Apr 5, 2017 By Wayne Stewart for The 5 min read

Few observers of high school football in the Mon Valley have as much experience or insights as Joe Barcelona, a longtime local educator with Washington and Ringgold districts.

Barcelona played for Rab Currie when he first took over the head coaching job at Charleroi High way back in 1947. Later Barcelona was a Currie assistant, and, in short, he has been around the game one way or another for ages.

Barcelona began a narration of a long string of Charleroi quarterbacks who went on to play for major colleges with Frank Lucas.

“He went to Salem College after being Rab’s first Charleroi quarterback,” Barcelona said. “After that, we had George ‘Porky’ Zuraw and Adam Vlanich who was an all-around back who went to Tennessee when they were playing single wing offense. He was competing with Johnny Majors. He felt that he was a better ballplayer than Majors, so he transferred to California State College. Later on, Rab had Jim Lenhart who went about 6-3. He went to Pitt and played four years there.”

Barcelona continued, “The next quarterback who came along in 1955 was Maury Guttman. He ended up going to Miami of Florida. There was a big to-do about antisemitism involving Guttman. He quit and went to Purdue.”

As a Boilermaker, Guttman averaged 3.6 yards per carry over 18 games.

“In ’56, we played Jeannette for the WPIAL title and lost,” Barcelona said. “Our quarterback was Ron Cosner who went to Arizona State and was a starter out there for three or four years — not a big kid, but he could move a football.”

In 31 college games, Cosner threw for 633 yards and seven TDs.

“Our ’59 championship team had Gary Hogan, who played in the 1960 Big 33 game, at quarterback,” Barcelona said. “He played for Purdue for three years. When Gary got hurt his senior year, Bob Griese took over.”

Hogan played in 28 college games, and connected on 48 percent of his 125 throws.

Barcelona’s litany of stars led next to Stan Kemp who was versatile, rushing, receiving and throwing in college. In limited action in 1968, his quarterback rating was 138. In high school, he made the UPI All-State third team (1962) and was selected to the Big 33 game.

“He ended up going to Virginia, but they converted him to a wide out,” Barcelona said. “He ended up going to the Canadian league for a while.

“After him came his backup, Bill Lee, who was 6-2 with a rifle for an arm. He was slower than molasses, but he could throw. He went to Cal State and started, setting all kinds of records.”

In 1966, as a college senior, Lee set the school record for the most yards passing in a game, 367.

Barcelona praised Jeff Petrucci who was Joe Montana’s high school quarterback coach.

“He wasn’t a big kid, but he had a very good football head,” Barcelona said. “He went to California, and I think he broke all of Lee’s records there, setting NAIA records that lasted for over 15 years.”

He even led the entire country in total offense in 1967 and 1968 and set a school record once by racking up 517 yards of total offense in a game. Charleroi also had Algie Labrasca who went to West Virginia where he was converted to strong safety.

“Rab always worked very hard with quarterbacks,” continued Barcelona. “In fact, being a quarterback for Rab was demanding. Everything had to be picture perfect. They had to deal from the hip, two hands on the ball, perfect footwork. Rab’s idea of a quarterback was Johnny Unitas, the first of the modern day quarterbacks who revolutionized the position. So all of our quarterbacks had to emulate him.

“And we ran a very complicated offense. You couldn’t believe the ball handling on our ’59 club. We went undefeated and beat Aliquippa, 13-12, at Pitt Stadium for the WPIAL title. We ran pro sets, double wing, single wing, all the option formations, and our tackles made the calls for the blocking. Whatever teams threw at us, we were able to block — inside, cross block or whatever. When the line was set, down, you could put a plumb bob down there and every helmet was exactly where it was supposed to be.

“We practiced three hours a night sometimes. ‘Turn on the lights,’ was Rab’s famous saying. The kids really knew their football, and when they went on to college, they all came back with the same story that they may not have been the biggest kids there, but they all had the best techniques.”

Charleroi proudly sent players to such large schools as Notre Dame, Arizona, Arizona State, Nebraska and Penn State.

The Cougars of the 1940s through the 1970s were prolific and intimidating.

“One guy from outside the Valley told me, ‘When you come to our town, we used to quake. We knew there was going to be hell to pay on the football field,'” Barcelona said.

Barcelona concluded, “What I’m trying to say is Charleroi is just a part of the Mon Valley experience.”

He also knows that, when it comes to football, Cougar country is an integral part of the area.