past games that still hurt

[33coach]

So for those of us not currently playing - i figured id start this "fun" thread. 

I'm going through game film from my first years of coaching. cataloging it all in hudl, clipping and labeling - because i have nothing better to do :-). 

and there are a few games that we lost that still hurt:

• 2007 League Championship game - as the clock runs out we are driving on the opps 10 yard line. we lose by 2 (missed 2 XPs..)
• 2008 - First round play off - we lose by 6 because we fumbled on the goal line (where i learned the valuable lesson - don't get cute...we tried to run a bootleg off of wedge...and our QB fumbled as he was crossing the line...)
  
• 2010 First round playoff - we lose by 3 in a four overtime game in the rain/mud

any games from your past that still hurt to watch? 

[groundchuck]

2009.
We scored the go ahead and probable game winning TD on a pass in the corner of the end zone with like :12 left. Nope. Flag on the play. We had 6 men on the LOS. We ended up losing 21-20.

2013
We blew an 18-0 lead in the 4th. Before you go "WTF?"
-blocked punt in EZ
-two midline plays each covering more than 50. Up to that point they had negative yards. They got loose 2x. Made three plays all night.

Those two haunt me.

[gibbs72]

Last Friday. . . state semi-final. Up 7 with 3 to play. We cause a fumble on defense and recover. Offense goes 3 & out. We punt. They drive and score with 30 seconds left. Our shade jumps offsides. They go for 2 and get it and win by 1. We don't go play for a state title.

[tothehouse]

2001 2nd round of playoffs - Up 27-7 to start the 4th quarter. Lose 28-27 in the last 20 seconds. It wouldn't be so bad, but I counted 1 minute and 40 seconds total of clock NOT running (playing at their place). Refs were told numerous times and did nothing about it. Played about as good as you could. A couple drives that went against us and a little butt puckering by our offense. Former players are physically sick talking about this one.

[tothehouse]

Legend has it (because it was before my time) our squad is leading by 5 with 12 seconds left...AT HOME. 4th down...other team has the ball.

They throw a fade...incomplete!!! Game over......no. Holding on the defense...way away from the ball. 1st down for the other team. 6 seconds left.

Other team throws a FADE.........INCOMPLETE!!! Game ovvvvv.....NO. Clock operator keeps 1 second left on the clock.

2nd down....Other team throws a FADE!!!!!!! Caught....touchdown!!! We lose. At home.

Why did the other team throw the fade? Well...the other team had MATT BARNES. Yes...that Matt Barnes. He pretty much caught everything in high school.

BUT THAT IS NOT THE END OF THIS NIGHTMARE. Here is the sickening part. Our team ends the season 9-1. At the time only 2 teams from the league made the playoffs. 3 teams tied with 1 loss in league. How do they determine the tiebreaker?

COIN FLIP.

We come in 3rd on the coin flip. 9-1. Lose a heartbreaker and a coin flip.

I feel dirty typing all that.

[wingtol]

Went 13-1 in 2007. Lost our last game 12-7 would have played in the western finals the next week for a trip to Hershey (where they hold the title games in PA wouldn't have matter team we lost to got smoked the next week anyways). Team we played was one of the first spread teams we faced and as the DC wasn't as comfortable defending it as I am now. Had I know know then what I know now...

But anyways we had a chance to win the game, ran play action off rocket sweep. Threw it to a wide open Jr WR who I was saying to get out before the play and put in another kid cause I didn't trust him or think he had the mental toughness to make the play. Yup he dropped it right in his hands at the 10 wide open sure TD. Needless to say kid was a terrible cancer the next year and is the only kid we have kicked off a team as a staff in about 11 years together.

When I watch the news and they mention this town during the weather segment I always drop a phuk them! My wife always says "You really need to let that game go." Never. Will always haunt me we had that kid in. It did teach me to make my feelings well known on personnel in key situations now.

Oh yeah and the state title game we lost, at a different school, to Central Bucks West when they blocked a punt for a TD and a 1 point victory.  Everyone said we should have taken a safety since we were on our like own 5.  Won't make that mistake again.

