Those championship seasons: Proof that Saltsburg could recapture past glories

SALTSBURG--It was 20 years ago today, Saltsburg taught the AC they could play....

With apologies to 'The Beatles,' it should be noted fans of the Saltsburg Trojans have at least three reasons to celebrate this year.

This is the 20th anniversary of the 1981 season, a groundbreaking year which saw a Trojan squad go undefeated and then switch from underdog to champion in the Appalachian Conference title contest against Shade.

And, after a decade had passed, the 1991 edition of the team recaptured the AC crown and went one better. Due to format changes, Saltsburg was able to win the Trojans' first and only District 6 title, a 27-14 upset over Bishop Guilfoyle.

And if those aren't enough reasons to celebrate in Saltsburg, this year also is the 35th anniversary of an undefeated Trojan team in 1966 and their only edition of the old Indiana County championship.

Glenn Richards experienced two title seasons firsthand--as a standout lineman in 1981 and an assistant coach in 1991.

Richards, who has been the head coach since that 1991 title season, says he and his team are entering the 2001 season in an upbeat frame of mind.

He wouldn't mind having something new to celebrate--another District 6 title, this time as head coach.

But don't expect him to be distracted by the notion that Saltsburg, after another 10-year hiatus, may be due for a new championship outing.

Saltsburg hasn't won at all since 1998, and now 'Winning one game is all we're concerned about,' Richards said. 'We're all working together to try to establish some wins....We have a great attitude and a new approach,' he said of this year's squad.

The players and staff have been putting in long hours, he said, working on the passing game and the defensive line, among other things. But, at the same time, 'The kids are having fun.'

And, for once, numbers aren't as much of a problem for the traditionally thin red line: there are 38 players out for the 2001 season.

More good news for this squad and those to come is the presence of players who have experience in Saltsburg's midget football program. The first graduates are among the underclassmen suiting up for the Trojans this fall.

'They've developed instincts,' Richards said of the midgets-no-more. 'They know where their positions are and they understand different situations, whether it's fourth and short or fourth and long.'

Addressing this year's multiple anniversaries, Richards noted, 'A lot of people have tried to compare the 1966, 1981 and 1991 Trojan teams. But each team was different, with a different group of players.'

Still, in 1981, the Trojans were very mindful of their predecessors in 1966.

There was a long, dry spell for Saltsburg football and its fans in the subsequent 15 years. But that changed in 1981, when the Trojan ranks were flooded with talented and experienced team players.

At the start of the season, Head Coach Lew Fenoglietto publicly expressed only 'cautious optimism.' But the late coach admitted off the record he believed his Trojans had the right stuff to win the AC.

Todd Brosko, who started at center for the '81 Trojans, said the late coach was encouraged by 'the progress we had made through the jv program.'

Many of the teammates had played together in the local Slickville Midgets organization.

'We had a lot of good athletes on that team.' Brosko said. 'A lot of linemen went on to play college football.'

That list includes Richards, who went on to success at California University, and Rob Jorgenson, at Grove City.

Jeff Clawson, who played at split end, recalled the tandem attack of top running back Jeff Fulton, who 'had speed outside,' and fullback Joe Stevenson, who--at 6-3, 210--would simply 'plow over' would-be tacklers.

Even with all the offensive talent, Brosko recalls, 'Our big strength was our defense. We capitalized on fumbles.'

Everything came together for Saltsburg that year, including a schedule which gave it the home field advantage against such tough rivals as United and Blairsville as well as in the AC championship game itself.

At that time, Brosko noted, 'Each side of the conference would host the championship every other year.' In 1981, that honor went to the western division finalist--which happened to be Saltsburg.

One of the memories 1981 team members cherish is the outpouring of fan support once it was apparent the Trojans were on a roll.

Fulton, who was a double scoring threat as the team's kicker, recalled, 'We always had great fan support. We drew a couple thousand people per game,' with 'people standing four or five deep along the end zone.'

