Bluegrassrivals

What are some of your favorite upsets you have seen and/or played in over the years? Preferably played in, but any upsets would make for great discussion! This could be any game, regular season, playoffs, etc.

2003 #4seed Boyd county Upsets heavily favored Bell Co. In the first round.

In 2003 Estill upset #3 Ranked Russell 35-14. Russell went on to a 10-3 record to finish the season and went to the Regional Championship. Could have been 35-0 but Russell score 2 TD's on broken plays

Good thread Wide! I'm interested in hearing some of the games. Here is mine.

West Jessamine 13-9 over Boyle County in the 2002 season. The field was absolutely messy which played into West Jessamines favor as Boyle County struggled all game long to get anything going. Boyle County did get back onto track as they went on to win the State Championship 21-0 against Rockcastle County. They also beat Mr. Football Curtis Pulley's Hopkinsville 13-7 to advance to the State Title. But the West Jessamine game stands out to me.

Ncc beating Bellevue in a playoff game in about 2005 or 2006 after losing to them in the regular season. Bellevue was better.

Sheldon Clark vs Belfry 2005. carsds down big at half but come back to win 35-29 at the Rock.

Pike Central beating Mason County in the 2nd round of the 2009 playoffs.

Mason Co. were heavy, heavy favorites to possibly win 3A state title that year, this was Coach Chapman's first year as HC at PC and he had mixed results throughout the season...but in the end he gave us many firsts that year.

1st home playoff game...2 playoff wins

Back in the early 80's Corbin had a losing record going into the playoffs and won the state championship. Every game in playoffs were upsets.

adopted purple Wrote:Back in the early 80's Corbin had a losing record going into the playoffs and won the state championship. Every game in playoffs were upsets.

I think the '82 season is the one you are speaking of. However I thought they were 5-4 going into the playoffs.

They also had some good fortune. Somerset was upset by Boyle and despite being 10-1 did not make the playoffs. The Jumpers had soundly beaten the Hounds in the regular season and would have, IMO, won AA that season if not for that 1 point loss to the Rebels.

The biggest run I recall was Bourbon County in '97. They were the 3 seed I believe and upset unbeaten Boyle, had other great teams get upset along the way and rode the momentum to the AA title.

Hatz Wrote:I think the '82 season is the one you are speaking of. However I thought they were 5-4 going into the playoffs.

They also had some good fortune. Somerset was upset by Boyle and despite being 10-1 did not make the playoffs. The Jumpers had soundly beaten the Hounds in the regular season and would have, IMO, won AA that season if not for that 1 point loss to the Rebels.

Corbin basically did what the Jumpers pulled off the year before (1981) when the Hounds spanked Somerset 40-15 in a non-district game at SHS. Then a couple weeks later, Middlesboro knocks off Corbin 22-13 to get the lone playoff spot.

When No. 1-ranked Middlesboro then traveled to Somerset for the first round of the playoffs, the Jumpers won 15-14 in a huge upset.

Old Jumper Wrote:Corbin basically did what the Jumpers pulled off the year before (1981) when the Hounds spanked Somerset 40-15 in a non-district game at SHS. Then a couple weeks later, Middlesboro knocks off Corbin 22-13 to get the lone playoff spot.

When No. 1-ranked Middlesboro then traveled to Somerset for the first round of the playoffs, the Jumpers won 15-14 in a huge upset.

I remember that Boyle statistically dominated Somerset in '81 but in the Overtime Somerset came out on top 20-14. Kind of the reverse happened in '82 when the Jumpers dominated the stats but the Rebels big played them to the Distirct title 28-27.

For about four years ('79 to '82) Boyle and Somerset had four great games against one another.

For me, it would have to be the Highlands win over Cincy St. X a couple years ago. Nobody expected Highlands to pull it out after the Ohio monster defeated Trinity and St. X by large margins. That was an amazing upset I will never forget.

