The fathers of two Tamaqua Area School District football players have sued the district and its officials in federal court over what they describe as sexual assaults by teammates on Nov. 4, 2021, and subsequent cover-ups, bullying and freeze-outs.

The suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Scranton, by attorneys Barry H. Dyller and Tara Giarratano, Wilkes-Barre, on behalf of the fathers of two children, identified as S.M., the father and natural guardian of A.M., and S.K., the father and natural guardian of T.K.

The filing names as defendants Superintendent Raymond Kinder, Assistant Superintendent Steven Toth, High School Principal Thomas McCabe, school board President Larry A. Wittig, and board members Nicholas Boyle, Melanie Dillman, Thomas Bartasavage, Bryan Miller, Mark Rother, Thomas Rottet, Daniel Schoener, and Trina Schellhammer.

Reached by phone late Monday, Wittig said that “when we are served, we’ll talk with our solicitor. It’s discouraging when we were extremely diligent in our response. But not everybody agrees with that, and that’s what lawsuits are all about.

“I’m disappointed. We approached this very seriously and professionally,” he said.

The case falls under the jurisdiction of Judge Joseph F. Saporito Jr. The suit asks a jury trial.

The suit includes 14 counts. Counts one and two: Deliberate indifference to report of sexual assault/harassment; retaliation following report of sexual assault; deliberate indifference to reports of retaliatory harassment; deliberate indifference to reports of retaliatory harassment resulting in second attempted sexual assault; counts six and seven: deliberate indifference to the right to unbiased treatment; counts eight, nine, 10 and 11: equal protection; negligence: the first sexual assault; negligence: the second sexual assault; negligence.

In the suit, the fathers contend that their sons were assaulted in the “football house,” a building across the street from the high school/middle school where players store equipment and change for practices and games. They are unsupervised in the building.

District officials and employees, including coaches, knew that while unsupervised, the players “behaved in a manner which resulted in their causing physical harm to each other.”

According to the 45-page suit, the football team has a “tradition” of sexually assaulting “certain freshman players by holding them down on the ground, beating them up,” and attempting penetration with an object.”

The “tradition is known as ‘the pineapple,’ ‘excalibur,’ ‘school bus’ or ‘the Raider Special.’?”

For the complete story, see Tuesday’s edition of the Times News.