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 began his tenure as AD on Aug. 1) informed the players of the sad news, telling them that “I hope I’m here for 20 years and this is the hardest decision I’ll have to make.” The decision, he added, had to be made now in order to give the other teams on the schedule a chance to adjust their own plans.

The MHS football team struggled with numbers last year as well. There was no JV squad in 2021, and a couple of varsity games were forfeited during the season as Mathews did not have enough healthy players.

The cancellation of the 2022 season has other ramifications—such as cheerleading and homecoming—which still have yet to be figured out. “This is all very fresh,” Grein said.

There is still a cheerleading squad, Grein said, adding he was going to talk with the cheer coach later Tuesday about how to proceed. When asked if the cheerleaders could come out to support the MHS volleyball team, he replied “that’s an option,” adding, “we also have cross country,” but conceded that cheerleading would be difficult for that sport. “We’re not going to leave any stone unturned,” he said.

He said that he has not had a chance yet to make plans for homecoming. A number of ideas have been suggested concerning that, including possibly holding that event at a volleyball game as well.

“We need to get creative,” he said.

Grein said he has been impressed at how the coaching staff and school administrators have stepped up in this matter. “Everyone has been so supportive,” he said.