Clawson noted the community was eager to embrace its victorious Trojans, less than a year after the demoralizing destruction of a downtown block in a New Year's Day arson.

'The town was really supporting us,' he said. 'There were free hoagies and haircuts.'

'There was a general feel-good attitude through the whole town,' recalled Brian Shirley, who served ably as the team's starting junior quarterback.

All agree that a last-minute 9-6 victory over United was a turning point. 'That was the season right there,' said Brosko. 'It was a hard-hitting game; it's sad somebody had to lose.'

Clawson scored a touchdown for the Trojans, but the Lions also had notched up six points.

The game's most memorable moment occurred when Fulton broke the tie and secured the victory, kicking a 38-yard field goal with only seconds on the clock.

After stopping the United offense late in the game, the Trojans had answered with a 50-yard drive, but time was running out, Clawson recalled.

Saltsburg called time to consider its options and Mike Okopal, who would hold the ball for his cousin, Fulton, was confidence that his relative could nail a three-pointer.

'Mike said, 'Let's kick the field goal,' like it was no big deal,' Fulton recalled. 'But we had only done it a few times in practice and in a game.'

Known as 'Super Toe' by his fellow Trojans, the kicker didn't disappoint.

'That whole play was surreal, watching the ball fly through the air,' Fulton said. 'It was like it was in slow-motion.'

Brosko, who had snapped the ball, had perhaps the best view of it soaring over his head and then the goal post. After the ball cleared the uprights, he said, 'It was bedlam; people were all over the field. Nobody could believe it.'

If there had been any doubts about the Trojans' abilities, they were silenced by that third win of the season.

'Everything clicked,' Fulton said. 'It was almost like (the championship season) was meant to happen.'

Beating Blairsville at Saltsburg, in the season's sixth week, was another major milestone, clinching the Trojans' berth in the AC title contest. Fulton and Stevenson each contributed a TD run to the 14-6 win.

Said Fulton, 'Blairsville was always a big rival and they had beaten up on us in the past. We knew if we got past them, it was probably going to be pretty smooth sailing.'

Few in numbers, the 1981 squad was lucky to make it through the season without any major casualties. Fulton noted, 'One key injury could have ruined the whole year.'

Nearly everyone performed double or triple duty on offense, defense and special teams, he added. 'Ninety-five percent of us really never sat down on the bench.'

Shirley pointed out, 'Sometimes we had trouble getting 22 kids to scrimmage each other in practice.'

Capping the season was the 21-6 upset of Shade few had predicted.

Brosko noted pre-game press analysis criticized Fulton and Stevenson as not being in the same class as Shade's star running back, Steve Gulakowski, dubbed the 'Polish Prince.'

'That just gave us extra inspiration,' Brosko said. The Trojans held Gulakowski to 84 yards rushing, including Shade's sole touchdown.

'It was muddy and hard to get something started,' Brosko recalled. Saltsburg's offense didn't kick into gear until the second half, but it was worth the wait.

Down 6-0 at halftime, Fenoglietto 'came in the locker room and said, 'We should have three touchdowns on these guys,' ' Brosko recalled.

And Fulton delivered, returning an interception for a 45-yard touchdown and crossing into the end zone twice more, at the end of runs of 30 and 20 yards. He also booted his own extra points each time.

'We were huge underdogs,' Fulton said. But, when the two teams actually met, 'We were thinking, ŒWe can beat this team. They're not that good.' '

Fulton proved that point on the second play of the third quarter, snagging Shade quarterback Bill Marek's pass and returning it to the end zone.

Immediately after the game, Fulton told The Dispatch, 'I knew right away I had the touchdown. The play was flowing to the right and I was going away from the flow.'

'It was truly an experience most people don't get,' Fulton says now, looking back on the Trojans' AC triumph.

Brosko has just one regret: 'At that time, there were no district or state playoffs. It would have been nice to have played a few more games to see what we could have done.'

