"Worst Programs" to have EVER won a Playoff Title

People posting the teams that got clobbered in the season but still made the title makes me wonder, since we dont see it often, what are the biggest comebacks in the playoffs/state game for victories?

I want to say St Henry was on both ends of big comebacks over the years 25+ maybe and an epic state championship game that ultimately forced OHSAA to use 2 facilities in NEO.

I know Coldwater came back from 28-7 and 42-21 deficits in the same game, vs Kettering Alter, in a 3OT thriller, but I believe St Henry was down by even more.
 
Lake Catholic down 21-7 in third quarter comes back to win in OT against Columbus DeSales in 2001 title game was an awesome game.
Lake Catholic down 28-7 to Ursuline in 1992 in the semis comes back to win and eventually wins 1992 state crown another monster comeback.
 
Mr. Slippery said:
Your series of hints narrowed it down quite a bit. I could only find 4 teams that had won 3 AAA/DI titles prior to 2000: Moeller, Princeton, St. Ignatius, and Canton McKinley. Moeller could be eliminated because of going unbeaten the season of title #3. McKinley's lone loss during the season of title #3 came against St. Ignatius who was far from struggling that season. That left '87 Cincinnati Princeton and '91 Cleveland St. Ignatius. '91 St. Ignatius was the easier of the 2 teams to research, so I started there and got lucky.

3) On October 12, 1991, the 1-5 Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings faced the daunting task of playing 6-0 Cleveland St. Ignatius. VASJ upset the Wildcats that night 8-0 but ultimately finished the season 2-8. St. Ignatius would record its 2nd and final loss of the season the following week against archrival Lakewood St. Edward by a score of 14-10 and then rebounded to win their next 6 games to claim the Division I state championship.
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We have a winner! Great job.

IIRC there was a big storm in the Cleveland area that night and Ignatius lost their starting QB early in the game. I think Ignatius had a 1st & goal very late in the game, like about 1:00 left, but the Vikings stopped them and ran out the clock to preserve the 8-0 lead. I would have been surprised at the score no matter what but having seen what Mooney did against the Vikings' defense I could not believe they could shut out anybody let alone Ignatius but that's HS football.

Bonus points for the othe team the Vikings defeated in that 2-8 season.

dhsdog06 said:
2) 2018 Orrville lost to Manchester 67-31 week 8, then came back to beat them 43-19 week 13.
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That is correct. Good job.

To my knowledge the 67 points Orrville allowed is the most ever by a state champ in a regular season loss. I know there have been dozens of rematches of regular season games in the playoffs but that 60-point swing has to be among the largest ever.
 
Publican said:
Lake Catholic down 21-7 in third quarter comes back to win in OT against Columbus DeSales in 2001 title game was an awesome game.
Lake Catholic down 28-7 to Ursuline in 1992 in the semis comes back to win and eventually wins 1992 state crown another monster comeback.
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The Phantom TD game......
 
thavoice said:
People posting the teams that got clobbered in the season but still made the title makes me wonder, since we dont see it often, what are the biggest comebacks in the playoffs/state game for victories?

I want to say St Henry was on both ends of big comebacks over the years 25+ maybe and an epic state championship game that ultimately forced OHSAA to use 2 facilities in NEO.

I know Coldwater came back from 28-7 and 42-21 deficits in the same game, vs Kettering Alter, in a 3OT thriller, but I believe St Henry was down by even more.
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The largest deficit I personally have seen a team come back from in the playoffs is one you alluded to. The 1996 D6 state title game between Mogadore and St. Henry. Mogadore trailed 35-3 late in the first half. They scored late in the 2nd quarter to make it 35-9 at half but they did trail 35-3. They went on to win 61-58 in 3OT.

Just a few years ago I remember seeing a blurb about Milford trailing 35-7 in the 3rd quarter before rallying to win 39-35. I don't know how late in the 3Q it was but they trailed 35-7 in the 2nd half. I think it was against Fairfield but I'm not 100% positive of that.
 
YTOWN said:
The largest deficit I personally have seen a team come back from in the playoffs is one you alluded to. The 1996 D6 state title game between Mogadore and St. Henry. Mogadore trailed 35-3 late in the first half. They scored late in the 2nd quarter to make it 35-9 at half but they did trail 35-3. They went on to win 61-58 in 3OT.

Just a few years ago I remember seeing a blurb about Milford trailing 35-7 in the 3rd quarter before rallying to win 39-35. I don't know how late in the 3Q it was but they trailed 35-7 in the 2nd half. I think it was against Fairfield but I'm not 100% positive of that.
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Think that SH/MOGGY game was ultimately lead to them using two sites as the game took so long if I recall....

I want to say SH almost had a comeback like that earlier in the season that they won, but I could be wrong.
 
thavoice said:
Think that SH/MOGGY game was ultimately lead to them using two sites as the game took so long if I recall....

I want to say SH almost had a comeback like that earlier in the season that they won, but I could be wrong.
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I don't know if this is the game you are thinking of but your post reminded me that just the week before the Mogadore title game in 96 St. Henry won a shootout with Hardin Northern 48-40. I'm pretty sure St. Henry trailed 21-0 early and then 40-21 in the 2nd half.
 
TriangleMan said:
Cincinnati Madeira - 0-11. 1982-2019
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Yes they are and as you noted the streak is still active so it may get worse.

We mentioned that as far as state champions go Nelsonville-York has that dubious record of 10 consecutive playoff losses. Galion has an active 8-game losing streak and Faifield broke a 7-game losing streak this past season.

On the flip side I know of 3 state champions that have never lost more than 1 consecutive playoff game. Can you name them?
 
YTOWN said:
Yes they are and as you noted the streak is still active so it may get worse.

