Woodland Hills High School's Wolvarena is one of the more storied stadiums in Western Pennsylvania. Usually by the middle of the season, though, there is little grass on the field and a little rain can turn the place into a mud pit.

Martha Rial, Post-Gazette
Danny Thurman from proGrass cuts artificial turf in the shape of a lion, the South Fayette High School mascot, on the new football field.
Click photo for larger image.

But there will be no more mud slinging at the Wolvarena, formerly known as Turtle Creek Stadium, after this season. Woodland Hills plans to install artificial turf next year.

For Woodland Hills, it is a simple case of following the crowd, joining a growing list of WPIAL schools that are going for the fake grass.

Of the 125 schools playing football in the WPIAL, 44 of them -- more than one-third -- have stadiums with artificial turf or synthetic grass surfaces. Also, the City League plays all of its regular-season games on the South Side at Cupples Stadium, which has artificial turf.

Of the 44 WPIAL schools with an artificial surface, only a few have the old turf, such as AstroTurf, that is hard and almost like carpet. Most of the schools have the new synthetic grass that is basically plastic grass on top of ground-up rubber. The synthetic grass surfaces have a sand base or a rubber pad underneath the grass that makes the surface much softer. Some names of the new synthetic surfaces are FieldTurf, proGrass, Sprinturf and A-Turf.

To put this turf fad into perspective, consider there were only 29 WPIAL schools with artificial turf or synthetic grass surfaces two years ago. Twelve years ago, there were only four schools with any kind of artificial turf surface -- North Allegheny, Mt. Lebanon, Peters Township and Trinity.

Eight schools installed synthetic turf at their stadiums for this season. They are Center, Greensburg Salem, Keystone Oaks, McGuffey, New Castle, Seneca Valley, South Fayette and Waynesburg. You can add Woodland Hills and Mars to the list for next season. Also, more than 30 NCAA Division I programs have FieldTurf stadiums, including Michigan and Nebraska. Twenty-three of the NFL's 32 teams use FieldTurf at their stadiums or practice facilities.

Although 34 of the WPIAL schools with artificial surfaces are in Class AAAA and AAA, it's not just for the big, affluent districts. Nine Class AA schools have it and Aliquippa, a Class AA school, also is considering the possibility of going to synthetic grass in the next few years.

School officials say the synthetic grass surfaces are cost effective because of their low maintenance. Plus, many sports teams at a school benefit from a synthetic surface because it stands up to heavy usage. Even bands benefit because they can practice on the field. Also, coaches and players say there are fewer injuries on synthetic grass than the old artificial turf.

"The nice thing is I'll never again have to tell someone they can't use our field because they're going to tear up the grass," said Mike Malesic, athletic director at McGuffey High School, which installed synthetic grass this summer at its renovated stadium.

Clair Altemus, Pine-Richland football coach and athletic director, said, "Just look at the past few days with the rain we had. If we didn't have turf, we wouldn't have been able to let our soccer teams scrimmage on the field."

A new synthetic grass surface generally costs between $400,000 and $600,000, which is much lower than just five years ago. The old artificial turf surfaces, such as AstroTurf, cost around $1 million. Maintenance is minimal on synthetic surfaces. Grass fields need reseeding and fertilizing in the offseason. Grass fields need to be painted and mowed during the season.

A sampling of a few schools showed they were paying about $40,000 a year to maintain a grass field. But a synthetic surface is close to maintenance free.

South Fayette installed proGrass at its new stadium this season.

"In the long run, it makes sense economically," South Fayette athletic director Joe Farkas said. "It's also nice not to have to worry about babying the surface any more. ... We'll be able to use this field so much more. We're trying to even put some middle school soccer games on the field this year."

The new synthetic grass surfaces usually have an 8- to 10-year guarantee but can last much longer. In the long run, saving money on maintenance costs for a grass field makes up for much of the cost of a synthetic surface.

"The biggest benefit is the use you get out of it," said Waynesburg athletic director Bob Stephenson.

Waynesburg installed proGrass at its stadium for this season at a cost of $603,000. The school paid for it, but the "Raider Field of Pride Committee" is raising money to pay off the field. The committee has raised $150,000 so far.

Stephenson said Waynesburg had about 60 events each fall on its old grass field. This fall, it will be used for roughly 170 events.

More companies are selling synthetic grass, but a few have gone out of business. AstroPlay installed Pine-Richland's synthetic grass a few years ago, but is no longer in business. AstroPlay also installed a few other surfaces at WPIAL schools.

"What happens is you get some young guys who see they can make some money on their own with this thing and they start undercutting each other," Altemus said. "That's helped bring the prices down. In our case, we've been assured by AstroPlay that they will honor their contracts, so there is no panic.

"But you can't beat having one of these fields."

First Published: September 2, 2005, 4:00 a.m.