It’s been a quarter-century since Live Oak won back-to-back CCS
football titles
– the first two in school history. What do those Acorns remember
about that special run?
Morgan Hill – Winning the Central Coast Section football championship is hard enough.
To advance through the grueling nine-week schedule and finish with a winning record to qualify for the playoffs is the first challenge. Sometimes just finishing above .500 doesn’t even guarantee a spot.
Then after being beaten up for nine solid weeks – now 10 weeks – there are three more games against the best in the area to be declared the champion.
And to do that twice in a row, with a first-year head coach is almost unheard of.
But that is what the 1980 and 1981 Live Oak teams did.
It has been 25 years since then head coach Norm Dow led the Acorns to back-to-back titles, something that he repeated in 1986 and 1987.
“You have got to have a good program if you are going to do that,” Dow said.
Dow initially got his start with the program in 1976 as an assistant coach and was hired to lead the team four years later.
Dow, along with some former players from those years, said the program was just that: good.
“They were a hard working group that was very hungry and very dedicated,” Dow said. “They were a real solid group of solid athletes.”
Rick Bottomley, who played for Dow his junior and senior years, said he remembers the team being very close and active not just on the football field.
“We were very active in the school,” Bottomley said. “We were also part of the government of the school.”
While the teams did not produce a future NFL player, two were inducted into the Live Oak sports hall of fame: quarterback Matt Loera, who had his number retired, and guard Mike Stevens, who went on to play at San Diego State University. Stevens tried out for the Los Angeles Rams, but did not make the team.
Champ Car racer Jimmy Vasser was a backup on the team.
Rick Booth, who is the current head coach for the Acorns but was assisting Dow 25 years ago, said the team was dedicated to doing what it took in order for them to compete both years.
“They had a great work ethic,” Booth said. “They seemed like they loved to lift weights. They were very strong.
“We spent a lot of time together in the weight room and time together in the summer.”
Booth was familiar with the team when he was hired in 1980 as the defensive coordinator, having competed against Live Oak while at Gunderson.
In 1981, the defending CCS champs got the chance to put the title on the line when they made it to the playoffs, facing Menlo-Atherton.
The 7-2 Acorns made quick work of the 5-3-1 Bears, winning 39-0.
The following week, Live Oak took out Mountain View 30-6.
Live Oak’s final showdown came against Blackford, which gave the Acorns a solid run for their money.
The Braves struck first, blocking a Live Oak punt, which rolled for a safety.
But the Acorns, behind quarterback Loera, scored four touchdowns to take the game 26-20.
Blackford came within five points in the fourth quarter, but a 38-yard run by Loera and a late interception sealed the deal.
Dow said throughout the season and CCS run, he had a talented team that he had full confidence in. But he also said he knew the quality of his opponents and never went into a game thinking it was a sure win.
“We were going into all games with an attitude that we can beat them,” Dow said. “But we did not take anyone for granted at anytime.”
Outside linebacker Chip Carin, who played for Dow on the 1980 team, said one of the strengths of the team was its all around talent and that it didn’t rely on a few all-star players.
“We had a larger core of starters,” said Carin, who is now a dentist in Watsonville and whose patients include Booth. “We were not nine players with a supporting cast.”
Carin added that most guys saw action and that few saw action on both sides of the ball.
At times, Bottomley remembers, the team would amass an early lead against opponents that would allow the nonstarters a chance to get into the game.
“Most games, come the second half, I sat out,” Bottomley said.
Carin said that he remembers a more innocent time while in high school and playing for Live Oak and that he had nothing but respect for Dow.
“I look back at the time fondly,” Carin said. “I have nothing but fondness that I got to play (for Dow). … He certainly knew what he was doing and he could control us.”
Each player and coach took different memories from the two seasons. While the title games would stick out in most minds, some had different points in the season that they can’t forget.
For Bottomley, that memory was a homecoming game against Leland. A player on the team, he said, was very uncoordinated and would make mistakes while running.
But in the homecoming game, he came up with one of the highlights.
“He went 80 yards for a touchdown,” Bottomley recalled.
Carin said the biggest thing he remembers came after his last game as a senior and seeing the coaching staff shift its focus on to the new crop of players.
“It wasn’t until Booth told me that it is ‘Over for you. Take all the competitive spirit and put it in the classroom,'” Carin said. “To this day I am glad I had the opportunity to play. Everything I am today, the life I got started on the football field.”
