter before scoring 35 unanswered points. Glenville, the 2025 Division IV state champion with three titles in four years, fell to 2-2.

"I preach the mentality of never quitting … We were down 13-0, so in terms of the mental toughness of our guys, they are getting ready," Watterson head coach Brian Kennedy told cleveland.com after the comeback.

In other local action Friday, Sept. 11, Olentangy Liberty defeated Olentangy Berlin 27-17.