MORRISTOWN — After fielding a soccer program for the past four years, officials in the Union Local School District announced late Thursday afternoon that the program would be downgraded.

During an athletic board meeting, it was unanimously voted on that the program, which was co-ed but played a boys schedule, would drop to club status, effective immediately.

“It’s kind of upsetting,” Athletic Director Nick Nardo said via telephone Thursday. “We’ve had good numbers every year we’ve had the program. We started with 16 kids this season, but for various reasons, they just started to trickle off.”

Nardo said the Jets have nine players on the roster. A team can start a game with eight.

“We had 16 players on that first team in 2015 and we had 25-26 in years two and three,” Nardo explained. “Last year we had 22.”

When the program was initiated five years ago, home games were played at the Belco Works field on Hammond Road. In 2016, Union Local dedicated its home field adjacent to the school complex on Belmont-Morristown Road. The Mistak family had a big part in the new field being constructed. They even privately funded the program for three years (2016-18).

According to Nardo, by becoming a club team the Jets will not be able to participate in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Tournament, nor will they be competing in any Ohio High School Athletic Association event.

“We will be downsizing our schedule to 10-11 games,” he said.

However, Monday night’s game with St. Clairsville will be played as scheduled.

“Our coach talked with theirs and informed him of what might happen,” Nardo noted. “They both decided to play 8-on-8.”

Attempts to reach Union Local head coach Isaac Clark were not returned.