By KAREN CLARK Staff writer The Derrick/The News-Herald An unexpected turn of events led Oil City Area School Board to cancel a cooperative football agreement with Venango Catholic High School during the Oct. 22  meeting. Athletic director Rick Fletcher addressed the board with concerns over the bi-yearly evaluation of student population by the PIAA, the governing body for high school sports activities. Fletcher said under the PIAA terms, Oil City (now in Class AAA) would be considered a Class AA school for football for the next two years. PIAA sets the guidelines according to district populations across the state. To be considered AA, the male population in grades nine through 11 must be under 337. Numbers submitted to PIAA this week show Oil City at 320 male students. Adding the 35 male students from Venango Catholic would push Oil City into a higher playing class, placing student athletes at a disadvantage, Fletcher said. “It will affect the next two years by what we know today. It is fairer to our students to compete against districts of similar size to provide equitable competition,” Fletcher said. The board voted 5 to 3 in favor of canceling the agreement. Casting the negative votes were Kathy Daugherty, Marylou Hall and Kim Fornof. The move will not affect players already involved in the program. One senior and two freshmen from VC are members of the Oil City football teams. Oil City’s student numbers include charter/cyber school, home school and Pathways students in addition to all students enrolled at the high school. Meanwhile, the board approved a cooperative sports agreement with VC for boys and girls swimming and boys and girls tennis, effective for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years.