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Middle Tennessee is rich with great football history.
From state champions, Mr. Football winners, college stars and some NFL standouts, the 615 has become synonymous with a rich football heritage.
Diving deep into that history, we wanted to look at the programs that won and that’s all they did for years at a time. Winning streaks are hard to put together but over the last several decades, we’ve had quite a few programs who figured out how to keep long streaks together.
This list will take a look at the longest winning streaks put together by area teams that lasted for 25 or more games. We’ll also be putting a cap on the timeline going back to the 1960’s and moving forward from there.
15 (tie): 2018-2019 Oakland (26 games)
Kevin Creasy’s first state title run at Oakland actually saw a 24-21 Week 2 loss to Maryville before the Patriots hit their stride. They closed out the year winning 13 straight games including a 38-0 semifinal win over Maryville and 37-0 win over Whitehaven in the Class 6A championship game.
The Patriots looked well on their way to repeating in 2019 going unbeaten in the regular season. However, a 12-0 semifinal loss to Maryville ended the streak and prevented the repeat.
15 (tie): 1978-1979 Gallatin (26 games)
The Green Wave’s first state title run was a historic one. Gallatin went unbeaten in 1978 winning by an average of 22 points per game and only played two games decided by a single possession.
That momentum carried over into 1979. Gallatin went unbeaten in the regular season before beating Dickson County 42-7 and MBA 24-7 in the first two rounds of the postseason.
That was the furthest Gallatin would go, though. A road trip to Jackson Central-Merry proved to be their downfall as the Green Wave lost that game 28-21.
15 (tie): 1988-1989 Dickson County (26 games)
1988 is a year Dickson County fans will never forget. The Cougars won their first and only state title finishing the year unbeaten.
Like many other teams on this list, it looked like they were in store for a repeat the following season. Dickson County’s 1989 team was dominant in the regular season and crushed Smyrna 47-7 in the first round of the playoffs.
Whites Creek would be the team that shocked them in the next round. After scoring 20 or more points in every game up to that point, the Cobras limited the Cougars to six points in a 12-6 upset win.
15 (tie): 2023-Present CPA (26 games)
If it wasn’t for a four-point Week 2 loss to Pearl-Cohn in 2023, the Lions would be riding a 28-game unbeaten streak entering 2025.
The longest active winning streak in the area (and the only active one on this list), CPA’s only played two games during that time were decided by seven points or less.
How far will the streak go? Moving up a class and playing a brutal schedule, it’s anyones guess but Ingle Martin has a group that knows how to win at a high level.
15 (tie): 1991-1992 Brentwood Academy (26 games)
Just a heads up, you’re going to see Brentwood Academy quite a bit on this list.
When you have as many state championships as the Eagles do, long winning streaks are bound to happen. That was the case between 1991-1992.
In 1991, Brentwood Academy opened the year with a loss, but rebounded with 13 straight wins and another state championship. The streak continued well into 1992 before they lost to Marion County 28-26 in the Class AA championship.
12 (tie): 2000-2001 Portland (27 games)
Portland was a dominant program throughout the late 90’s and early 00’s, winning several programs and their lone state title in 2000.
That 2000 team went unbeaten winning by an average of 33.6 points per game. They never gave up more than 14 points in a game and recorded five shutouts.
In 2001, they had some closer games, but still went unbeaten in the regular season. The first two rounds saw the Panthers beat Sequoyah and Howard by a combined score of 115-0.
That dominance is why it came as a major shock when Portland lost to Trousdale County, a team they beat 52-12 in the regular season, 17-14 in the state quarterfinals.
12 (tie): 1980-1982 John Overton (27 games)
Overton’s run from 1981-1984 is still a mark that program has yet to repeat.
The win streak actually began in 1980 as Overton missed the postseason despite winning three of their last four games. In 1981 they went unbeaten and capped the season with a 3-0 championship win over Rhea County.
Dominant in the regular season, the Bobcats opened the postseason with a 24-8 win over McGavock. That’s as far as the streak would go though as Gallatin shut out Overton 29-0 in the season round.
12 (tie): 1973-1975 Brentwood Academy (27 games)
Brentwood Academy’s first great run started in 1973. The Eagles lost to Bellevue 33-7 early in the year before closing the season out with eight consecutive wins.
In 1974 Carlton Flatt led the program to its first of what would be 14 state championships in their first unbeaten season.
The Eagles carried a 21-game winning streak into the 1975 season. That streak continued week-after-week before Hillwood upset them 14-13 later in the year.
9 (tie): 2004-2005 Riverdale (28 games)
Widely regarded by most Warrior fans as the best team in school history, Gary Rankin’s last championship team at Riverdale dominated their opponents.
Going unbeaten in 2004, Riverdale outscored its opponents 666-98 on the year winning by an average of 44.4 points. Between Week 3 and the second round of the postseason, the Warriors recorded eight shutouts.
