Patton High School will not field a varsity football team during the 2024-25 school year.

The Burke County school, which is on its third head coach in as many years, cited a lack of participation from older players as the reason behind the decision.

The Panthers will still roll out a JV team, which will allow juniors to participate. It is unclear what will happen to the seniors at Patton who wanted to participate this fall.

Principal Gretchen Reiss announced the decision in an email sent out ot the school today. The letter was obtained by Big Red Sports Network on Facebook.

The email read the following:

“As many of you may be aware, Patton has had some concerns with the low number of players who have committed to play on our varsity football team this year. After listening to multiple stakeholders, including making personal phone calls to senior football players’ parents today, I have decided it is in the best interest of all students to focus our efforts on building a program through our junior varsity squad. This decision was not easy, and I look forward to Coach Whisnant building relationships with our student-athletes as we move forward and celebrate Panther pride together.”

Patton is a 2A program.

The Panthers, members of the Mountain Foothills 1A/2A Conference, were scheduled to play East Burke, Draughn, Wilkes Central, and Freedom in non-conference. They would have played Polk County, East Rutherford, R-S Central, Brevard, CHASE, and Hendersonville in conference play.

The JV team should be set to play the originally scheduled group of opponents.

All teams who were scheduled to play Patton will have to find a new partner if they want to keep a slate of 10 games.

The news comes a few years after Patton’s conference foe East Rutherford had to make the same tough choice in 2021. East Rutherford’s program has since recovered. The Cavaliers made the playoffs last season and are one of the conference favorites in 2024.

Source: highschoolot.com