After the season ended, Fenoglietto retired from coaching. A few years later, he was felled prematurely by a heart attack.

Clawson and Brosko both remembered Fenoglietto as a class act, who didn't believe in running up scores when his team was comfortably ahead.

There were parallels between the '81 and '91 championship squads.

Each had a core of players who had congregated together for years, on and off the field. Players and coaches alike also recall there were no oversized egos on either team.

Tom Trunzo, who had taken over head coaching duties at Saltsburg in 1986, noted his 1991 squad 'had a lot of playing time together as sophomores.

'They were a close-knit group. They were confident of each other's abilities and they were good friends.'

'There was not one kid with a personal goal,' said Richards, Trunzo's defensive coordinator in '91. 'Their main objective was to win.'

'We were...a family of players and coaches,' recalled Steve Thomas said, who was a productive end for the '91 team. 'We had a lot of three-sport athletes. I think that helped out a lot, too.'

'We really felt it was the best team since the 1981 season,' Trunzo said. 'They had a lot of experience, speed and knowledge.'

Of the team's speed, quarterback Mike Bartolini noted, 'There were five or six of us who could take it home anytime we got the ball.'

'I recall saying we had a definite chance (at a post-season title),' Trunzo recalled. 'We set our goals high that year.'

His confidence was rewarded, as the Trojans rolled up an 8-1 regular season, followed by successful trips to the Appa-lachian Conference and District 6-A championships. The team finished with an overall 12-2 record.

One of the favorite items in the Trojan playbook that year was 'a double hand-off in the backfield,' Trunzo said. 'Our quarterback, Mike Bartolini, would hand off to (junior halfback) Jason Rossi and he would go inside and hand it to (senior halfback) Mark Koffman.

'Initially, that got us a lot of big touchdowns.'

Fullback Dave Stuller was an all-around workhorse in '91, who led the Trojans in scoring (12 TDs) and rushing (1,035 yards). But, Trunzo noted, the greatest part of that production occurred in the latter part of the season.

In the early games, he explained, opponents were keying in on Stuller, remembering the offensive threat he'd posed the previous year. 'That freed up Rossi and Koffman.'

'Because we had three solid backs, they couldn't key on any one,' Trunzo said. In addition, 'We were able to throw to Steve (Thomas), who was such an outside threat. That was our recipe for success.'

Saltsburg's defense also rose to the occasion, taking its cues from Richards.

Thomas, now an assistant coach for the Trojans, credited Richards' pre-game talks with 'getting us fired up to go out and do our best. We gave 110 percent and we had a lot of fun playing the game.'

Other past coaches who assisted during the championship season were Rick Lowman, currently Blairsville's athletic director, and Rich Shaffer, who died of cancer last year.

Art Grguric Jr., a guard on the 91 squad, noted he and his teammates had known Shaffer and benefited from his advice since having him as a fifth grade teacher and a junior high football coach.

'He was the one who first got it into our heads that we were something special,' Grguric said. 'He rode the trip with us all the way. He'll be missed big-time.'

With most Trojans playing both offense and defense, 'By the end of the year, they were beat up and sore. But they just wanted to keep going,' Trunzo said.

'We cut practice early on Wednesday because four of the kids had to go to the chiropractor to be ready for Friday.'

Guard Art Grguric Jr. noted many of his fingers were swollen and bent out of shape by the end of the season. It was lucky he had Trunzo, who was understanding, as his typing teacher.

As in 1981, team spirit spread rapidly through the community when the Trojans demonstrated their winning ways.

Joe Spellane and Art Grguric Sr. were among the football parents who instigated many of the increasingly elaborate fan activities.

'We wanted to do something better each time,' Grguric said.

'We'd go over to the Village Inn Monday night to decide what we were going to do next.'

They graduated from the usual bonfires and rallies to posting player plaques on utility poles throughout town, booking Steeler Greg Lloyd for a pep talk and planning a parade. But that was just the beginning.