They were once again dominant in 2005 going unbeaten all the way through to the state semifinals. However, Oak Ridge pulled the upset of the year shutting out the Warriors 17-0.
9 (tie): 2000-2002 Ezell-Harding (28 games)
After finishing the 2000 season with back-to-back wins, Ezell-Harding kicked off the 2001 season with a 76-point outburst. That season they won by an average 34 points scoring 42 or more points 11 times en route to their first and only state tite.
Defensively they were even better next year and looked like the team to beat for another state title. In their two playoff games that season they beat Forrest 47-13 and DCA 31-0.
They would play CPA in the quarterfinal round, losing to the eventual state champions 24-7.
9 (tie): 2019-2021 Davidson Academy (28 games)
From 2018-2020 Davidson Academy dominated the DII-A scene winning three straight state titles. After going unbeaten in 2018, the Bears lost their first two games in 2019.
They would rebound from those losses winning 11 straight games, another state title and then went 13-0 in 2020 for the program’s sixth state title.
After that dominant run in DII-A, Davidson Academy moved up to DII-AA in 2021. They found success early on that season winning their first four games before BGA ended their winning streak with a 45-30 loss.
5 (tie): 2015-2016 Independence (29 games)
Independence’s 2015 team has an argument for being considered the best Middle Tennessee public school in history.
The Eagles went unbeaten in 2015 winning their first state title and winning by an average of 31 points per game.
A repeat looked to be in order the next year, as the Eagles went unbeaten in the regular season and made another deep postseason run. However, the streak came to an end in the championship game with a 45-35 loss to Farragut.
5 (tie):2011-2013 Ensworth (29 games)
Many argue that Ensworth’s four-year championship run from 2010-2013 is the best of any team in Middle Tennessee history. The Tigers’ 2012 team ended the year nationally ranked and was the lone unbeaten team during that run.
The 29-game run started in 2011 following a 42-14 Week 5 loss to Baylor.
Ensworth capped that year getting revenge with a 48-10 win over Baylor and went unbeaten in 2012 before losing to Brentwood Academy 35-10 in Week 10 of the 2013 season.
5 (tie): 1998-2001 MBA (31 games)
MBA’s 1998 state title run kicked off what would be best run in program history for the Big Red.
After starting the year 3-2, MBA closed out the season with seven straight wins, including a 21-19 championship victory against Brentwood Academy.
MBA would go on to post back-to-back 12-0 seasons in 1999 and 2000. They closed out the 2000 season by holding off Brentwood Academy 8-7 for another state title win over the Eagles.
5 (tie): 1987-1989 Brentwood Academy (31 games)
Brentwood Academy’s second multi-year title run began in 1987. It didn’t start well though as Smyrna upset the Eagles 21-20 in their Week 2 meeting.
The Eagles rebounded from that loss with 12 straight wins including a 31-6 win over Austin-East for the Class AA state title. In 1988 the Eagles went 15-0 and by the start of 1989, Brentwood Academy’s streak was at 27 games.
While the 1989 season was another successful one for the program, the streak didn’t last. Paducah Tilghman out of Kentucky was the team to end it as they won a 7-0 defensive slugfest.
4: 1965-1968 MBA (33 games)
Tommy Owen had several great programs throughout his tenure but from 1966-1968, the Big Red never lost.
What would be the start of MBA’s longest winning streak actually began in 1965. The Big Red closed out the season with three straight wins.
MBA would go on to post a 9-0 record in 1966, 10-0 in 1967 and 11-0 in 1968 before losing their opening game of the 1969 season.
3: 1995-1997 Brentwood Academy (34 games)
While Brentwood Academy has had several great championship runs, no run was better than what they accomplished between 1995-1996.
The Eagles went back-to-back between those seasons posting 15-0 marks each of those years.
While there was some falloff in 1997, Brentwood Academy did start the season off 4-0. MBA ended the streak in the team’s Week 5 meeting by a score of 13-7.
2: 1981-1983 Brentwood Academy (35 games)
In 1980 the Eagles went 14-0 and won their second ever state title. The next season they would love to Baylor by seven in their Week 5 meeting.
After that they wouldn’t lose again for nearly two years.
The run from 1981-1983 included a pair of state championships and an unbeaten season in 1982. However, a bid for a four-peat came to a screeching halt with a 6-0 loss to MUS in the 1983 semifinals.
1: 2020-2022 Oakland (36 games)
Dominant is the only way to describe Oakland’s three season run from 2020-2022. Each season ended with the Patriots raising gold but.the 2020 and 2021 seasons saw the Patriots go unbeaten.
After that coveted 2021 class graduated, the Patriots continued their streak into 2022 before a Week 8 showdown at CPA. That night the streak ended as the Lions shocked the state with a dominant 35-14 win over the Patriots.
That loss didn’t derail Oakland’s season. Instead, the Patriots rebounded by winning the rest of their games by four or more touchdowns.
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