At the same time, our first round playoff game against Bryan Station in 2008 - even though we won - nearly gave me a heart attack lol. It took a touchdown in the last few seconds to seal the deal. Had they held on that would have been one of the biggest upsets ever probably.

Mud has not been kind to Highlands, it can be argued that two championships slipped through their hands due to the mud; 1983 undefeated Highlands lose to Conner in the playoffs on a "field" 5-6 inches deep in mud, and the famouse Cov Cath/Highlands Mud bowl.

IntheZone Wrote:Sheldon Clark vs Belfry 2005. carsds down big at half but come back to win 35-29 at the Rock.

That was 2006, actually. 29-0 when Coach Haywood began subbing and Adam Dials and Ryan Kelly went to work, and then got the momentum that couldn't be stopped when the starters came back in. I believe that game went to overtime before we lost. Unfortunately, Prestonsburg took care of SCHS in the playoffs so we didn't get our revenge chance (until 07 when we smacked them .. and everyone but Central)

WideRight05 Wrote:For me, it would have to be the Highlands win over Cincy St. X a couple years ago. Nobody expected Highlands to pull it out after the Ohio monster defeated Trinity and St. X by large margins. That was an amazing upset I will never forget.

At the same time, our first round playoff game against Bryan Station in 2008 - even though we won - nearly gave me a heart attack lol. It took a touchdown in the last few seconds to seal the deal. Had they held on that would have been one of the biggest upsets ever probably.

Hey now, don't say nobody expected Highlands to win. Beating T and Lou X caused some folks some concern. Beating Cathedral and Colerain caused some folks even more concern. But I have many witnesses to my prediction, after watching a lot of film on St. X, that Highlands would win. I was disappointed that we didn't convert on a couple of those goal line area opportunities as I had predicted that Highlands would win by 14 points.

St. X was big, but way too slow and unimaginative on offense to be able to move the ball on Highlands. Their O was predictable and we had way too much speed and quickness for St. X's o line to be able to get and maintain blocks. Plus with the big boy (JJ Johnson) playing nose and a very good sized and extremely talented LB playing the middle (Roller) I wasn't concerned about them running the ball down our throats. I predicted that St. X would score 7.

Defensively they looked much better on tape than they did offensively, but they hadn't faced any one that was as diverse and as good as Highlands. By diverse I just don't mean passing and running the ball about the same amount. Our running was itself diverse. People focused on Collinsworth running the ball (St X surely did to its peril) but we had an exceptionally good running QB (Bardo) and another exceptionally good running back (Fennell). We had a very quick O line that had some size (two of them went on to be first team All State and three of them were returning starters). We could run up the middle with power or get outside. We could use Collinsworth as a decoy and give the ball to Bardo or Fennell. Our passing game was also very diverse: three exceptional receivers in Drennon, Buten and Gold, each with speed good enough that St. X had to honor the deep routes. A big tight end (Welz) that had good hands and not afraid to catch the ball in traffic. Plus we ran the screen pass as well as any Highlands team I've seen. Collinsworth was an excellent receiver out of the back field too. We could throw deep, middle and short all very well. As good as St. X' defense was, I was very confident that we'd score at least 14 points (I actually predicted 21).

Special teams were also very, very solid. Return game with Collinsworth returning kickoffs and Gold returning punts was dangerous. Kicking game was very good too. Weinel could pretty consistently hit the endzone. And with so many starting spots filled by seniors, there were plenty of talented juniors to fill most of the special team spots, so we weren't relying on a whole lot of sophomores to play special teams.

I didn't and don't consider it an upset at all. Frankly I was disappointed in the margin of victory.

I do agree with you about the BS game in 08. It was nerve racking. We went through a lot of bourbon at the post game party.

When this thred first started, i though of the 82 Corbin team.

Obviously, it was a couple of years before i was born, however, that team knew how to play. You can still see Roger Rose, Greg Duncum, and Cotton around Corbin.

