Mathews High School will not be fielding a football team this fall.

The final call was made on Tuesday afternoon as the number of possible players just wasn’t enough to move ahead with a season, according to the school’s new athletic director Josh Grein.

“It was a tough decision, obviously,” Grein said.

The decision was essentially made, but not yet “set in stone,” he said, during last Thursday’s practice, where only 13 players total were in attendance (representing the total pool of players for both varsity and JV). “Guys, we just don’t have the numbers to do it,” Grein told the assembled players last week.

Following that, there was a renewed push in the community to build up the numbers over the weekend, but by Monday there were only 16 potential players at practice, three of whom did not have the necessary paperwork and therefore could not play. Grein consulted with head coach Wes Griffith and assistant coach Tony Forrest before making the final call.

Grein (who just...