Packers Rally to Stun Top-Ranked Minneapolis North

Here’s our next voyage in the way-back machine, to March 26, 1981. As we left off, the Packers were down 31-24 at halftime to Minneapolis North, the undefeated defending state champions who were riding a 41-game winning streak.

Unfortunately, I can’t show you the first four minutes of the second half, because during halftime of our game the coverage switched to Williams Arena, where the Class A quarterfinals were being played. I’m confident that on March 4 when we have our 30-year reunion we will hear wildly differing recollections of how we clawed our way back into contention, but as we pick up the action below, we had scored three unanswered buckets (no such thing as a trey in the day) to close the gap to 31-30.

Here’s all the good stuff from the rest of the action, and some shots from the crowd that will bring back memories, too:

Next week we’ll have highlights from the 1981 state semifinals against another undefeated team, Chaska.

We look forward to the reunion of the 1981 team on March 4, which coincides with this year’s Packer team playing its last regular season game against Rochester Century before starting its tournament run.

Tags: 1981, Austin Packers, Basketball, Minneapolis North, Minnesoia, State Tournament