Grguric said, 'We made an eight-foot giant Trojan out of plywood and carried it to every game. We put it on the defending goal post, and the (Saltsburg) people would protect it.'

Between games, 'We propped it up on the field house roof.'

On one occasion, the Trojan linemen were surprised by their burly fathers, who took the field dressed as cheerleaders.

Before a late-season game against Berlin, which the Trojans won 35-9, the boosters arranged for a Mack truck, 'The Big Red Machine,' to burst through a paper 'Berlin Wall.'

The literal high point of the booster efforts was revealed as the team left the high school for a post-season appearance. A plane flew overhead, pulling a banner with a rallying slogan.

All the antics and investment were worth it, Grguric said. 'The more support we gave the team, the better the team was doing.'

Due to scheduling, Saltsburg that year played teams such as Berlin instead of local rivals United and Blairsville.

'Knowing the teams they had that year, we could have beaten both of them,' Trunzo said. 'It would have been a real good test.' But, 'We beat the teams we had to beat; that's all that counts.'

The only regular-season loss, to Laurel Valley, could have kept Saltsburg out of the post-season.

But the Trojans didn't make another slip, and the Rams cooperated by suffering two later losses.

THE CRITICAL WIN

Among '91 Trojan alumni, most agree the season's sixth game, at Conemaugh Valley, was the critical win.

'That was the one that really clinched (a conference title berth),' Trunzo said, with the Trojans holding on for a 7-6 win.

Grguric Jr. scored on a fluke play, covering a botched Conemaugh Valley punt in the end zone. Thomas kicked the extra point.

Trunzo said 'It wasn't the most glamorous or exciting score, but it was the most important.'

When CV scored late in the game, Koffman shut down the two-point conversion try, preserving the Saltsburg victory.

There was a pause in the action before the conversion attempt. Pete Morcheid, now a on Richards' Trojan staff, recalled the defensive coach 'coming out and looking at us, and he didn't have to say anything at all. We just knew they weren't going to get in the end zone.'

With less than two minutes left, Koffman cut off a CV power sweep to his side of the field, denying the two-point attempt.

Then, Grguric Jr. noted, 'Our crowd rushed the field. They almost called a penalty against us.'

Morcheid, a sophomore in 1991, earned a starting berth at fullback when the older Rob Oskey was sidelined by a knee injury.

AC TITLE GAME

In the AC title game against Homer-Center, at Johnstown's Point Stadium, the Trojans were successful in holding onto the ball in the final minutes--with the same general result, saving a (14-6) win.

In the final huddle of the evening, Trunzo said, 'I told the kids, 'If we get this first down, we win the game. We can just kneel on the ball.

'We went to Koffman on that play. It was nothing fancy, just a dive off tackle for a quick three or four yards.'

Afterwards, Thomas said, 'We came back to Saltsburg and had a pizza party at the fire hall. It was jam-packed.'

There were plenty of highlights to remember from Saltsburg's 27-14 District 6 title win over Bishop Guilfoyle, at Altoona's Mansion Park.

It was the team's first game on astroturf, Grguric Jr. noted.

To prepare themselves, they arranged a practice session on Duquesne University's field.

TIP-TOE CATCH

Saltsburg's first touchdown was on a 19-yard pass. Stuller noted, 'Koffman made a tip-toe catch in the end zone, just inside of the line.'

Stuller took in the second TD himself, on a 70-yard run. But, he said, 'I didn't think it was going to happen: I went off the middle, bounced off some tacklers and then broke to the left outside.'

The team suffered a letdown in the third quarter when Stuller bruised a bicep and was pulled from the field.

'Bishop Guilfoyle was driving on us, and it looked bad,' Grguric related.

Finally, 'Dave couldn't stand it anymore. He yanked Matt Fennell out and went back in; on the next play, he sacked the quarterback.'

