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Starpoint High parents take legal action after wrestling season is canceled

2 On Your Side learned more about the allegations of misconduct after legal paperwork was filed Thursday.

NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. — A judge has denied a petition to allow the Starpoint High School wrestling season to continue.

The state qualifier was supposed to happen Saturday at Starpoint, but it has been moved to North Tonawanda High School.

On Wednesday, 2 On Your Side learned that the Starpoint varsity wrestling season was over when the school district released a statement, saying it had received "serious allegations of inappropriate conduct by one or more members of its Varsity wrestling team."

RELATED ARTICLE: Starpoint High wrestling season canceled by school district

Then on Thursday night, the Niagara County Sheriff's Office confirmed it is investigating those claims.

Now some of the wrestlers' parents have hired an attorney.

The attorney told 2 On Your Side on Friday afternoon that the parents wanted to get a temporary restraining order to stop the district from preventing their kids from wrestling Saturday.

Basically, the parents and their attorney are arguing that if other kids did something wrong, it shouldn't stop their children from participating.

In the legal paperwork filed Thursday, we learned more about the allegations that the school district so far has not revealed. The attorney alleges two team members were involved in an incident with another team member last month, and he claims those two wrestlers were "roughhousing and piled on each other," taking the other kid's shoes and socks. 

The legal filing also claims a second similar incident happened the next day at an off-campus barn, where the wrestlers were practicing because it was a snow day.

The parents are also saying the parent of the child who was targeted only complained after their son did not qualify for Saturday's tournament.

"We disagree with the judge's decision, but ultimately, it's up to the judge to make that determination," attorney Jeffrey Reina said. "Again, we felt that by disciplining the entire team, they were stigmatizing a group of boys who were not involved in the incident, and it wasn't fair to them.

Reina added: "Some of these student-athletes have dedicated their entire academic career to wrestling. Wrestling is important to them. A number of them are ranked highly in the state. They're missing another opportunity to showcase their talents for potential scholarships."

Reina says the parents feel like the district could just discipline the students involved in any potential misconduct, and not punish the entire team.

We did contact the school district again Friday afternoon for comment and have not heard back.

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