One of the weirdest stats to come out of the first two decades of Robioland football has been the one that says, if you dominate the semifinals, you’ll more than likely loss the title game. However, this has been proven less true lately.

After I won it all in 1999, scoring the most in both the semifinals and finals, the team that scored the least in the semifinals won the next seven title games. In fact, the semifinals lowest winning scorer won ten of the first 13 title games. However, over the last seven, the higher scoring team in the semifinals has won four, which means the lower scoring team in the semis is 13-7 in the title game..

SEMIFINALS HIGHER SCORERS 

1. Of the 20 teams that scored the most points in the semifinals, 16 of them scored less the following week.

2. On average, the higher semi scorer scored 1,641 points in the semis and just 1,291 in the finals

3. That’s a drop of 350 per game.

4. The largest drop from semifinals to finals for a top scorer was Colby in 2005, who scored 1,141 less the following week

5. The highest improvement was me, in 2012. I scored 419 more points in the finals, than I did in the semis.

6. Ten teams scored less than 420 in the finals, compared to what they scored in the finals.

7. Five times I entered the title game as the higher scoring semifinalist, but I’m just 2-3 in the finals.

8. Matt is 3-1 when scoring the most in the semifinals.

SEMIFINALS LOWER SCORERS

1. 12 of the 20 lower scorers in the semifinals scored more in the finals.

2. On average, they scored 1,343 in the semifinals and 1,439 in the finals

3. That’s an improvement of 96 points per contest

4. The largest gain by a lower scoring semifinalist was Burrier, who scored 870 more points in the finals (he won, breaking 2,000).

5. The largest gain by a person who failed to win it all was Eric in 2012, who went +708 in the title game.

6. Of the eight teams that scored less, Bob in 2017 was the farthest dip. He scored 781 less in the finals.

7. Lower scoring semifinal teams that score less in the finals went just 3-6 in the championship game. Don did it in 2008 and Bob did it twice (2004 & 2014).

8. Four times Griff has been the lower scoring semifinalist to enter the title game. He’s only managed to win once (2005).

9. Bob, who has been to the finals five times, has entered the title game as the lower scoring semifinalist all five times (going 4-1 in the finals). YEARHIGH SCORERSEMIFINALSFINALS+/-LOW SCORERSEMIFINALSFINALS+/-WINNER 1999#1 Robio1,6421,872+230#2 Griff1,2991,234-65Robio 2000#4 Griff1,3981,197-201#2 Robio1,3321,448+116Robio* 2001#6 David1,436920-516#1 Jason1,2171,273+56Jason* 2002#1 Molly1,6461,112-534#2 Robio1,5981,841+243Robio* 2003#5 Griff1,5911,036-555#3 Rich B1,1412,011+870Rich B* 2004#1 Griff1,3791,169-210#2 Bob1,2391,216-23Bob* 2005#7 Colby1,880739-1,141#4 Griff1,3881,882+494Griff* 2006#3 Robio1,464844-620#7 Don1,2111,617+406Don* 2007#5 Matt1,3981,444+46#7 Rich C1,067811-256Matt 2008#5 Robio1,7601,041-719#7 Don1,2811,216-65Don* 2009#1 Matt1,9501,608-342#3 Griff1,6221,384-238Matt 2010#1 Robio1,705948-757#4 Bob1,1631,283+120Bob* 2011#3 Rich B1,4051,293-112#7 Bob1,2011,283+82Bob* 2012#4 Robio1,5541,973+419#3 Eric1,1631,871+708Eric 2013#2 Rich C1,4511,496+45#5 Griff1,1051,270+165Rich C 2014#3 Matt1,6791,494-185#1 Bob1,5121,495-17Bob* 2015#2 Griff1,9621,333-629#6 Colby1,3981,049-349Griff 2016#1 Jeff1,8161,180-636#2 Rich C1,5881,846+258Rich C* 2017#2 Matt2,0191,537-482#1 Bob1,9001,119-781Matt 2018#5 Rich C1,6821,578+104#7 Matt1,4381,631+193Matt*