In 1997, a high school in western Pennsylvania replaced the natural grass on its football field with a synthetic turf surface.

Ringgold High School was the first high school in the country to install FieldTurf, a surface composed of strands of plastic grass, with rubber inlaid to provide a cushion and fibers sewn together.

The field at Ringgold lasted eight seasons before a second turf field was installed before the 2006 season.

The oldest synthetic turf fields in York County, at Central High School stadium and Small Athletic Field (York High), have been around for only four years.

Whether they make it to eight years, or beyond, before wearing out remains to be seen.

Nothing lasts forever. Not even something that can cost anywhere from $400,000 to $800,000.

But Lloyd Price, the athletic director at Ringgold, says a synthetic turf field is worth the investment.

"When you think of the thousands of hours of practices and games that we were able
to have in all kinds of weather, we're very pleased," Price said. "Plus, we saved money on time and maintenance. Once a week, we have a guy go out and groom and clean the field. With a grass field, we would have a work crew of four or five people taking care of it."

Ringgold led, and schools and communities across the country followed the leader. About 4,500 artificial fields will be in place by the end of this year, according to Rick Doyle, president of the Synthetic Turf Council.

Athletes at six York County schools -- the original two plus York Suburban, Northeastern, Susquehannock and Spring Grove -- play on synthetic turf. Suburban and Susquehannock have two turf fields on their campuses. Red Land High School, which is located in York County and competes in the Mid-Penn Conference, plays on a synthetic turf surface at West Shore Stadium in Cumberland County.

Going turf: Why the switch from real to artificial?

Supporters point out that a synthetic turf field can be used in any

type of weather, it provides increased playing hours to accommodate the additional sports that have been added over the years and requires very little maintenance.

No mowing, watering, fertilizing or pesticides. While some districts shy away because of the cost, supporters argue that although the initial cost is steep, the savings are made up in reduced maintenance and labor costs over the life of the surface.

Central High School athletic director Marty Trimmer said a normal sod field would cost anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 a year to maintain properly. Trimmer said the cost of maintenance on a turf field is one hour of grooming time a week.

"All of our outside teams have used it (the turf field) at one time or another for practice because of wet grass fields," he added.

Trimmer said his school's price tag for the new field, after credit for the sod and drainage that were already in place, was "probably around $400,000."

That was four years ago.

York Suburban's cost for two fields was $1.2 million (part of a $2.5 million project), and Wayne McCullough, business manager for the Southern York County School District, said the cost to install the two fields at Susquehannock was $1.6 million. Suburban began using its turf field last year, and Susquehannock's fields debuted this year.

Worth the cost? Joel Sears, a resident of the York Suburban School District and a member of the York County Taxpayers Council, questions whether districts should be spending a half million dollars, or more, on turf fields.

"The question of whether turf fields are a necessity or pointing out of the advantages of turf fields disguises the real issue, the huge concentration on varsity sports," Sears said.

"They keep adding (varsity) sports," he said. "Lacrosse is the latest one. Sports are wonderful, there's nothing like them when it comes to building team spirit and learning to sacrifice for the good of the team. But why not put more spending into intramural programs and better physical education programs?"

Sears also questioned why every district has to have its own turf field.

"Why not build a few fields and share them?" he asked.

The safety issue: McCullough said the Southern school board began studying the fields issue three years ago before deciding to go with synthetic turf.

"When we added girls' varsity and junior varsity soccer in the spring, we had no growing season for the stadium field," he said. "If we would plant grass at the end of the spring season, and the summer would be hot and dry, which many times it is, the field would be hard and dry for fall sports. The safety of our athletes is our primary concern, and we didn't want them playing on a hard, dry field."

Concern for the safety of athletes was also a main point raised by then Suburban principal Michele Merkle when she asked the school board to consider installing an artificial turf field. Merkle spoke at a school board meeting in December 2005.

"The condition of the (present) field is a safety hazard," she said. "I think we're a hair away from a crisis situation. We're at the point where we have to consider a major investment out there."

