Not long after Jim Chasse became principal at Piscataquis Community High of Guilford two years ago, he came across a student petition urging the development of a wrestling program at the school.

The petition had enough signatures to pique Chasse’s interest, particularly at a school whose only winter sports offerings were cross country skiing and boys and girls basketball.

“It was a good list,” said Chasse of the petition. “There were 50 kids who signed it, but of course anyone can sign a petition. So I talked to the kids in the building, and I found out there was a lot of interest.”

That original student advocacy has paid off, as PCHS will field a varsity wrestling team for the first time next winter.

The Pirates will compete in the Penobscot Valley Conference Class C ranks, with regular-season opponents including Dexter, Foxcroft Academy, Penobscot Valley of Howland, John Bapst of Bangor, Hermon and Bucksport.

“At PCHS in the winter basketball is king and queen,” Chasse said. “We need opportunities for those students who are not basketball players or whose body type does not lend itself to basketball.”

Wrestling will replace cross country skiing in the athletic budget, as skiing entailed significant travel costs and involved fewer than 10 participants last year, Chasse said.

The wrestling program could attract a larger number of participants, if last year’s experience as a club sport is any indication.

The wrestling club, which met after school for three days a week for six weeks last winter, had 33 participants from grades 6-12. Called Reading, Writing and Wrestling, the program was funded by a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant designed to provide a broad array of activities that foster additional academic enrichment opportunities for children.

Through the program participants learned basic wrestling techniques and the written rules of the sport.

“We had 33 kids wrestling after school, and only two had ever been involved in a co-curricular activity before,” said Chasse, who added that the SAD 4 board of directors will now evaluate the effectiveness of the varsity program year to year throughout its infancy.

Tom Cyr of Parkman, who led last winter’s club program, has been named head coach of the PCHS varsity team. Cyr, one of the state’s top wrestling officials, will be assisted by Rod Gudroe.

A wrestling mat has been purchased for the program, but Chasse said community and individual support is being sought to offset that cost.

The Pirates’ first varsity competition is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 1, during a meet at Penobscot Valley in Howland.

Chasse added that Cyr will be a two-sport varsity coach at PCHS during the upcoming school year, as Cyr also has been named the Pirates’ boys varsity soccer coach after a successful coaching stint at the middle school level.

Cyr replaces Rex Webb, who stepped down after guiding the Pirates to the 2006 Eastern Maine Class C championship. PCHS entered postseason play as the fifth seed, then defeated No. 4 Houlton in the quarterfinals and No. 9 Houlton in the semifinals before edging rival Dexter, the No. 2 seed, 4-3 in the regional championship game.

PCHS also has a new athletic administrator in Eric Smith. Smith, a math teacher at the school, is a veteran soccer official as well as a former boys varsity basketball coach at Penobscot Valley of Howland.

Smith replaces Larry Holmquist, who left that post at the end of the 2006-07 school year but will remain an educational technician at the school.

Calais native new Gardiner coach

Calais High School graduate Jason Cassidy has been named the new boys basketball coach at Gardiner Area High School.

Cassidy, 36, replaces Pat McNally, who coached the Tigers on an interim basis last winter after Dana Doran resigned during preseason amid a controversy regarding a team policy on haircuts.

Gardiner reached the Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinals before losing to Mt. Blue of Farmington, and finished last season with a 12-8 record.

The Tigers will compete in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B ranks in basketball beginning next winter.

Cassidy currently is the athletic director and a math teacher at the middle-school level in Gardiner, and last season served as Gardiner’s middle school boys basketball coach.

He previously served as freshman boys basketball coach and varsity assistant coach at Lawrence of Fairfield, as well as that school’s junior varsity girls basketball coach.