In celebration, Stuller raised his one good arm, and, 'Everyone went crazy,' Grguric said.

Despite his injury, Stuller led Trojan rushers in the District 6 game, racking up 136 yards.

After both the AC and District 6 wins, Stuller said,

'There was a lot of joy, a lot of tears and hugging.'

But a few weeks later, the Trojans would experience tears of heartache.

Saltsburg's latest dream season finally came to an end when the Trojans fell to Smethport 9-0 in the state quarter-finals.

Mother Nature was one of the prominent players in the contest at DuBois High School.

'The rain was pouring and it was muddy,' Stuller said. 'Due to the...field, we couldn't get any speed.'

Another bad memory from the game is a two-yard blooper punt he kicked midway through the second half.

Bartolini noted the Smethport game was so messy he had a hard time gripping the ball:

'It was muddy and dismal. It was disappointing to know that was the last time we would take off our jerseys together. I think we could have been in that ball game.'

'It was really frustrating,' Rossi said. 'We couldn't even tell which team was which.'

MAGIC MOMENT

'Magic comes to a small school every once in awhile,' Trunzo noted of the 91 season. While it lasted, 'It was a great ride.'

As Fenoglietto did, Trunzo left coaching after his team's championship year.

But it wasn't his idea--he lost his teaching and coaching positions through a lay-off.

While Richards took up the reins of the Trojan team, Trunzo went back to school to earn his principal's certification.

He landed his present job as Marion Center High School's assistant principal in 1993.

Trunzo never returned to coaching.

He explained, 'As long as I'm in administration up in Marion Center, it takes too much time,' including the commute from Saltsburg.

STILL MISSES FOOTBALL

Trunzo admits he misses football.

'Maybe I'll hit the lottery and go back and volunteer for Saltsburg,' he jokes.

In the meantime, he enjoys running into former players and coaching colleagues----at the golf course or in the stands at a Trojan game.

'I still make two or three games a year,' he said.

Other than coaches Richards, Thomas and Morcheid, who is completing his engineering degree at Pitt, most of the Trojan champions have left football behind for other pursuits.

Clawson, who used to be a junior high football coach at Saltsburg, is now coaching the school's jv basketball squad.

Brosko works as a project manager for a mechanical contractor in Pittsburgh.

Shirley is a CPA practicing in Saltsburg, while Fulton is performing heart surgery at a suburban Philadelphia hospital.

Bartolini serves as vice president of employee benefits for First Commonwealth Insurance Agency.

His cousin, Rossi, lives in Pittsburgh now, working in sales.

Stuller is on the management staff of a leather office products manufacturer.

Grguric works as a union cement finisher and is now rooting for his nephew and stepson, who are involved in various levels of Saltsburg football this season.

Many of the players keep in touch and see each other often--sometimes at Trojan games.

TEAM REUNION?

Players from both eras have been talking about reuniting to mark their team's anniversary.

Time has not been kind to Saltsburg football since 1991.

The school has had only one winning season, a 5-4 record in 1996.

The following year the Trojans went winless, and, victims of low enrollment, player defections and other problems, they have won only once (1998) since then.

For the 1991 players, the central attraction of any such gathering would be reliving the season with a highlight video.

At the beginning of the season, Grguric noted, each of the Trojan backs videotaped themselves, talking about the team's promise and estimating the yardage each would produce during the season.

'It was pretty comical,' But, he noted, 'Every player who was on the tape exceeded their goal.'

KEEPSAKE VIDEO

The segments were included in the highlight video, compiled as a keepsake for the players.

'I usually watch the tape at least once a month,' said Stuller.

'I get chills. It brings back the memories of all the guys and the friendships we had.'

Eventually, videotape will degrade.

But, Bartolini said, 'Nothing will ever take away the feelings or thoughts from that year.'

'I'd never trade those experiences for anything.' he said.

'We pushed each other when we were running or in the weight room.

'We kept each other out of trouble. That's what high school sports should be all about.'