[dytmook]

2011 Regional Final

We were up two scores in the second quarter and on 4th and 15 the other team lines up to punt and we got called for simulating the snap count. First down for them and they go and score.

We go to punt and our long snapper snaps the ball out of the end zone for a safety.

We have the ball 4th and 4 on their 40 with about 3 minutes left. We run outside zone and our back cuts it back perfectly from the c gap and across the field to score. We go for 2 to get us up 7. We call wedge pitch, our fb went to West Virginia as a LB. Of course they are loaded up for it so our QB pulls the ball, turns the wrong way and falls short. If he goes the right way or pitches it we score easy.

They are a running team so we feel pretty good. They drive to mid field with about a minute left. 4th and 12 they throw a 7 yard hitch and our cb goes up and plays the ball from my perspective perfect, jumping up and going around the receiver...pass interference. I swear on tape you can see the ref on their sideline with his hand on the flag at the start of the play. First down them they hit influence trap for about 30. Then when no time left they run a play and stretch it in for the winner. If we get the two they have to make the PAT to tie the game. It sucked.

[dytmook]

Nov 24, 2015 19:42:47 GMT -6 wingtol said:

When I watch the news and they mention this town during the weather segment I always drop a phuk them! My wife always says "You really need to let that game go." Never. Will always haunt me we had that kid in. It did teach me to make my feelings well known on personnel in key situations now.

We pretty much say the same about the team that beat us in my post. Also their coach is kind of a prick when you hear him talk at clinics.

[fantom]

1997. The team that we're playing's QB was the USA Today national player of the year. In OT we scored and kicked the PAT. They score and go for two and the win. I KNOW that they're going to run a boot to their bench so i call a B gap blitz which I know that they can't block. Sure enough, they run the boot and...nothing. The LB didn't blitz for some reason. QB hits a receiver in the corner and Game Over.

[33coach]

Nov 24, 2015 19:44:39 GMT -6 dytmook said:

Nov 24, 2015 19:42:47 GMT -6 wingtol said:

When I watch the news and they mention this town during the weather segment I always drop a phuk them! My wife always says "You really need to let that game go." Never. Will always haunt me we had that kid in. It did teach me to make my feelings well known on personnel in key situations now.

We pretty much say the same about the team that beat us in my post. Also their coach is kind of a prick when you hear him talk at clinics.

thats how i feel about the league championship game... i was watching that film today and notating it in hudl. every play they made was followed by me saying "oh F you" - i still hate playing them.

[Yash]

Week 6 This year. Playing one of the less talented teams in our conference. We were a middle of the pack team, but much better than this team. We score 30 points in first half... but gave up 18. Corner fell down, gave up a 87 yard TD pass. Fumbled opening kick off, they hit 25 yard TD pass. Gave up 300+ passing.

Scored 30 in first half, but starting RB who had 100+ in first half injured knee and was out. Back up RB who was an all conference DE got a concussion after rushing for 60 yards in first half, missed rest of game. 2 more D linemen got concussions and were out in 2nd half. Didn't score again. We were driving on final drive of game, had a WR wide open and QB under threw him. Shortly there after, under a minute left about 25 yards out from tying the game, our QB pulls out too quick from under center, fumbles the ball and we lose. We were way overconfident, should have never lost but did. I will work my tail off to make sure that never happens again.

[Deleted]

We beat 1 seed in first round beat cross town rival in shut out in another round. Have probably most talented team in the country, yes in the country, down 10 nothing at their place. We fumble it a couple of times. Lose by ten. Best player on that team goes 1aa. None of skilled go anywhere.

[fantom]

Here's another one: Early '90's' We'd just beaten our crosstown rival, perennial state power. We're ranked number 1 in the state and just have to beat a middling team to go undefeated. It's a low scoring game and we can't shake them but we score with only a few minutes left. Their starting QB is hurt and the backup had been inept. It should be over.

BUT...Two geniuses on the kickoff team decide-don't ask me why- to switch lanes. Of course, they screw it up. Kickoff return for TD. Bye bye undefeated season, bye bye playoffs.

[coachwoodall]

On the flip side, those teams had the great come backs /victories of their season..... And rejoiced.

[fantom]

Nov 24, 2015 20:50:15 GMT -6 coachwoodall said:

On the flip side, those teams had the great come backs /victories of their season..... And rejoiced.

Aww, eff 'em. 

[coachbw]

2006 round one of the playoffs. It was our staffs first year together taking over a program that hadn't won a game the two previous years. We are the #2 seed playing on a Tuesday night against a #7 seed team that we handily beat the Wednesday before. They come out on the first play from scrimmage make a great audible against a check we have in for trips. They go 80 yards on a seam route that none of our guys were even close to. We go 3 and out, on their 2nd play they run a hitch. Our all everything CB slips and they go 80 yards untouched. We were down 14-0 in the first 53 seconds and never could get momentum back in the game or really the program rebuilt.

What really stinks is that the team we played was a team in our conference. They were 2-8 on the year but I think our conference was the best in the state and it was much tougher than our playoff section. No question if we win that game we win the next two at least (as they went on to do d). It would have been the best finish in the 90 years of the school's existence and could have been a huge step for our program.

[dubber]

Junior year.

In the playoffs we go to overtime and we have the ball first. On 4th down we go for the FG, and it gets blocked.

The other team picks it up and runs it back. The officials award them the touchdown and the game.

Our coaches are running after them as the officials are leaving the field telling them that FG's CANNOT be returned in overtime.

They go and get a rule book, whole nine yards, by that point, no way they are changing the call.

I don't mind losing close games........we win them too, but when the officials take it away from you, those are the ones that hurt the most.

[agame]

Games don't really haunt me... I always have these feelings about situations, leaving a team and knowing I could have done better or I didn't help have the impact we were looking for etc etc...

Knowing I prob coulda/woulda/shoulda done things different are the things that stick in my kraw.. Not wins and losses..

[realdawg]

Man-I got more of these than yall wanna read!

2002-3rd rd playoffs-we are playing a very talented inner city wing T team. We are good but not as athletic as they are. Our starting OLB breaks his hand early and our free safety goes to OLB and a Soph goes to Free. So at half they are beating us 14-0. As we go to the locker room for halftime their crowd is chanting "you look like Carolina but you play like Duke!' (our colors are columbia blue and white). We come back in 2nd half. Take Lead 21-17 with under 4 min to go. They have 4 and 1 near midfield. The run buck sweep our Sam has the RB 5 yards in the backfield and for some reason just lets him go. He gains 2. First down. Next play is a trick play-like bucksweep pass or reverse pass or something. Our backup soph free safety gets fooled, they throw over him. TD we lose. That team goes on the win the state title 42-6.

2004-Again, 3rd Rd playoffs-we are playing a team with two current NFL players in the backfield together. We are tied at 28 with about 4 min to go. We are driving. Qb calls check check to change the play-center is really hyped up snaps the ball 20 yards past him. They recover on our 40. Get in power I. Take the rest of the game and slowly melt the clock and score to win. Also, they ran the fumblerooskie for a TD on us that game.

2006-Again, que the 3rd rd. I have never been past the 3rd rd. We are up 28-10 with 10 min to go. They throw an interception in our end zone our DB tries to run it out. Fumbles on our 10 they recover on our 10. Score. We go 3 and out. They get ball-score. Now its like 28-23. We get ball-qb panics throws a pick. We hold them. They punt. We muff punt. They recover-score-take lead. Now they are winning 29-28. About 2 min left. Take us about a min. We got right down the field, score. Retake lead 34-29. We sky kick on kickoff, kid slips as he is catching the ball. Our kids let up. He recovers-take it home. 36-34 them. We still go about a min. Get tackled on their 10 to end the game.

This year-we are suppossed to have a decent year-however-we are thin and we had a ton of injuries. But the kids we have are playing their butts off. We are up 14-13 with about 3 min to go. They rip off about a 30yard score on us where we miss about 3 tackles. Get the 2 pt play. 21-14. We are having to play our backup QB bc our starter got a concussion on the first drive of the game. Backup didnt practice all week bc he got hurt the week before. He looks like Manning on this drive. Take us down the field. We score with 37 sec left. Down 1. 21-20. Now our PAT kicker is pretty bad. Probably about 50 percent accuracy and out of range if the ball is past the 5. Seriously. So I tell our Former HC (He got asked to resign just recently) hey lets go for 2. We may miss this anyway. He sends out the PAT team anyway. OK whatever, its his call. Well as they are lining up he changes his mind and wants to go for 2. Problem is we got 0 TOs. So he tells PAT team not to kick it. We get delay of game. Now we are out of range for a PAT so we gotta go for 2 from the 8. We get tackled inside the 1 and lose by 1. Our HC tells the staff after the game, that he took the delay of game penalty of purpose to give our offense more room to operate! OMG I was beside myself. Who does that? Told us he has done it at least 5 times in the past at previous stops. I said who likes 4 and 8 better than 4 and 3? As a DC I love 4 and 8! I know you gotta throw it! Sorry for the rant that went with that story. LOL

[coachirish]

2012, yr 2 as the hc.........we had just knocked off the best team in our district and were sitting at 6-1 for the first time in over a decade. We go to play our cross county rival who is 2-5. We practice hard all week reminding the kids it was a rival game and anything could happen. We also worked hard preparing for thier wing-t and maryland I. Game gets started and they come out in double tight splitbacks with wide line splits (something we hadnt seen them do ever). We ran a basic 5-3 cover 0. They ran the crap out of iv and ov and we never could stop it. Our defense was shell shocked. They ran for about 500 yards. Our offense did a great job however and wasnt stopped either. So with about 1:30 left in the game we are down 38-35 after they had just scored. They kickoff and our all-state rb takes it to the house. We are now up 42-38 with about 1:20 remaining. Whew, I felt like if we could just hang out for that small amount of time theres no way they could veer it 70 yards downfield for a score. They come out in gun and start throwing. We get them to 3rd down twice and they convert both times. I keep noticing my de is starting to lose his mind and is crashing inside, to hell with containing. (That kid was great athlete and now is on an sec team but occasionally made some idiot moves). 25 seconds left now, they have ball on out 30 its 4th down now. I just yelled at our de to keep contain, dont go inside. Ball is snapped qb rolls to said defensive ends side. We ll guess what? Defensive end went inside and was sealed by the rb. qb now had extra time to pat the ball and hit his target in the endzone. After pat its now 45 to 42 we lose. It was the worst loss of my career and took a few years for me to get over, it actually still haunts me anytime we play them. I changed our defensive philospy because of that game. I would wake up at night thinking about sbv. I had notebooks that looked like a diary of a madman on how to stop sbv. I think i am over it now though and it has made me a better coach.

2013.......rain game in the mud. Both offenses struggle to put points on the board. We got in the red zone 6 times and went away empty handed. So with 40 seconds left we are up 14-7. The other team has the ball and starts somehow successfully passing it in the mud and rain. We end up giving up a corner rout for a td. its now 14-13. They decide to go for 2 and the win. They come out in an I and run a bootleg right into the endzone for the win. It was a tough pill to swallow but it seemed to be on the those seasons that year.

[blb]

I was a HC for 31 1/2 years. For me this topic will require a book.

Mine is going to be entitled The Things They Tell You AFTER You've Taken the Job.

[33coach]

Nov 25, 2015 10:00:50 GMT -6 blb said:

I was a HC for 31 1/2 years. For me this topic will require a book.

Mine is going to be entitled The Things They Tell You AFTER You've Taken the Job.

that would be a best seller! get on it!

[hunhdisciple]

3 years ago we were playing a pretty big rival, and we hadn't won against them in probably 15 years or so. We were tied after 1. We were tied at halftime. We were tied after 3.

They had the ball to start the 4th. They drove and scored, missed the XP. We drive, have a very very very very questionable goal line fumble. The local TV broadcast confirmed the ball was 3 feet beyond the goal when it popped out. They got it back, got a first down and then had to punt. There was about 3 minutes left when we took over around midfield.

