The 1-year-old  Northwest Athletic Conference was short-lived. School principals voted to approve a realignment proposal by the District 10 committee that divides the district into sections based on  school enrollment. It will go into effect for the 2004-05 school year, the first of the new two-year PIAA school enrollment cycle. The plan won approval by a 36-17 vote. Five schools did not participate in the voting. District 10 chairman Wally Blucas announced Wednesday that the D-10 committee's realignment proposal was approved in voting by the principals of the district's schools. “I'm very pleased with the process and that the proposal passed by a large margin,” District 10 chairman Wally Blucas told The Derrick Jan. 21. “We had a lot of good people working on this since October. We've bandied this about for the last 15 years and now it will be implemented.” Blucas, who also is president of the PIAA, admitted he was skeptical at the outcome of the vote until the D-10 committee made its presentation. “Originally, I thought it would be a 50-50, nip-and-tuck vote,” he said. “I was surprised it was passed by more than 20 votes. “It think the schools came around after the presentation,” he continued. “It was received very well. We had 13 sub-committees that rolled up their sleeves and worked very hard on this and it worked out very well. It will be fair for all schools.” Blucas said adjustments to the sections released at the presentation will take place as the committees fine tune the realignment to reflect schools who wish to move up in class and other considerations. He expects the fall sports sections and schedules to be ready for the D-10 meeting  Feb. 4. Oil City has been placed in a nine-team section for football, joining traditional rivals Franklin, Titusville, Meadville and Warren and two of the newer NWAC teams, Strong Vincent and East. The Oilers will renew a longtime rivalry with Corry, and play General McLane for the first time in league play. The Oilers scrimmaged GML for years, and, of course, beat the Lancers for the District 10 Class AAA championship in 1998. Oil City's rivalry with Corry began in 1901, but the two teams haven't played since 1996 when they met in a District 10 playoff game. They played every year from 1950-76 when both schools belonged to Section 2 and then the Northwest Conference. Corry left the NWC to join the Erie County League. With a nine-team league, each school will have eight conference games. The nine section members will rotate playing Erie Central, McDowell or Cathedral Prep for a ninth game. The top four teams in the section then will play for the District 10 Class AAA title. --- It should be noted that Venango Catholic,  Cranberry, Rocky Grove, West Forest and East Forest will join District 9 next year. Those schools dropped out of District 10 when TCAC Division I schools (Oil City, Franklin, Titusville, Meadville and Warren) teamed with Erie East, Erie Central and Erie Strong Vincent to form the Northwest Athletic Conference. Before the 2003-04 school year the NWAC was a football-only conference (Northwest Football Conference) that also included Greenville. Greenville turned down an invitation to join the NWAC and play closer to home with natural rivals in the Mercer County Athletic Conference.