Anyone know who the lowest seed to ever win states was and what year?
I can tell you this. Back in the day in far SWVA when there were 4 regions for each level of play with each level of play being Divisions 1 through 6, or call it whatever you want, A through AAAAAA. There were 4 regions for each level and in each region, only 4 teams made the playoffs. So.....for example, if this were the same as 2016, you have a total of 16 teams make the playoffs TOTAL-all across the state for A ball. The same applies to the next level. For example in the 2A this year, you have a total of 16 teams across the state make the playoffs. As you can see, the number is now doubled for teams making the playoffs. There are 32 teams x 6 levels of play make the playoffs nowadays, so a total of 192 teams in Virginia. Back in the day, is was only half of that which was 96 teams total across the state. Jonesville High and Appalachian High both were 5-5 in regular seasons on different occasions back in the late 80-s and Appalachia had that year in the very early 90's in which they were both the "4th seeded" team in their region going 5-5 in regular season, and they won the state title. Jonesville consolidated with a few other schools to form modern day, Lee High School. Appalachian of course, consolidated with it's longtime rival and nasty powerhouse, Powell Valley to form Union High. So, even in times of day being different with seeding and the amount of teams making the playoffs, Appalachia and Jonesville would mathematically have to be seeded anywhere from 12-16 in their respective sides of the state (East or West) if it were 2016. This would be the equivalent. With that written, you had some of these small single A schools playing ridiculous schedules. Talking about playing up. For example, a schedule for Appalachia may look something like this......
Powell Valley, Gate City, Tennessee High, Richlands, Grundy (much bigger then, more populated, powerhouse), Belfry, KY (AA powerhouse), then the likes of like Pound, Coeburn, Castlewood, etc. The schedules they played were insanely tough and they played up, and of the 5 losses to what was usually a powerhouse, they were in the games (3-8 point losses). So, you can see how a 5-5 school who played up most of the year could create major problems when it got into the playoffs playing against its own size/level of competition. When I am talking about playing up, I am not talking about being a 1A school and playing a 2A school. I am talking about a 1A school playing 3A schools or even 4-5A equivalents with for example, a Tenn High or Belfry. These schools played WAY up, and come playoff time, they were simply battle tested.
