West Allegheny and Fort Cherry do not compete in the same WPIAL section in wrestling, but the neighboring school districts always schedule a nonsection match, which has been the season opener for both in recent years.

This could be the final season for the neighborhood rivalry.

The PIAA has decided to shorten the high school wrestling season by one week. Actually, it is shortening almost all of the winter sports schedules by a week beginning with the 2008-09 school year.

"After our match, [West Allegheny coach] Mike Johnson told me this might be the last time we wrestle for a while," said Fort Cherry coach Rick Chaussard, after the Dec. 3 loss to the Indians. "I had forgotten all about the change. When I got home, I realized we might have to drop our match with West Allegheny. That would be a shame."

Johnson and Chaussard were referring to the PIAA's reduction of two points from varsity wrestling schedules. The current rules allow schools as many as 24 points during the regular season. Dual meets count as one point, while tournaments count as either three or four points.

"If our section size remains the same, we will have to cut our two non-league matches against West Allegheny and Seneca Valley," Chaussard said. "That would be our only option, unless we pulled out of a tournament."

Johnson would hate to see West Allegheny's rivalry with Fort Cherry discontinued.

"I don't have a problem with the season starting a little later, but don't take away two points," Johnson said. "It wouldn't be hard to find a spot on the schedule for those two points. There are some weeks in which we only have one match scheduled."

Hempfield coach Vince DeAugustine isn't happy with the PIAA decision either.

"Taking two points away is a terrible decision," he said. "It's disappointing to see competitions taken away from the kids when our sport is already experiencing growth problems. It was a decision made just to benefit football."

The decrease in scheduling points could pose a problem for Hampton coach Joe Bursick, who hosts a 10-team tournament the second weekend of the season.

"We may have to modify to a one-day tournament," said Bursick, referring to the fact that two-day dual tournaments count as four points, while one-day duals are only three points. "It all depends on the section alignment."

Hempfield conducted a dual tournament the past three seasons, but cancelled this year's event because of a scheduling conflict.

"I had hoped to find another date and resume the dual tournament next year, but doubt I could find enough interested teams. Everybody will be looking to cut points. Teams will have to pick their tournaments with hopes of getting the most competition for their kids."

Mount Pleasant coach Mark Mears believes the season is too long and doesn't think the PIAA is doing enough.

"We shouldn't start practice until December," he said. "We have one of the longest seasons of any state in the country. Most states are done in February. We're asking our kids to be involved in wrestling from Nov. 15 to March 15. That's four months.

"It's obvious that football is the main reason for this change. If we started practice on Dec. 1, most kids would get a month break from football. A month break would make a big difference, especially at the smaller schools where you see more multi-sport athletes."

Waynesburg coach Joe Throckmorton doesn't have a problem with cutting the season one week, but hopes the WPIAL will drop the size of its sections.

"The season is 17 weeks from start to finish," he said. "That's a long season to keep the kids involved compared to other sports. I don't want to wrestle just section matches. We have non-league matches with West Greene, Canon-McMillan and Chartiers Valley. It would be nice if we could keep those matches on our schedule."

The WPIAL currently has 49 teams competing in Class AAA, with four 10-team sections and one nine-team section. That means most Class AAA teams have nine section matches. There are 33 teams in Class AA, 11 in each section which makes for 10 section matches.

"Cutting the season one week doesn't give us much scheduling freedom," Shady Side Academy coach Tim Giel said. "If they don't cut the size of the sections, we may have to consider a dual meet tournament to get in most of our section matches. We could have most of our section matches in one weekend with the site changing every season. That arrangement would allow us to save points for non-section duals and other tournaments."

As both an athletic director and a member of the WPIAL wrestling steering committee, Frank Vulcano Jr. realizes that changes must be considered to accommodate the loss of two scheduling points.

"We have to look into reducing the size of each section," said Vulcano, who is the athletic director at Chartiers Valley.

"We are currently wrestling nine or 10 section matches in a seven-week period. Cut one week from that schedule and it would be almost impossible to schedule all of those section matches."

Vulcano said the changes could hurt the Powerade Christmas Tournament at Canon-McMillan. There were 42 teams in the tournament this past weekend.

There will be 51 Class AAA teams in the WPIAL next season, because Derry and South Allegheny are above the PIAA's new enrollment cutoff.

With that in mind, adding one section to Class AAA would mean three eight-team sections and three nine-team sections. Adding a section in Class AA would produce three eight-team sections and one seven-team section.

"If we go to four sections, I can keep my schedule the same," South Side Beaver coach Ron Ledbetter said. "If they stay with the current alignment, I will have to drop a tournament."