A public high school in West Virginia has dropped pre-game prayers from their football games.

Sissonville High School made the decision after the Freedom from Religion Foundation demanded that the school stop praying.

"No one is suggesting to the students that they cannot pray at their leisure," Principal Ron Reedy told The Charleston Daily Mail. "We are saying as an institution, we can't offer prayer."

Still, many students and parents are displeased with the decision.

"This is who we are," Crystal Smith, the mother of two Sissonville students, told The Charleston Daily Mail. "We're not trying to push our beliefs on anybody else." 

"''The prayer was for the safety of our players and the other teams' players," Reedy said. "It was not an evangelical thing at all," she said.

Reedy told The Mail that half of Sissonville High School's 650 students wore purple on Friday to show their support for the pre-game prayer.

Fans recited the Lord's Prayer after the National Anthem was played at Friday night's football game.