ORD - When a football team starts a season 0-3 it can be easy to write them off - but not Ord.

Since they lost their first three, they've won seven in a row and have made it to the Class C2 quarterfinals.

Head Coach Nathan Wells said they've never stopped believing in themselves.

"As our leadership improved, so did our trust and love and care for each other," Wells told News Channel Nebraska. "Our team chemistry got better. Then we started playing good football."

Now, with a win over unbeaten top-seed Cedar Catholic this week, the Chanticleers could make it to the semi-finals. That type of in-season turnaround isn't seen often in Nebraska.

The last team to start 0-3 and make it to the semis was Hay Springs, who advanced to the 2023 Class D6 title game, before losing in heart-breaking fashion to Sumner-Eddyville-Miller.

The last time it happened in 11-man football was in 2021, when the Omaha North Vikings started their season 0-5, then remarkably rallied to sneak into the playoffs. North upset top-seed Millard South in the first round and then dispatched North Platte in the second round, before their Cinderella run ended in the Class A semis.

As for the last time it happened in Class C2 - 2017. The Yutan Chieftains lost their first three, and never lost again, advancing to the C2 title game as an 11-seed where they beat Centennial 27-6.

Now Ord will be the latest team to try to prove that it's not how you start a season, but how you finish.