We mentioned that as far as state champions go Nelsonville-York has that dubious record of 10 consecutive playoff losses. Galion has an active 8-game losing streak and Faifield broke a 7-game losing streak this past season.

On the flip side I know of 3 state champions that have never lost more than 1 consecutive playoff game. Can you name them?
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1 is Norwalk. 1974 champs, lost their next playoff game in 2013, but then has won at least 1 game every appearance since.
 
dhsdog06 said:
1 is Norwalk. 1974 champs, lost their next playoff game in 2013, but then has won at least 1 game every appearance since.
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That is correct. Good job. Of course the Truckers do have a limited number appearances but they have never lost more than one in a row.
 
We try to make most of our limited opportunities.

Speaking of 2013 Playoff loss, that was a heartbreaker. Down 6 in 2OT, had 2nd and goal from the 3, and Center snaps the ball over QB for about 30 yard loss.
 
Maple_City_Fan said:
We try to make most of our limited opportunities.

Speaking of 2013 Playoff loss, that was a heartbreaker. Down 6 in 2OT, had 2nd and goal from the 3, and Center snaps the ball over QB for about 30 yard loss.
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I was hoping they would either never make the playoffs again or win the title when they did qualify to keep that 1.000 playoff winning percentage. :) By 2013 they were the only team that still had that 1.000. A few others had it after 1, 2 or even 3 appearances but IIRC none still had it by 2013.
 
YTOWN said:
Yes they are and as you noted the streak is still active so it may get worse.

We mentioned that as far as state champions go Nelsonville-York has that dubious record of 10 consecutive playoff losses. Galion has an active 8-game losing streak and Faifield broke a 7-game losing streak this past season.

On the flip side I know of 3 state champions that have never lost more than 1 consecutive playoff game. Can you name them?
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dhsdog06 already gave us Norwalk.

I have St. Henry as being 1 of the remaining 2 to hold this distinction.
 
Mr. Slippery said:
dhsdog06 already gave us Norwalk.

I have St. Henry as being 1 of the remaining 2 to hold this distinction.
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That is correct. Good job. Of course it is possible to lose in the first round, like Norwalk in 2013, and still never lose more than 1 in a row but with all their appearances St. Henry has never lost in the first round. Same is true of the remaining team.

Two down, one to go.
 
YTOWN said:
That is correct. Good job. Of course it is possible to lose in the first round, like Norwalk in 2013, and still never lose more than 1 in a row but with all their appearances St. Henry has never lost in the first round. Same is true of the remaining team.

Two down, one to go.
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I'm not sure how the situation from 1995 is considered, but other than that, I have Colerain as never losing a 1st round playoff game.
 
Mr. Slippery said:
I'm not sure how the situation from 1995 is considered, but other than that, I have Colerain as never losing a 1st round playoff game.
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That is correct. I know some people may say that Colerain had to forfeit 3 playoff games that year but that would give them more playoff losses than playoff appearances. How does that work? I suppose one could say that they lost the first round game to Elder but then Elder did not advance. How does that work? So since Colerain won the games on the field and only Brunswick got to advance I have it that they won the first two and lost to Brunswick. Even if one insists that Colerain lost to Elder in the first round that would have to negate the other two following forfeit losses and they would still have never lost two in a row but they would have a first round loss. I'm sure many people do not agree with any of that but that's how I see it. In 22 playoff appearances Colerain has never lost in the first round and has never lost more than one playoff game in succession.
 
YTOWN said:
That is correct. Good job. Of course it is possible to lose in the first round, like Norwalk in 2013, and still never lose more than 1 in a row but with all their appearances St. Henry has never lost in the first round. Same is true of the remaining team.

Two down, one to go.
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Marion Local ?
 
big medicine said:
Marion Local ?
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Close but MSML lost in the 2nd round in their first appearance back in 1981 and then in the 1st round the next time they qualified in 1993 so they lost two in a row. They have not lost two in a row since then. They have only lost 9 games since then.
 
Did you know that Fort Recovery holds the State record for longest possession?
They held the ball for 11 minutes 51 seconds against Delphos St. John's in 2002. They ran 26 plays with 8 first downs.
 
YTOWN said:
That is correct. I know some people may say that Colerain had to forfeit 3 playoff games that year but that would give them more playoff losses than playoff appearances. How does that work? I suppose one could say that they lost the first round game to Elder but then Elder did not advance. How does that work? So since Colerain won the games on the field and only Brunswick got to advance I have it that they won the first two and lost to Brunswick. Even if one insists that Colerain lost to Elder in the first round that would have to negate the other two following forfeit losses and they would still have never lost two in a row but they would have a first round loss. I'm sure many people do not agree with any of that but that's how I see it. In 22 playoff appearances Colerain has never lost in the first round and has never lost more than one playoff game in succession.
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I guess I'm surprised the OHSAA didn't make it easy on all of us history geeks and have Colerain vacate that 1995 playoff appearance. That's what the NCAA would've done.

It's pretty remarkable to have programs that make the playoffs as frequently as Colerain and St. Henry never lose a 1st round game, especially Colerain. Any of those region 4 teams could have the misfortune of drawing a 6-4 or 5-5 St. X, Moeller, or Elder team that is way tougher than their regular season record suggests. I suppose the same could be said regarding St. Henry and their chances of drawing a stiff 1st round game against a fellow MAC school.
 
cincifbfan said:
Yeah, and???? I don't care how bad teams traditionally are or have been since winning a title. For that year, they were the best, period. Quit being an and trying to take that away from them.

Personally, those are the teams that I love to see win. I grow tired of seeing the same teams deep in the playoffs each year. When there's new-blood, it makes it all the more entertaining to watch and more special for the community where the team came from.
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Let me guess "Hoosiers" is your favorite movie?!?!?!? :cool:
 
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