Belfry0304 Wrote:That was 2006, actually. 29-0 when Coach Haywood began subbing and Adam Dials and Ryan Kelly went to work, and then got the momentum that couldn't be stopped when the starters came back in. I believe that game went to overtime before we lost. Unfortunately, Prestonsburg took care of SCHS in the playoffs so we didn't get our revenge chance (until 07 when we smacked them .. and everyone but Central)

yes 06. my bad. it was an OT finish. dustin may and charlie dotson were hard to contain.

Oct. 28th 2010--- Ryle over Highlands 28-26 on FSN OHIO... Ended highlands 37 game win streak solidified Ryle as #1 team in Nky in the polls. Was the first time a team in Nky had been ranked over highlands or beat them in 5 seasons.

^ Did you HAVE to bring that one up? LOL

You guys are thinking too recently.

The upset of 1963 was Campbell County over Highlands by 7-6 at Alexandria.

In 1956, Highlands lost their season finale to Dixie Heights. Their next loss to a Northern Kentucky (Campbell, Kenton and Boone County) team was in 1963 when they were upset by the Campbell County Camels in Alexandria. I was not there that night, that was my Freshman year and did not have that much interest in football nor transportation to the game, but the story was told that CCHS tied the game at 6 and was allowed to kick the extra point at the far end of the field because of the wind. I know that that was incredible sounding, but it was the story. Between the losses to Dixie in 1956 and Campbell County in 1963, Highlands had won 52 games against Northern Kentucky teams and were 70-4-2 overall.

Not sure how much of an upset it was, but it was a sweet win...1979 State Semis at Highlands...Belfry 14, Birds 8.

Prestonsburg over Breathitt County - 2004.

BC was #1 in 2A and Prestonsburg defeated them in the 2nd round of the playoffs in Jackson by a score of, 40-29.

Wise one Wrote:You guys are thinking too recently.

The upset of 1963 was Campbell County over Highlands by 7-6 at Alexandria.

In 1956, Highlands lost their season finale to Dixie Heights. Their next loss to a Northern Kentucky (Campbell, Kenton and Boone County) team was in 1963 when they were upset by the Campbell County Camels in Alexandria. I was not there that night, that was my Freshman year and did not have that much interest in football nor transportation to the game, but the story was told that CCHS tied the game at 6 and was allowed to kick the extra point at the far end of the field because of the wind. I know that that was incredible sounding, but it was the story. Between the losses to Dixie in 1956 and Campbell County in 1963, Highlands had won 52 games against Northern Kentucky teams and were 70-4-2 overall.

Those dang Camels did it again to the Birds in 1975. Birds entered their last regular season undefeated and huge favorites over a very mediocre Camel squad. Birds had given up a total of 20 points through the prior games (7 of which had been shutouts and had the back ups not given up scores, there would have been 9 shutouts going into the Campbell County game. In facts the Birds starting D have given up a total of 7 points leading in their last regular season game). Birds D laid an egg that night, giving up 20 to the Camels. Birds O never got off the bus and only scored 14.

Highlands did rebound from the loss to go on and win the AAA championship and finish 13-1. Birds starting D did not give up a touchdown in the playoffs. Ended up with a total of 27 points scored against the starting D (and 20 of that was to the Camels). In spite of having one of the best Defenses to ever be assembled at Highlands, the loss to the Camels often takes the 75 team out of "the discussions".

1975 Season: 13-1
HHS 34 Russell 6 W
HHS 49 Dayton 0 W
HHS 55 Covington Catholic 0 W
HHS 36 Newport Central Catholic 0 W
HHS 22 Boone County 0 W
HHS 27 Erlanger Lloyd Memorial 0 W
HHS 33 Newport 0 W
HHS 28 Dixie Heights 7 W
HHS 55 Simon Kenton 7 W
HHS 35 Covington Holmes 0 W
HHS 12 Campbell County 20 L
HHS 49 Knox Central 22 W
HHS 35 Cawood 6 W
HHS 21 Franklin-Simpson 0 W