Times Observer Photo by Cody Elms Sheffield quarterback Michael Mihalic is taken down in the end zone for a safety during Saturday’s loss to Keystone.

The Sheffield Wolverine football team has played its last snap this season.

Warren County School District announced Thursday that the remainder of the varsity and junior varsity seasons were canceled.

“The 2020-2021 SAMHS Varsity and Junior Varsity football program cannot go forward in the season due to safety concerns related to numbers,” Superintendent Amy Stewart said in a Thursday night email.

There were only going to be 17 players available for the team’s game tonight against Curwensville — below the minimum limit set previously by the school board.

“After assessing the situation at practice today, the team was looking at 17 players of various skill, experience, and preparation levels for the next game,” Stewart said. “District football teams fall into the red zone within our procedure at 19 players.”

The number of players on the team has been low since the season began.

“Participation numbers in the program started out low,” Stewart said. “Sheffield is missing its long-time cooperative teammates from Abraxas. At the onset of the season, Sheffield thought they would have enough of their own players to complete the season, but unfortunately, that did not happen.”

“Teams often lose players throughout the season due to injury, or simply because players decide to shift to other activities,” she said. “In Sheffield’s case, they just didn’t have enough players to overcome the loss of players after last week’s game.”

A complete story will appear in Friday’s edition of the Times Observer.