Cooper Barkate hauls in 80-yard TD pass for the first TD of the game for No. 1 Mater Dei in win vs. Serra of San Mateo for CIF Open Division state title. Photo: Scott Kurtz / Cal-Hi Sports.
More than 100 teams are mentioned in this last breakdown of California’s best for the 2021 season, which has been done according to our traditional five divisions. No. 1 teams were previously announced, but No. 2s are Servite of Anaheim, Inglewood, Aptos, Escalon and Rio Hondo Prep of Arcadia. We also have updated our all-time list of every unbeaten team in state history.
RELATED: Final State TOP 50 Overall Rankings (1-25) | Final State TOP 50 Overall Rankings (26-50) | Final Medium/Small School State Rankings | State Teams of Year | Mater Dei State Team of the Year | All-Time Unbeaten Teams (NorCal) | All-Time Unbeaten Teams (SoCal)
ALL-STATE NOMINEES COMING LATER THIS WEEK. TO SEND IN A NOMINATION, EMAIL INFO ON PLAYER OR PLAYERS TO MARKJTENNIS@GMAIL.COM.
FOR ARCHIVES OF OUR FINAL STATE FOOTBALL RANKINGS (INCLUDING ALL DIVISIONS) GOING BACK TO 1975, CLICK HERE.
Note: This is a post for Gold Club members only on CalHiSports.com. The first look at these divisional state rankings were free, but all rankings after that go to the Gold Club. To check out getting a Gold Club membership to see all of those rankings plus all of our updated state football record lists, totally authentic historical features, all of our all-state teams, recruiting player ratings and more, CLICK HERE.
NOTE: These divisions for the 2021 season were based mostly on the divisions in which each school competed in during that season in their CIF section and CIF regional/state divisions. League strength also has always been a major component of division placement. Enrollments are used in much lower priority in recent years in section playoff division placement in favor of competitive equity. Enrollments are a factor in our five-division format in that a school with a large enrollment (especially those with 2,500 or more) cannot be in our D4 or D5 because those divisions over the years have been the ones we consider for “small” schools. Milpitas High may have been able to beat Caruthers in the 2019 CIF D5-A state final, but we’re not going to rank a large school like that in one of our traditional “small school” divisions.
