By Aaron Burns

DAVIDSON – Varsity football games at Pine Lake Prep will have to wait one more year.

The Pride decided to field just one high-school team  – a junior-varsity squad – after coach Jay Poag met with his staff and program boosters on July 27.

Sixteen freshmen and 16 sophomores signed up to play for the Pride, but fewer than 10 upperclassmen joined the squad.

“We met with everybody and decided that playing J.V. is the right decision for us at this time,” Poag said. “We’re trying to build this program up (gradually).”

Pine Lake Prep booster club president Calvin Carter supported the decision.

“We didn’t want our ninth-graders out there playing against 12th-graders,” Carter said. “This puts us in a position to get the kids some experience and be very competitive when we move to varsity next year.”

Pine Lake Prep opened junior-varsity practice July 30. The team, which doesn't have a field on campus, hasn't decided on a home playing site  for their J.V. team.

Pine Lake Prep is slated to join an N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A conference to begin the 2013-14 school year. The other conference teams will be Bessemer City, Cherryville, Christ the King, Community School of Davidson, Gastonia Highland, Thomas Jefferson Classical and Lake Norman Charter.

Read more on the Pride's decision in this Friday's Herald Weekly.

- Sports editor Cliff Mehrtens contributed to this article.