Two high school football players from a team that was the pride of the small former steel-producing town of Steubenville, Ohio, were convicted Sunday of raping a 16-year-old girl at a party.

Former school quarterback Trent Mays, 17, and team-mate Ma'lik Richmond, 16, broke down in tears in the juvenile court after being found guilty in a case that bitterly divided the declining Rust Belt city and had led to accusations of a cover-up to protect the community's revered athletes. Both were ordered to serve at least a year behind bars, with Mays given an additional 12 months for distributing an image of a nude minor.

Richmond broke into sobs as he approached the victim's family after the verdict, and was heard to tell them: "I'm sorry for the trouble I have caused you."

Mays also burst into tears and mumbled apologies but did not go over to the family.

Supporters of the victim, who had demonstrated outside the court for the four days of testimony, clapped and cheered when the guilty verdict was handed down by judge Thomas Lipps, who sat alone without a jury to decide the case.

"Justice has been done in a very difficult case that I wasn't sure would go the right way," said local housewife Rebecca Mikesell outside the court in downtown Steubenville. She added: "The victim was very brave to speak up about this and it's been important for her to know she was supported. Rape is not just the stranger dragging someone into a dark alley."

The rape allegations followed a series of rowdy parties last August involving Steubenville High School football players and friends where Mays and Richmond sexually assaulted the girl after she collapsed drunk.

The case came to light and drew national and even international attention after a barrage of morning-after text messages, social media posts and online photos and video surfaced, recording and commenting on the events of the night.

Steubenville itself also came under close scrutiny as questions were raised over whether football players in the depressed town behaved as if they were above the law and could get away with crimes because they are local heroes, especially in contrast to the collapse of the steel industry in the region.

Mays and Richmond were accused of using their fingers to penetrate the girl without her consent. Under Ohio law, the definition of rape includes digital penetration.

The victim took the stand in court on Saturday afternoon and broke down crying for about a minute when shown a picture captured on a mobile phone that showed her lying naked on the floor at a party, with semen from one of the defendants on her chest.

She had always maintained that she was so drunk that she remembered very little of the evening, having drunk vodka early on, and recalled nothing after midnight when the assaults occurred.

Mays was accused of assaulting her in a car on the way from one party to another, after she had already vomited and been stumbling and slurring her words.

Mays and Richmond were then both accused of assaulting her again at a house party in a basement.

Most of the evidence in the case came from witness testimony and text messages and photographs retrieved from 17 mobile devices confiscated by the police in the days after the parties.

The trial opened last week as a contest between prosecutors determined to show the girl was so drunk she couldn't have been a willing participant that night, and defence attorneys soliciting testimony from witnesses that would indicate that the girl, though drunk, knew what she was doing.

The court heard yesterday that the girl woke up at the party the next morning and friends of the defendants were hostile towards her.

"It was really scary," she said. "I honestly did not know what to think because I could not remember anything."

Supporters of the girl were angry that more people were not charged in the case.

Three boys who were at the party and did nothing to stop the assaults nor report them were granted immunity in order to testify, after they claimed the right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment.

But Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine yesterday said he was convening a grand jury to determine if any charges should be brought against any other individuals involved either on the night of the incident or in trying to cover up the event afterwards.

"This is a good community with good people. I personally feel for this community and what the citizens have been through, and I know that it desperately needs to be able to put this matter behind it and begin to move forward," said DeWine.

Mays and Richmond were determined by Lipps to be delinquent, the juvenile equivalent of guilty.

They can be held until they are 21, and the length of their sentence beyond the minimum announced will be determined by juvenile authorities after the two have been assessed.

Lipps said he hoped they would be incarcerated at one of Ohio's facilities specifically geared to rehabilitating young sex offenders.

It will also be determined later how long each will be a registered sex offender.

Sheriff Fred Abdalla said outside court: "this verdict shows there was no cover-up. All the evidence was gathered within days and examined thoroughly."

The victim, who name is known by many who attended court but is not being released officially, was understood not to be in court Sunday.

But after the verdict her mother said: "It doesn't matter what school you go to, who your parents are or what sport you play, everyone needs to behave with a modicum of human compassion. These boys showed a lack of compassion to our daughter and to their community as a whole."

Richmond's father said outside court that he stood behind his son and that he was proud of him for apologising to the girl's parents.

Onlooker Judi Panasik, from the nearby town of Washington across the border in Pennsylvania, said the verdict was an important step to correct what she believed was "a culture of rape" in male sport, in particular the macho sport of football, and in the region.

"Those who are able to get out and better themselves do. Those who stay behind in these depressed towns are often more into glorifying sport and protecting the heroes than they are in treating women with respect," she said.

She said she and a friend went to a bar in Steubenville the night before, where supporters of the defendants thought the case should never have been brought because everyone at the parties was just drunk and "larking around" together, while others were angry at the stain they had put on the town's reputation and wanted the judge to give them the maximum penalty.

"This verdict is so relevant. So many cases involving sportsmen end in acquittal, or the case is not brought to trial in the first place. I hope this teaches people that alcohol is dangerous for teens and consent is a very important part of how teenagers conduct themselves around sex," she said.