ERIE — A judge overturned criminal charges against two students who held an offensive sign at a high school football game.

Citing free speech, Erie County Judge Stephanie Domitrovich on Friday acquitted the Corry students of disorderly conduct.

Corry police charged the two teens after they walked past the stands of the visiting Northwestern High School Wildcats on Sept. 27. The boys were 17 and 16 years old at the time.

One student carried a sign that read “#32 sucks,” an apparent reference to a Northwestern star player. Prosecutors argued those were “fighting words” that do not enjoy free speech protection.

“The boys should have never been put through this,” the father of the older boy said.

The acquittal reverses convictions that another judge issued against the teens in November, and the students’ fathers said they appealed out of principle. They said they did not condone their sons’ conduct, but that the behavior never amounted to a crime.