HILO, Hawai'i — Two former Hawai'i Preparatory Academy football players expelled for an alcohol-related incident that occurred during a team trip to Kaua'i last year are suing the exclusive Big Island school.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Hilo Circuit Court says Headmaster Olaf Jorgenson and other officials "negligently and/or recklessly interfered" with the students' educational rights and opportunities.

The suit was filed by Honolulu attorney Eric Seitz on behalf of Jack Tribolet, 18, and Joshua C. Malouf, 17, and their parents.

Phyllis Kanekuni, director of public relations for Hawai'i Preparatory Academy, said school officials would not comment because they hadn't seen the lawsuit.

The complaint says the youths suffered emotional distress and financial loss, and seeks a court order barring the school from including derogatory accounts of the incident on their educational records. The plaintiffs also want the court to rule that HPA failed to deal fairly with students accused of misconduct, and seeks unspecified monetary damages.

According to the suit, Tribolet arranged to have friends from Kaua'i buy liquor for team members after an Aug. 20 game on the Garden Isle. An assistant coach caught Tribolet returning to his hotel room at 1:15 a.m. the following morning, according to the suit. Five other members of the team, including Malouf, were located at 3:30 a.m., according to the suit.

The suit says the coaches kept the teens up the rest of the night, "screaming profane and degrading epithets at the players, and forcing any player who displayed weariness to perform grueling physical exercises."

Tribolet and Malouf were later expelled "without any meaningful opportunity to be heard and/or refute the allegations against them," according to the suit.

The rest of the players were suspended for two to five days even though that at least two of them had previous disciplinary records involving alcohol, according to the suit. The suit contends Tribolet and Malouf had no history of misconduct.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.