The 1981 Shoremen Football Team, coached by Don Soltis, was one of the outstanding teams in Avon Lake football history. The team had three players receive Division I college scholarships, and was the first Avon Lake team to qualify for the state playoffs. They finished the season with a 9-2 recored, the SWC MVP (John Berner) and a regional runner-up trophy, after losing to Benedictine, the eventual state champions. Eleven players were named First-Team All-Conference, including: John Berner, Rob Clark, Frank DeSmit, Vince Frank, Buddy Graf, Craig Kidder, Shannon Riley, Andy Schillinger, Devin Small, Bob Tressel, and Russ Wearsch.

John Berner set four Avon Lake rushing records and Frank SeSmit entered the same book seven times in passing records. Members of the team that were not mentioned above were:
Joe Janicek, Bob Zimmerman, Rodger Beck, Dave Napier, Scott Peepers, John Moir, Rob Lederman, Mike Dillon, Fred Angotti, Pete Kenny, John Polacok, Dan Brooks, Tim Schleicher, Joe Stadnicar, Rob Berner, Jim Hardesty, Rob Macura, John McClenahan, Bob Urig, Jeff Allen, Tim McClymonds, John Gettinger, Jim Lyman, Bill Arkey, Doug Klimkowski, Tony Lane, Bryan Tyler, Bernie Bruder, Shawn Reilley, Jim Conner, Jim Jones, Paul Brown, Ron Cherni, Jeff Cannedy, Vince Frank, Tom Brooks, Don Carroll, and Rich Green. The other coaches were: Rich Dematte, Bob Tomaszewski, Mike Wightman, Paul Reynolds, Dave Dlugosz, Joe Vajentic, Larry Van der Oord.

The Record Regular Season 7-0-1
Avon Lake Avon Lake Avon Lake Avon Lake Avon Lake Avon Lake Avon Lake Avon Lake Avon Lake Avon Lake		21 17 21 20 23 32 33 15 30 17		Midview Admiral King Midpark Westlake Medina Rocky River Olmsted Falls North Olmsted Fairview Bay Village	0 7 3 26 0 18 10 10 6 6