Every fan of high school football is familiar with the win streak of De La Salle HS (CA) that ran from 1992-2003, as Bob Ladouceur's squad dominated opponents for over a decade, eventually inspiring the movie When the Game Stands Tall, starring Jim Caviezel released back in 2014.
The current longest win streak belongs to a program in The Buckeye state in Marion Local (OH), where the team has an impressive 64-game winning streak.
But on the flip side of that coin are losing streaks, and no team high school football has been mired in a longer losing streak than Columbia HS (Huntsville, AL).
Last week, the program was featured on NBC's Today Show prior to their game against Priceville HS (AL), in large part due to the 91-game losing streak they carried heading into the matchup.
Despite the spotlight of the nation's longest losing streak, a black cloud that would have scared off even the most veteran of coaches, former Auburn receiver Sammie Coates took the program over this off season.
Coates, a 3rd round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft after helping Auburn to the national title went on to play for the Steelers, Browns, Texans and Chiefs before exiting the league prior to the 2020 season. He had worked as an assistant at Jensen Beach HS (FL) for a few seasons, was a Division III assistant at Ohio Northern in 2023, and coached receivers at UVA-Wise in 2024 before taking over at Columbia.
Last Friday night, against Priceville, Coates and his Columbia squad found themselves in a quick hole following two early game miscues allowing priceville to get out to a 9-0 lead early. They would go on to score late in the second-quarter on a long touchdown run to go into the half down just 22-6.
That would be the only points Columbia saw on the night though, as Priceville built their lead to 53-6 by the final horn. While moral victories are no victories at all, it was marked improvement from losing to Priceville 68-6 last season, marking the 92nd consecutive loss for the program.
Throughout the season, a documentary film crew is plugged in to chronicle the journey of the program's rebuild under Coates for a five-part series called "All the Reasons not to Quit - The Columbia HS Story" in what will surely going to turn out to be a captivating story.
On Friday night this week, Coats and Columbia should like their chances as they're set to take on Huffman (Birmingham, AL), who finished 1-9 last season. Huffman's lone win came over Columbia, 52-6.
A win Friday night, or at any point this season for Coates and Columbia, would be the program's first win dating back to 2015!
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.