'Love' turf: York High football coach Matt Ortega said his players "love" the synthetic surface at Small Athletic Field.

The Bearcats' field was installed as part of a $5 million project that also included a six-lane all-weather track, new grandstands, locker room, scoreboard and a team room.

"If it's raining, or if the practice field is muddy from recent rain, we can still practice and not worry about kids slipping on the wet grass and getting hurt," he said. "The turf field gives you the same footing that you would have on a dry track."

Ortega also said he's not aware of any major injuries since the turf was installed.

"We're going into year four with it, and it's showing a little bit of wear, but I feel we'll get a good eight years out of it."

McCullough said his school received an eight-year warranty for its fields.

"The same manufacturer who we contracted with has a field in the state of Washington that's lasted 12 years," McCullough said. "When you're estimating the cost of a synthetic field, 70 to 75 percent of the cost is for excavation and drainage, which you only do the first time. Replacing the surface is 25 percent of the cost."

Using those figures, it would cost anywhere between $400,000 and $500,000 to replace the surface on the two fields at Susquehannock.

Still on grass: While turf fields have definitely made inroads in a county that didn't have any of them four years ago, 18 York and Adams County high school football teams continue to play on grass.

"Turf fields are still very expensive," Northern York County School District superintendent Brian Small said. (Northern competes in the Mid-Penn Conference).

"Some schools have been able to get grants or receive help from foundations, and they're able to install turf fields without using all taxpayer dollars."

Northern High School's football stadium in Dillsburg has a grass surface. A second, smaller stadium, which is used for boys' soccer, girls' soccer and field hockey and will be used for boys' lacrosse, also features a grass surface.

"We put in an irrigation system, and that improved the quality of the (football) field," Small said. "As for the second field, the options are adding six inches of topsoil and sodding it; doing nothing or going with synthetic turf. No decision has been made at this point. We're just starting to evaluate prices."

West York is in the natural grass club, too. The school district is constructing four grass practice fields, three of which will be located behind the middle school. Athletic director Roger Czerwinski said the total cost is $1.3 million.

Spring Grove played on grass for 47 seasons before moving to synthetic turf this season at the new high school.

Jacob Slagle, Spring Grove's student athletic coordinator, said his school board received medical opinions from physicians indicating the likelihood of severe injuries, specifically head injuries, are reduced with a turf field.

South Western's dilem ma: But South Western athletic director and head football coach Don Seidenstricker said a good grass field is still a safe field.

"Certainly, there's a concern with cost when it comes to a synthetic turf field," Seidenstricker said. "We put a new (grass) field in our district last year. The old field was completely redone, and we added an in-ground sprinkler system. It looks gorgeous," he said during the 2008 high school football media day in August.

That was before approximately 80 football and band events took place on the field.

"It's been a tough year (for the field)," South Western School Board member Richard W. Halter said on Thursday night. "Every Friday night football game, we had bad weather and some pretty heavy rains the night before."

Halter, who serves on the board's Buildings, Grounds and Equipment Committee, said the field will come back.

"It has a good natural base," he said. "I know it's easy to say, 'Boy, if we had artificial turf ...,' and we discussed whether to go with grass or turf for six months."

Halter said the board decided to go with grass because of the higher cost of synthetic turf, both the initial outlay and the replacement charge.

"The price we came up with for a turf field was $850,000. For the grass field, which included a drainage system and a sprinkler system, the cost was $250,000.

"And, at the time we were making our decision, we could not see any guarantees (for a turf field) past 10 years. The fact that we would have to replace the field in 10 years was an overriding factor in our decision."

Halter said the board will be looking at all the facilities again, and he's sure the word turf will come up again.

However, for at least the immediate future, South Western is sticking with grass.

"We want to do everything for our kids, but we have to take cost into consideration when we make a decision," Halter said.

-- Reach Dick VanOlin da at dvanolinda@yorkdis patch.com or at 505-5407.