For more than a decade, winning had become something Columbia High School football players could only hear stories about.
Season after season came and went. Players graduated. Coaches changed. Freshmen became seniors. Yet the number kept growing.
Twenty losses became 40. Forty became 70. Eventually, Columbia entered the 2026 season carrying 101 consecutive defeats — a streak dating all the way back to October 2015 and the longest losing streak in Alabama High School Athletic Association history. (ahsfhs.org)
Then, on Saturday night in Huntsville, the number finally stopped.
Columbia 41. Greensboro 14.
The streak was over.
And standing in the middle of the celebration was a familiar name to football fans across the state of Alabama: former Auburn wide receiver Sammie Coates.
101 Straight Losses.Then One Unforgettable Night
The remarkable part wasn’t simply that Columbia finally won.
It was how the Eagles did it.
For a few minutes, it looked as though loss No. 102 might be inevitable.
Greensboro jumped out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead, including a pick-six on Columbia’s first offensive play. For a program that had spent more than a decade experiencing seemingly every possible way to lose a football game, it would have been easy for the Eagles to think, Here we go again.
They didn’t.
Instead, Columbia responded.
Senior Christian Richey helped ignite the comeback, scoring three touchdowns before halftime as the Eagles erased the deficit and entered the locker room with a 20-14 advantage. Richey finished the night with four touchdowns, while quarterback Deuce Wilson connected with Semaj James and A.J. Williams for second-half scores. (maxpreps.com)
Columbia’s defense did the rest.
After allowing Greensboro to score 14 points early, the Eagles didn’t allow another point all night.
Forty-one unanswered points.
Final: Columbia 41, Greensboro 14.
Then came the celebration.
Players rushed together. Fans spilled onto the field. The band played. Coates received the traditional Gatorade bath.
For one night, nobody needed to talk about 101 losses anymore.
Columbia was 1-0.
Sammie Coates Is Building Something in Huntsville
For Auburn fans, the man leading Columbia’s turnaround needs little introduction.
Coates became one of the SEC’s most explosive receivers during his career on the Plains. His combination of size and speed made him a dangerous deep threat, and he was part of Auburn’s unforgettable 2013 team that won the SEC championship and played Florida State for the national championship.
He eventually became a third-round NFL Draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2015 and spent time in the NFL with multiple organizations. (steelersdepot.com)
Now his football journey has brought him back to Alabama.
But this challenge was different.
Coates wasn’t inheriting a powerhouse.
He was taking over a program that had forgotten what winning felt like.
When Coates arrived at Columbia, participation itself was an obstacle. The Eagles played the 2025 season with only 28 players, forcing athletes to play extensive snaps on both sides of the football against programs with significantly greater depth.
Columbia went 0-10.
But underneath the losses, something was changing.
Coates focused on rebuilding the culture surrounding the program. The Eagles posted one of the highest team GPAs in school history, according to WAFF, while players began buying into what their new coach was trying to create.
Then more students started showing up.
Columbia’s roster grew from 28 players last season to approximately 60 in 2026. (waff.com)
Before the season, Coates made it clear that he wasn’t interested in allowing 101 losses to define the players currently wearing Columbia uniforms.
“We ain’t worried about it because we are 0-0,” Coates said before the opener. “It’s a fresh season. It’s a fresh start.” (waff.com)
One game later, that mentality suddenly feels prophetic.
More Than One Victory
To outsiders, Saturday night’s result will be remembered because of the number.
101.
That’s what makes the story national.
But inside Columbia’s locker room, the significance runs deeper.
Consider how long 11 years is in high school football.
The players celebrating Saturday night were children the last time Columbia won a varsity football game. Some were barely old enough to remember it.
Columbia’s previous victory came on Oct. 16, 2015, when the Eagles defeated Ardmore 34-16. (maxpreps.com)
Every Columbia senior class since then had walked across the graduation stage without experiencing a football victory.
Until this one.
That’s why Coates’ reaction afterward mattered.
He could have talked about himself. He could have discussed the historical significance of becoming the coach who finally ended the streak.
Instead, his attention immediately went toward his players.
“I’m just happy for the kids, man. It ain’t about me. It’s about those kids who worked their tail off,” Coates said following the victory. (steelersdepot.com)
That might be the most important part of this entire story.
Coates knows football at its highest levels. He played in the SEC. He competed for championships at Auburn. He heard his name called in the NFL Draft and played professional football.
But Saturday night wasn’t Jordan-Hare Stadium.
It wasn’t an NFL Sunday.
It was a high school football field in Huntsville, Alabama.
And it might have been one of the most meaningful victories of his football life.
The Streak Is Dead. Now Comes the Rebuild.
There is still an enormous amount of work ahead.
One victory doesn’t erase a decade of struggles. It doesn’t suddenly transform Columbia into a championship program.
Coates understands that better than anyone.
“We got a lot of work to do,” he said after the game. “We’re 1-0. I don’t care about nothing else.” (steelersdepot.com)
That’s exactly the mentality Columbia needs.
Because the goal was never simply to end a losing streak.
It’s to build a football program.
The Eagles will get their next opportunity when they host East Limestone on Aug. 28. (waff.com)
For years, Columbia entered every week trying to figure out how to end a losing streak.
This week, the question is different.
Can the Eagles start a winning streak?
Whatever happens next, nobody can take Saturday night away from the players who endured the practices, the blowouts, the jokes and the weight of a number that had followed the program for more than a decade.
One hundred and one straight times, Columbia walked away without a victory.
On the 102nd try, the Eagles didn’t just win.
They won 41-14.
And somewhere beneath the celebration in Huntsville stood Sammie Coates — the former Auburn star who accepted one of the toughest rebuilding jobs in Alabama high school football and finally gave Columbia something it had waited nearly 11 years to experience again.
A reason to celebrate.