Trumbull judge rules player ineligible at Warren JFK

WARREN — A judge in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court ruled late Friday that a Warren John F. Kennedy High School sophomore who transferred from Bristol High School is ineligible to play sports at Kennedy this year.

Isaac Carrino, who relocated with his family to Bristolville in July 2011 for family reasons, attended Bristol High School last year.

But his family felt Isaac would receive better academic, spiritual and social opportunities at Kennedy, according to a lawsuit.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association, however, ruled that Carrino didn’t qualify for an exemption from a rule requiring him to sit out of athletics for a year.

The OHSAA said in a letter to JFK High School that the reason was because the OHSAA had been told by Bristol administrators that Carrino’s transfer was “clearly motivated by athletics.”

The bylaws of the OHSAA say an exemption from sitting out a year can be obtained if the change of schools “is not athletically motivated.”

Judge John M. Stuard issued his ruling in the case the same day he had a hearing on the evidence presented in the case.