The Duke scandal: Rape case hits home

It was about this time last year that Chuck Sherwood of Freeport traveled with his son down to Durham, N.C., to get a feel for his alma mater, Duke University, one of several prestigious colleges Devon Sherwood had been accepted to and where his father once played lacrosse.

"Durham was a pleasant place when I was there," Chuck Sherwood, a Class of '75 graduate, said yesterday. And his son, "was deserving of the opportunity.

He worked hard to get into that school. It just wasn't given to him."

In the end, the Baldwin High School honors student decided on Duke, and, following in his father's footsteps, earned a spot on the lacrosse team. But with allegations that three of his teammates raped an exotic dancer hired for a team party he briefly attended, he's seen his freshman year turned upside down.

Yesterday, as two players - Collin Finnerty of Garden City and Reade Seligmann of Essex Fells, N.J. - were arrested, and word spread that efforts to identify the third alleged assailant were continuing, parents of some of the 13 other Long Island players on the team spoke in their children's defense and refuted allegations that they hadn't been forthcoming with information.

"These kids were willing to take polygraphs," Brian Loftus, of Syosset, whose twin boys play on the team, told ABC News. "These kids were willing to take blood tests. They were willing to come down and give statements."

Devon Sherwood, whose father asked that Devon not be interviewed for this story, is the team's sole black player and has especially "been through the ringer," his father said. The only one on the team not asked to submit a DNA sample because the dancer described all of her attackers as white, Chuck Sherwood said his son nevertheless was thrown into the controversy exposing Durham's racial divides and had to endure criticism from peers who say he is withholding information.

"This kind of thing can just bring out all the resentment and anger from one party to another because they feel one of their own people has been violated," Chuck Sherwood said. "It has not been easy for him."

Chuck Sherwood said his son went to the party not knowing that a stripper had been hired and departed soon after arriving. "I think he left because he didn't have much interest in what they were doing," he said. What transpired after that, Sherwood said, his son couldn't say.

He expressed frustration that police had taken DNA even from players not at the party and could have more clearly stated not all were there.

"That incriminates all of them to some extent and gives the impression they knew what was going on," Chuck Sherwood said.

In his interview with ABC News, Brian Loftus, father of players Chris and Dan Loftus, said his sons repeatedly told him, "Dad, nothing happened. Nobody did anything.

"They did everything. They gave DNA. We thought once we give that, that it was going to be over ... But every night, every day, all we see on TV is, we're hiding something," Loftus said. "I'm not an emotional person, but every day I cry. I feel like the world's been pulled underneath my feet."