A DeKalb judge decided Thursday there is enough evidence to try three NIU football players for battering two NIU students in November 1990.

Associate Judge Robert C. Jenkins ruled that defensive tackle Tom Osteen, 21, halfback Brett Schroeder, 20, and cornerback Rich Favor, 21, must appear for an arraignment where they will be formally admonished by the judge and will plead their guilt or innocence in the Nov. 20 incident.

The three neatly dressed athletes sat in a row with their hands clasped, intently watching the witnesses and the judge during the preliminary hearing. Their parents and a few friends also sat in the courtroom.

DeKalb Police officer Roy Anderson testified that just before midnight Nov. 20 he was dispatched to Colonial Townhouses on West Lincoln Highway to handle a battery complaint.

Anderson said he saw Joseph Marconi and Shawn Doyle lying on the ground bleeding near the West Lincoln Highway sidewalk.

Later that night at Kishwaukee Hospital, Doyle told Anderson that he and Marconi had been at Molly’s Eatery and Drinkery, 1022 W. Lincoln Hwy., Anderson said. After they left the bar, Marconi argued in the parking lot with a woman while Doyle walked ahead, he said.

Doyle told Anderson he saw a “large guy” kick Marconi in the face when he turned around, Anderson said. When Doyle told the man to leave his friend alone, the football players attacked him, Anderson said.

Anderson testified that Doyle said that “the lights went out” and he does not know what happened next.

Also, Anderson told the judge he had reason to believe Doyle ad Marconi had been drinking but he could not tell if they were intoxicated.

Three witnesses told Anderson that they saw the football players beating up the two men, and those witnesses identified Schroeder, Osteen and Favor in a lineup at the DeKalb Police station later that night, Anderson said.

One witness told Anderson he saw a man in a striped sweater push Marconi to the ground and hold him there while a “large man” kicked Marconi in the face, Anderson said.

Anderson and another police officer spoke with a doctor at Kishwaukee Community Hospital on Nov. 20, and he said Marconi and Doyle’s injuries were of “great bodily harm,” Anderson said.

On the advice of their lawyers, Doyle and Marconi and the three charged football players all refused comment.