It might turn out to be short-lived, but Porters Chapel Academy’s football program entered a new era Monday.

Head coach Wayne Lynch formally turned in his letter of resignation Monday morning, three days after he had informed the school’s administration that he planned to do so.

Lynch’s verbal resignation came about four hours before PCA was scheduled to play Benton Academy on Friday. He said he was called into a meeting and asked to step down as head coach and take a position as an assistant coach, effective immediately. He instead decided to resign his position as both a coach and teacher at the school.

“I was not comfortable with that, and that’s why I decided to resign,” Lynch said. “I’m ready to get past it. I just want to say, to my players and team, I did love them and would never walk away from them based on success or failure. To my players, I’ll always have a place in my heart for them and they can call me if they ever need anything.”

PCA headmaster Pam Wilbanks said she wanted to wait until she received Lynch’s resignation letter to comment publicly, but then said only that it was Lynch’s decision to resign when asked for specifics about the situation.

“He verbally resigned on Friday. But since it’s a personnel matter, I have to keep it confidential,” she said.

Lynch said he didn’t harbor any hard feelings with PCA’s board or administration.

“I don’t have hard feelings against anybody. I’m just ready to move on to the next chapter in my life,” he said.

Lynch had a 5-23 record in nearly three seasons, although three victories in 2013 were later forfeited for using an ineligible player.

Junior high coach Stacey Sykes coached PCA in the 38-0 loss to Benton Academy on Friday, and will be the coach again this Friday for the season finale at home against Amite School Center (4-5, 1-1 District 5-AA).

PCA (1-8, 0-2) has been eliminated from playoff contention. Its only win this season was a forfeit victory over Riverdale on Aug. 28.

“I view it as an opportunity to lead in a tough situation and bring unity to the players,” Sykes said. “They’re taking it with the intensity to play better and play harder, and have the focus be on winning and not be distracted by this whole event.”

Sykes is in his first year at Porters Chapel. He has coached a number of sports at other schools, and was most recently the athletic director at The Veritas School in Ridgeland. Veritas closed at the end of the 2014-15 school year.

Sykes led PCA’s junior high football team to a 5-2 record this season and is also coaching its junior high basketball team. He is a teacher at the school.

PCA athletic director Wade Patrick said Sykes’ familiarity with the students and football players, as well as the way he handled the team against Benton, made him the best choice to finish the season.

Sykes said he appreciated the vote of confidence from both PCA’s administration and the players.

“If I was coming in not knowing any of them, it would make it a lot more difficult,” Sykes said. “The vote of confidence from the boys meant a lot to me. They’re going to get 100 percent out of me, and we’re going to go out there and try to win one more time.”

Sykes’ tenure might only be these last two games of the season.

Neither Wilbanks nor PCA board president Patrick Smith said they’ve figured out a long-term plan or timeline for finding a permanent coach, and Sykes said he hadn’t been approached about taking the job full time.

“We’ve got five or six months before we have to fill that spot,” Smith said. “We’re not going to make a quick decision.”

A more pressing concern is finding a boys basketball coach. Lynch also served in that capacity, and PCA’s first game is Nov. 2 at home against Central Hinds. Practice will begin next week, once football season is over.

When asked about that timeline, Smith said with a chuckle, “This week.”

Patrick said he planned to mine his contacts in the coaching world to find a replacement. He admitted that getting it done a week before practice begins is going to be an extremely difficult task, but added that dealing with unexpected situations is part of the job.

“You just roll with the flow,” Patrick said. “It’s no different than a business. Somebody leaves, somebody steps up and fills in until a replacement is found.”