Best Upset you have been part of...

I didn't really have a varsity role as I was a freshmen coach, but back in 2004 I coached at a 5A program in Illinois. We played the number 1 team in our class in the playoffs and they were a conference opponent who beat us 41-14 in the regular season. And...it wasn't that close! But our kids played a great game, they made some mistakes they normally didn't make, and we upset them 21-14 in the rematch, which came in the second round of the playoffs.

I played HS football in northeastern Pennsylvania back in the late 60's/early '70's. At that time PA hadn't gone to a state playoff system yet but in our part of PA we had an Eastern Conference championship game between schools from the Scranton Area and those near Pottsville. Our regular season ended in early November but, because some teams had traditional Thanksgiving games, the championship game was played several weeks later, in early December.

My junior year, 1969, we played Mount Carmel in the championship game and got greased 47-6. Because they were loaded with underclassmen and we were very senior-heavy they were huge favorites to return to the game the next year but we were not.

What fans didn't know was that we had a VERY good soph class coming up so that we were young the next year but very talented. The offseason was dedicated to getting back to the game and beating Mt. Carmel. The coaches plastered the field house walls with clippings from the game and Mt. Carmel memorabilia. You could say that were were heavily motivated.

We were fortunate enough to make it back to the championship game again in 1970 (The largest margin of victory was 15 points) and we played Mt. Carmel again. With the three week layoff there was a huge buildup in the local papers and radio. When we played at home with a standing-room crowd the atmoshere was more electric that any that I've experienced since.

We won 14-8. The coaches had a smart game plan, taking the air out of the ball to shorten the game (We went 0-3 passing) and won the same way that we had all year- with defense and the kicking game. After the game there was an impromptu parade, with the players riding fire trucks through the three town that made up our district.

I went on and played small college football and Have coached for 35 years, winning some state championships, but I've never experienced anything like that again.

Entering the 2010 season our football program had never had a winning season, never having won more than four games in its short five year history. We had been 3-7 the previous season, the first under a new coach.

In the off-season we switched to the Split Back Veer, and the kids worked their tails off in the S&C program.

Game one of 2010 we played the top team in the state in our classification and lost 21-0. First time I'd ever been proud of a loss, as our guys fought their tails off and were really only a few mistakes away from being in a dogfight with them.

Week two, we're playing an up & coming program, and they think pretty highly of themselves. The first thing their head coach asked us while chatting before the game was whether we thought they stacked up pretty well with the top team in the state we had played the previous week.

Here is a highlight video from the game:



We proceeded to come from 21-7 down at halftime to win 42-41 in double overtime. Our freshman starting QB (now a preferred walk on H-back at alabama) scored the go ahead TD in the second overtime and was hit hard in the head (4 minutes into the video). The game had to be stopped and the EMT's had to come out and put him on a back board and take him to the hospital. The other team then scored a TD on their possession. Instead of kicking and going to a third OT, they decide to go for two. We stoned them on the 2 point conversion attempt (4:30 into the video) to win the game.

We then proceeded to win 10 games in a row and go to the second round of the playoffs, marking a ton of firsts for our program. Before that season we'd never had a winning season, and since that season we haven't had a losing season. Still gives me chills thinking about that night, and the long term impact it's had on our program.

The year after I graduated.

We had a good team, but week 9 every year was against the best small school team in our area. They were actually on a 56-game regular season win streak.

My senior year we had them knotted up 20-20 at halftime and then they rolled us second half.

I was back from college and on the sidelines that game. We rode our tailback to over 200 yards, got two special team turnovers, and ended up winning 20-14.

My little brother sacked them on the last play to clinch it.

What was neat about it was our entire area (schools from our conference and their's) were a buzz about it.

It did not go well. We aren't ready to win the big game I guess. Hopefully we can learn from it and use it as motivation moving on.

In 1995 we went 5-5, lost our last game of the season, and backed in to the playoffs by the slimmest margin. We went on the road in round 1 and beat the #1 team in the state by 2 points. In round 2 on the road we beat a team in OT that handled us by 3 td's a month before. In round 3 we went on the road and beat the #3 team in the state 6 to 0 in OT who had beat us 48-3 earlier in the year. In round 4 we went on the road and beat #4 team in the state 35-6. Finally it all came to an end in the championship game as #2 in the state ended our season at 9-6.

One as a plaayer; One as a coach.

Player: Playing for Northwood (Institute at that time, now University) D-II in MI, we played Westminster (PA). They were riding a 27 game winning streak under coaches Fusco and Nicholson. The streak was the longest on any level in the country at the time. We won the game 7-6. We returned to campus late that night to signs everywhere that read "We Beat the Streak."

Coach: Playing the biggest school in our conference. Their roster (white and red team) was 60-65 strong and loaded...ours 35. We were down 21-0 with just over eight minutes left in the game. We won 28-21.

At the 2min. mark there was something like 8:24 on the clock in the 4th, and it doesn't show on film (but you can hear the commentator say it later on). At the 2:40 mark, that is my son #8.

You gotta see the last play. Watch the kid with the ball raised in his hand 3:56. Damnedest thing I ever saw: