Who are the biggest Cinderella teams to make a run to the state championship over the last decade. Meade County comes to mind.

Meade got killed with a bad call in that game on a fumble.

 

#4 seed 97 Bourbon County.   Mic Drop!  

It was a little more than a decade ago, but Simon Kenton, in 2008 I believe, made a run to the 6A finals.  Went on the road and beat Male to earn the right to be Trinity's sacrificial lamb.

I think 2011 Covington Holy Cross might qualify for this list. They finished the regular season 7-3. Had a running clock put on them by Beechwood. Lost their district regular season matchup to New Cath 31-14. No one expected them to get past New Cath in the regional final. They squeaked out a 24-21 win at New Cath. Then they bulldozed their way to a state title beating Somerset 48-14 in the semis and Glasgow 33-14 in the title game.

This is a good one. 2012 Cooper. 

It was Cooper's 5th season of football team. Their record in the previous 4 seasons was 2-8, 3-7, 3-7 and 6-5. In the 2011 6-5 season they played their first playoff game and lost 28-12 to Montgomery County. In 2012, Cooper went 13-2, won their first playoff games ever and made it to the state title game, losing to Bowling Green 34-20. That is a Cinderella story, except for the title game ending.

49 minutes ago, Rebel said:

#4 seed 97 Bourbon County.   Mic Drop!  

This is always the first team that comes to mind when this subject comes up.

10 hours ago, Rebel said:

#4 seed 97 Bourbon County.   Mic Drop!  

I believe John Schlarman was an assistant with that team. Dudley Hilton HC.

From out West, Allen Co Scotttsville & Graves County, both made it but lost in title game.  Caldwell County upset Danville a few years back

Bullitt East in 2008 went into the playoffs at 5-5 I believe. They ended up losing to Bell County in the 4A Title game. 

A few from the modern era that stand out to me:

2007 Central- This was before Central became what we know them as. This was Ty Scroggins' maiden voyage to the finals. At the time most saw Central as team who finished the regular season at 5-5 with several blowout losses to really good teams. One of which was a 48-29 loss to Johnson Central that their undefeated State Finals opponent had beat previously. Central made a statement about strength of schedule that year and took the 3A title.

2010 Belfry- The 2010 Pirates scuffled all season. The Pirates had four regular season losses including a rare 2nd Place District finish. Belfry knocked off arguably the top 2 ranked 3A teams by beating Mason County and undefeated and heavy favorite Somerset. Their underdog run came to an end in the Finals though.

2008 Bullitt East- The Chargers and Doug Preston had five losses before November. They caught fire in the Fall though and won an instant classic versus Calloway County to reach the State Finals but could not pull out a nailbiter against a loaded Bell County team.

 

 

 

2009 Paducah Tilghman went 4-6 in the regular season including a 22 point loss to McLean County. Went on the road the first three rounds of the playoffs then won it al in 3A. 

Certainly not the biggest Cinderella, but in 1993, Beechwood started the year 2-3, and lost the regular season District Championship to New Cath. The Tigers finished not even ranked in the top 10 of the final AP poll, and in the playoffs, beat #5 Paris in the 2nd round, #2 New Cath in the 3rd round, #4 Pikeville in the semis, and #1 ranked, and heavy favorite Bardstown, in the finals, to finish 11-3.

There's a little Irish Catholic school on a Cinderella run of their own this year. Started the season 0-5 and have rattled off 5 wins in their last 6 games. A true Cinderella story.

12 minutes ago, gbballfan21 said:

Certainly not the biggest Cinderella, but in 1993, Beechwood started the year 2-3, and lost the regular season District Championship to New Cath. The Tigers finished not even ranked in the top 10 of the final AP poll, and in the playoffs, beat #5 Paris in the 2nd round, #2 New Cath in the 3rd round, #4 Pikeville in the semis, and #1 ranked, and heavy favorite Bardstown, in the finals, to finish 11-3.

That same year Mayfield, under first year head coach Paul Leahy started 2-3 and upset Prestonsburg for the title.