One of the longest-running football series in the WPIAL will end after the game tomorrow night -- and the big question is what will happen to the bridge?

Rochester will play host to Monaca in the 83rd meeting between the schools. The first game was played in 1913.

The towns of Rochester and Monaca are separated by a bridge over the Ohio River. Since 1988, the bridge has been named after the winner of the game. If Rochester wins, the bridge sign is changed to the Rochester-Monaca bridge. If Monaca wins, it is named the Monaca-Rochester bridge.

But Monaca High School is closing after the school year and merging with Center High to form Central Valley.

So after the game tomorrow, will the bridge be forever named after the winner?

"That's a good question," said Dan Matsook, the superintendent of the Central Valley School District. "There were a couple groups who debated this topic all summer long. There seems to be a lot of support for the idea that, no matter who wins, the sign will say Rochester-Monaca Bridge on the Rochester side, and it will say Monaca-Rochester Bridge on the other side. We'll see."

Matsook is quite familiar with the Monaca rivalry. He and his wife, Jeannie, graduated from Rochester in 1972 and Dan played at Rochester. The Matsooks had three sons play at Rochester and a daughter who was a cheerleader there. Dan Matsook won WPIAL and PIAA championships as Rochester's coach and his brother, Gene, is now the Rams' coach.

Dan Matsook said Rochester and Monaca really were not rivals until Rochester dropped to Class A in the early 1980s.

"Our rival used to be Beaver," Dan Matsook said. "I know the importance and emotional magnitude of such a storied game [against Monaca." It's a storied game because of the bridge, and people are very, very proud of it. I can empathize with that.

"You hate to see this come to an end on one hand, but, on the other hand, you have to move forward. The times are changing in Beaver County. But the message is that people can still hold onto the memories on both sides of the river."

With Center and Monaca merging to form Central Valley, Dan Matsook said coaching jobs in all sports will be opened for next year. Current coaches at Monaca and Center automatically will be in the pool for jobs, but the positions also will be open to outside candidates.

"The school board felt the fairest way was to open everything up from the beginning and let the cream rise to the top," Matsook said.

The Central Valley football team likely will be in WPIAL Class AAA next season.

You would be hard-pressed to find this many times in WPIAL history: A team goes through a regular season undefeated one year but goes winless the next.

It likely will happen at Highlands. A year ago, Highlands went undefeated in the regular season for the second time. Now, the Rams are 0-8 and will finish the regular season tonight against Hampton (4-4).

Highlands was a senior-dominated team a year ago. What made matters worse this year was a few players expected to have impacts have transferred.

So far this season, Highlands has been outscored, 256-67.

More than half the teams in WPIAL football have joined in the "pink out" for games this weekend.

They will wear pink stickers on their helmets, and some coaches will wear pink shirts, as symbols to raise awareness about breast cancer.

The idea is the brainchild of Mt. Lebanon athletic director John Grogan and Mt. Lebanon student Ellese Meyer, whose mother died of breast cancer in June.

Meyer approached Grogan this summer, hoping to do something to raise money and awareness at the football team's game against Upper St. Clair tonight.

Grogan liked the idea and sent letters to athletic directors around the WPIAL, asking if they wanted to participate in a pink-out. Two weeks ago, 24 teams were participating. After the idea got some publicity, more jumped aboard. Sixty-five of the WPIAL's 123 teams are now involved in the pink-out.

• Southern Columbia is the winningest team in the state since 2000, but Thomas Jefferson is on the verge of catching the Tigers. Southern Columbia is 120-18 and Thomas Jefferson 119-14.

• Keystone Oaks coach Nick Kamberis commented after his team's game Friday against Sto-Rox that he would not be surprised to see Sto-Rox receiver Drew Carswell playing on Sundays in the NFL someday. Carswell, a receiver-linebacker, is a Pitt recruit.

• The Lancaster McCaskey-Cedar Crest game was postponed last week when a sinkhole was discovered in an end zone about 30 minutes before the kickoff.

When Don Nottingham played fullback for the NFL's Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins in the 1970s, his nickname was "Human Bowling Ball." Greensburg Central Catholic coach Muzzy Colosimo believes senior running back Dave Miller fits the same mold.

"He's around 5-10 and 215," Colosimo said of Miller. "You ever hear of Don Nottingham? Well that's who he is. Honest to God, he's just like him. He's built just like him."

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