When Fayette County ruled WPIAL football
Fayette County high school football has fallen on hard times in recent years. This year the six football playing schools in the county had a combined record of 10-52, and only one — Frazier — made the playoffs. The Commodores were ousted in the first round of the Class AA playoffs by Brentwood 46-19. The last Fayette County school to capture a WPIAL title was Connellsville in Class AAA in 1991.
It wasn’t always this way in Fayette County football. The county through the years produced some outstanding teams and players. In fact, in 1940 Fayette County was the dominant force in the WPIAL with Brownsville winning the Class AA championship and Masontown securing the Class B title.
The Brownsville Vikings, as they were known back in the day, were a force to be reckoned with during the 1930s and 1940s. During a 10-year span under coaches Carl Aschman for seven seasons and Earl Bruce for three seasons the Brownies won 77 games and lost only 15 and enjoyed a 39-game winning streak. They won two Class AA WPIAL championships in four years, winning in 1940 and 1943.
Brownsville won Fayette County honors six times during the 10 seasons and five times won the Big Six which later became the Big Five.
During the 1940 campaign Brownsville was undefeated in 10 games. The Brownies tallied 280 points, posted seven shutouts and surrendered a total of 18 points during the season. The Brownies were slated to face Altoona during the postseason for the championship, but when the Mountain Lions refused to meet Brownsville, the WPIAL committee award the title to the Brownies.
Brownsville was led in 1940 by its 235-pound, pile-driving fullback Paul “Buck” Sutton who was profiled in Memory Lane before his death in 2016 at the age of 93. During that 1940 campaign “Buck” scored 21 touchdowns and 17 extra points for 148 points. Flanking him at halfback were Al Taffoni with Johnny Daley and Joe Vaccaro alternating at the other halfback post. Alex Chronis led the runners from his blocking back position.
The rock-solid line consisted of Arthur Woodward and Henry Szeic at ends, Jim Shoaf and David Pursglove at tackles, Fred Kreuter and Paul Colborn at guards and John “Shag” Wolosky at center.
Paul Sutton got off to a bad start with Brownsville coach Carl Aschman when he didn’t go to training camp at the old Kiwanis camp up in the mountains.
“I had Tuberculosis when I was 12,” Sutton stated. “I didn’t go to camp, I had kidney problems all my life. I was afraid I would wet the bed if I went to camp. They made an announcement at school saying that anyone who wanted to go out for football should go to the auditorium. I showed up and Coach Aschman got after me for not going to camp and he told me to get out he didn’t want me. Somebody talked to him and he told me after about 10 days to come back. But I was weak, I was 6-2 and about 168 pounds. Between my sophomore and junior year I put on about 20 pounds.”
Sutton had to work his way into the lineup.
“I played the last few games as a junior,” Sutton recalled. “Until then I didn’t play at all. I didn’t play a minute my freshman year and I didn’t play a minute my sophomore year. I was a third-team tackle. The third team was the scout team and ran the opponent’s plays. It was the cannon fodder team.”
Sutton played the last few games of the 1939 season setting the stage for a stellar season in 1940 which then set the stage for a great senior season. Sutton also played linebacker and defensive tackle.
“That all sounds great,” Sutton said. “But the truth is we had a great defense, we were getting that ball around the 50-yard line all the time.”
Sutton was a unanimous first-team all-state selection and also earned all-county and All-Big Six honors.
“I was very shy,” Sutton stated. “I tried to stay out of the limelight and I was very shy. At the time it didn’t seem possible that I got those honors.”
Wolosky was the bedrock of the Brownies offensive line at center and played linebacker on defense. He was also profiled in Memory Lane before his death in 2008 at the age of 85. Wolosky said they had great coaching at Brownsville in those days.
“A terrific coach, Carl Aschman, who after the 1940 season went to Aliquippa, Earl Bruce and Andy Sepsi,” Wolosky said. “We had three wonderful coaches — all three were head coaches there at Brownsville over the years.”
The other Fayette County WPIAL Champ in 1940 was Masontown which won the Class B title. The Gunners were a bit of a surprise in 1940. They had won the WPIAL Class B championship in 1937, but coming into the 1940 season they had been hit hard by graduation losses, prompting head coach Gene Franks to say “we are a little thin depth-wise.”
Franks was loath to substitute during the season and stuck primarily with 11 players going both ways, hence Masontown became known as the “Iron Gunners.” Masontown went 10-1, the lone loss was to Class A North Union 6-0. That was the lone score the Gunners allowed all season long as they recorded 10 shutouts. Masontown scored 181 points during the season.
The last surviving member of the “Iron Gunners” is left end Stan Lowe who is in his 90s.
“We ran the single wing,” Lowe recalled. “We had two solid halfbacks in Eddie Medved and Billy Morbito and a good fullback in Doran Zimmerman. We had a tremendous ground game, we threw the ball once in awhile, but not often.”
Franks, who was known as “The Old Fox,” was a highly regarded coach.
“Coach Franks was a great coach,” Lowe stated. “He got along with his players, he was a fair coach. He demanded the best from us, he wanted it all. We were always very well prepared.”
On the way to the Class B title Masontown defeated Bridgeville 6-0 and then dispatched previously unbeaten Millvale in the championship game at Etna, 26-0, as Morbito scored on touchdown runs of 24 and 15 yards in front of 4,000 fans.
“I’m so proud,” Lowe said. “Eleven games and all they could score was one touchdown against you. I think that’s great.”
It was a moment frozen in time — 1940 when Fayette County football was king in the WPIAL.
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George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Monday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.