Breaking down the best high school football teams ever
Do you want your high school football fix? Most people these days do, especially in Yuba-sutter-colusa where there are no games right now due to the pandemic. Well, Maxpreps has compiled a state-by-state breakdown of the greatest high school teams ever. Today is the second of a three-part series.
When it comes to determining the greatest team of all-time from each state, the recent offerings from Mater Dei
(Santa Ana) and St. John Bosco (Bellflower) certainly come into consideration for California. Any discussion about the greatest teams in the Golden State, however, has to begin with De La Salle (Concord). The only question: Which Spartan team do you pick?
De La Salle was named national champion seven times, including four in a row between 2000 and 2003.
However, Maxpreps chose the 2001 team because it best exemplified the four pillars that we determined mark greatness – dominance, consistency, efficiency and leadership.
We used national rankings to determine dominance, win streaks and state-title streaks to measure consistency, offensive/ defensive point totals to mark efficiency and head coaching prowess to measure leadership.
The 2001 De La Salle team is just one of example of 50 all-time great squads chosen from each state.
Some teams were no-brainers, like the 1970 Brewer (Maine) team that finished No. 5 in the national rankings — the highest ever ranking for a team from that state. Or the 1940 Washington (Massillon, Ohio) team where every starter earned a spot on the All-state first team. Other states were not so easy.
Sources for the list include state association websites, along with school yearbooks, Maxpreps’ story from 2018 on the Top 50 greatest teams of all-time. We also tried to honor any instate newspaper’s choice as the greatest team from that state when such a determination was made.
Greatest prep football teams of all-time
Kerwin Price at quarterback and future NFL All-pro Bryan Cox on defense. The team was part of a 44-game winning streak and was led by Shannon, who won 74 percent of his games and collected six state championships.
Points For/against: 197-26 Breakdown: While the National Sports News Service recognizes Toledo Waite as the national champion for 1924, Washington also laid claim to the title after defeating 1918 and 1919 national champion Harrisburg Tech (Pa.) 19-0 in a “national championship” game. While it should be noted that not all “national championship” games are created equal (Toledo Waite also played a reported national championship game that same year), Cedar Rapids certainly played an interesting schedule. It knocked off teams from
Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kentucky and Pennsylvania in going 8-0. The Cedar Rapids team is the only Iowa school ever considered as a possible national champion.