Remembering the exploits of Venango Catholic/St. Joe
St. Joseph -- aka the "Irish," the "Hilltoppers" and the "Joes" and located on Oil City's North side -- fielded a team from 1931-61 before the school evolved into Venango Christian (now Catholic). VC dropped football after the 1988 season. VC students now play football under a co-op agreement with Oil City.
Dan Lillard holds school records with 1,013 yards rushing in a season (1971) and 1,463 yards rushing in a career.
Tom O'Connor threw for 966 yards in 1971 and holds the VC career passing yardage record with 1,547.
Forrey Hall punted 17 times for a 34.7 yards average as a senior in high school in 1940. He tipped the scales at 135 pounds when he played for the San Francisco 49ers.
Dean Henderson's first love was football and he began his coaching career on the gridiron at VC. But he ended up posting more than 400 basketball victories coaching various programs in District 10. In fact, he guided the Vikings to two D-10 crowns in hoops.