On their punt, however, one of their kids had a major broken leg (think Kevin Ware.) It took them 15-20 minutes to get him taken care of and in the ambulance. As they were loading him in, it starts pouring the rain. Absolutely raining sideways. But nobody left the stands. It felt like some sort of movie, with us driving to tie or win in a monsoon. We march down field, and get it first and goal with time for one play from the 6. We boot out and the CB comes up on the run, leaving the WR with no one around him. He sticks his route perfectly, a comeback, and the ball is thrown perfectly.

Right. Through. His. Hands. He hadn't really noticed that his gloves had gotten soaked in the rain, and it just slipped right through.

I've never seen one person be so emotional after a loss, and I honestly feared for his mental well being. His team mates picked him up as best they could, but he wasn't the same the rest of the year.

I've never sorrow drank as much as I did that night.

[coachphillip]

I will never get over losing our league championship to our cross town rivals as a player. To make things worse, their DC, DL coach, and starting CB coached with me this year and would constantly bring it up. I would avoid pre practice BS sessions in the office just so I wouldn't have to hear it.

As a coach, we lost in OT in the playoffs last year. Battled back from 21 down in the second half to tie it up with under five minutes left. Got the ball off a turnover and drove to the 17 before our QB threw a pick. Went to OT and they scored. We start OT with a holding call, a false start, and an illegal formation. Obviously didn't score. The stage was too big and lack of discipline finally cost them.

[tango]

A chance to go undefeated and win the league title against our rivals. Great game but are down by 7 with the ball on our 10 with 2:09 to play. We make a gutsy drive to score with 6 seconds to play. Our QB was 4.0 student and had more heart than anyone I have ever coached. Go for two and throw a reverse pass back to the QB and he is wide open and drops it. our team was running around going crazy beacause we had just won and they were laying on the field thinking they had lost. I wish I had ran it up the middle.

[coachcb]

In 2009, we were coming off of our first win in many, many years. Our next game was against the second ranked team in the state and we were tied with them going into the 3rd quarter. We punched it in to take the lead and they went ran the ball down out throats with Iso, Power, and Counter for 70 yards and scored. We picked up huge yardage on the next kick-off and, three players later, ended up with a 3rd and goal from their 4 yard line. We'd been killing them on on Bucksweep all day but hadn't run Waggle yet so I called it. Our QB tried to scramble, got popped in the mouth, fumbled and turned it over. He had a WR WIDE open in the corner of the end zone but took off even though he had NO pressure. They scooped the ball up, marched it down the field again and the blow-out began. We have up 28 unanswered points in the 4th quarter.

[craines10]

2007 2nd round playoffs: Down 28-0 at the half...we were a double wing team..our star TB is the states leading rusher and cant get anything going..I pull him to the side and say if we gonna go out..go out swinging..(usuing a few other choice words)..2nd half he rushes for 240 yards scores 28 points (4 TDs 2 2 point conversions)...we get the stop we need that will give us 1 more play with about 10 seconds left after the punt..but our VOLUNTEER ASSISTANT gets a personal foul for cussing at the refs..automatic 1st down..they take a knee..we lose 31-28

2011 1st round playoffs: School beat us 42-14 the week before...we lose a 9 point lead with 3 minutes left and lose the playoff game 39-35... Soph QB threw for 409 yards 3 TDs..classic game

2012 2nd round playoffs: Same school...ironically beat us a couple weeks earlier by the same score...we lose to them 26-22...QB throws an INT on 1st down into end zone trying to get ball to our best player...all he had to do was throw the hitch and kid walks into the end zone...

[Coach Bennett]

Lost last four games of this season by a total of 28 points.

Had the lead in all four to start the second half.

[marinercoach1]

Oh damn.. Here we go.

2004: got to section finals. Lost to a hook and ladder

2005: returned to section finals.. Got down to the five yard line no timeouts left, QB sets up to spike, fumbles the ball, kneels down to get the ball and knee touches the ground. Time keeps running to zero.

2011: Kicker misses 4 PATs and we end up losing by 3 @ home.

[wingtol]

Wasn't involved in this one but it's why we teach kids how to take a safety.   This could be king of games that haunt coaches.