The two schools that wound up in a debate about the No. 1 team in the state for 1981 were Bellarmine of San Jose and St. Paul of Santa Fe Springs. Photos: bcp.org & Facebook.com.
This is how the season looked after it was completed in 1981. We’re now doing the first of three posts in which our week-by-week replays for three of the most exciting, unpredictable football seasons we’ve covered in our 40-plus years — 1981, 1994 and 2008 — is concluding with one post focusing on how each wrapped up. For 1981, it was between Bellarmine of San Jose and St. Paul of Santa Fe Springs for the final No. 1 ranking. Go inside to see why the Bells got the nod in a close call at the time and why it still looks good. Banning of Wilmington fans also were happy with a sixth straight CIF L.A. City Section title.
NOTE: FOR THE LAST INSTALLMENTS OF THIS FEATURE SERIES, WE’LL DO ONE FINAL WRITEUP/BREAKDOWN FOR EACH SEASON SEPARATELY. THE NEXT POST WILL BE FOR 1994.
For an intro of this feature and a look at the top teams in the state entering these three seasons, CLICK HERE.
For week one highlights CLICK HERE.
For week two highlights CLICK HERE.
For week three highlights CLICK HERE.
For week four highlights CLICK HERE.
For week five highlights CLICK HERE.
For week six highlights CLICK HERE.
For week seven highlights CLICK HERE.
For week eight highlights CLICK HERE.
For week nine highlights CLICK HERE.
For week 10 highlights CLICK HERE.
For week 11 highlights CLICK HERE.
For week 12 highlights CLICK HERE.
For week 13 highlights CLICK HERE.
This is a post for Gold Club members only on CalHiSports.com. All of our annual preseason all-section, all-county and all-region football teams are being delayed in getting done until late November at the earliest. All of those posts will be for Gold Club members only, but we’ll have plenty more Gold Club coverage in football and boys basketball until then. Not to mention, we’ve just put all of our boys and girls basketball state records onto the site for Gold Club members plus baseball team state records. You can now join for one-month rate of just $3.99. For subscription info, CLICK HERE.
Like a memorable movie or perhaps any episode of Seinfeld, watching that movie or TV show more than once never gets old.
One of our features for the upcoming weeks when we’d normally be knee-deep in football coverage will be to replay three of the most exciting California high school football seasons from the preseason, every week during the regular season, then the playoffs and finally through the final state rankings.
