Unbeaten Teams Fight for Title

FULLERTON — Everything from the national rankings to the weather has fallen into place for today’s community college state championship football game at Cal State Fullerton.

The game matches Mt. San Antonio (11-0) and City College of San Francisco (11-0). Mt. SAC is the No. 1 team in the J.C. Grid-Wire national rankings and San Francisco is No. 2.

“We think it’s going to be a first-class experience,” said Stu Van Horn of the state’s commission on athletics that oversees community college sports.

Mt. San Antonio, which has a 12-game winning streak, earned a berth in the game by beating Bakersfield, 26-16, in the Potato Bowl last week on a rain-soaked field. Clear sky is predicted today.

The most important thing about the victory was that it put an area team in the title game, which could boost attendance considerably. Doug Bennett, who is the game manager of the Simple Green Bowl at Orange Coast, guessed the game could draw between 3,000 and 4,000.

But it also prevented a second-place team from playing for the state championship.

When the game was established last summer, it was decided that an eight-person group--made up of coaches, college officials and media--would rank the top 10 teams in Southern California and Northern California.

Then the top two teams in each area would play for berths in the state title game. There was some protest of the system when Bakersfield lost to Hancock but was 9-1 and got the second spot. Hancock was 8-2 in the regular season and finished ahead of Bakersfield in its division.

“There has to be some system,” said San Francisco Coach George Rush, who has a 79-9 record this decade. “But there’s never going to be a perfect system. But under the circumstances, I think it went really well.”

San Francisco beat Butte, 42-17, last week to advance and also increased it winning streak to 21.

Notes

Mt. San Antonio’s top running back is sophomore Eric Shine from Savanna High School. Shine has rushed for 1,035 yards and 10 touchdowns and was a Mission Conference Northern Division first-team selection this season. . . . This is the second time San Francisco has come to Orange County to play the nation’s top-ranked team. The Rams were ranked fifth when they lost to No. 1 Saddleback, 24-12, at the Orange County Bowl in 1992. . . . Tickets are $10 and it will cost $5 to park at the college.