There was a time this season when Chagrin Falls couldn’t buy a break.
Now the Tigers can’t lose — and the symbolism of their latest win said everything about the journey.
On Friday the 13th, Chagrin Falls captured its 13th straight victory, a number that once matched the string of injuries that derailed its December and now defines one of the most unlikely midseason turnarounds in Northeast Ohio.
Five weeks earlier, the Tigers were 3-4 and searching for healthy bodies.
Today, they’re 16-4 and surging into the postseason.
“It’s been remarkable. It was very unexpected,” said head coach Dave Bargar. “We basically played the first month and a half with about four of our main guys injured, and we were just treading water, and then something clicked. When January hit, we started getting some of the other guys back, at least on a limited basis. We still don’t have them all right now, but it’s been quite remarkable what these guys have done.”
Chagrin Falls’ last loss came on Dec. 23, the tail end of a stretch that included road defeats at Kirtland and Chardon. At the time, the Tigers were short-handed, out of rhythm, and trying to survive.
What followed was a season-changing road swing.
The winning streak began with four straight away from home — at Harvey, Orange, Wickliffe, and Crestwood — and with each trip came a little more confidence. The Tigers learned to close tight games, winning three times by two points or fewer, a sign of a team discovering both its identity and its composure.
That growth showed itself most clearly in the rematch with Kirtland.
In the first meeting on Dec. 20, the Hornets — a Final Four team last winter and the eventual CVC Valley Division co-champion with Chagrin Falls — handed the Tigers a 20-point loss.
The second meeting looked like a different season.
With more pieces back in uniform and belief spreading through the rotation, Chagrin Falls flipped the result with a 46-45 win on Jan. 30, one of the defining moments of the streak.
“Obviously, Kirtland was going to be one of the league favorites going in,” Bargar said. “The first time we played them, we had four of our main guys not playing. We had them back for the second one. You could tell the difference in our team from that point to where we were the second time was just like night and day. The confidence our kids have right now, and they’ve all bought into the roles that they’ve kind of fallen into, and we’re working these guys back into the rotation.”
If January brought momentum, November and December brought everything else.
“We had a lot of freak injuries,” Bargar said. “Jacob Kay was our best returning player, but he tore his labrum in football. He just got cleared at the end of January, and now he’s playing token minutes. We had two starting guards out, and then our 6-foot-5 kid, Peter Fischer, had a collapsed lung. He came back but is out again. Jake Vasko, our leading scorer, had a resistance band snap in phys ed class and hit him in the eye. He couldn’t see for like three weeks. Brady Kaas, who was probably our most versatile player, had an ankle injury to start the preseason, and then he hurt his knee and was out for like six weeks.
“November and December were really a struggle. But a lot of kids got a chance to play, and they got some confidence when we started to add the other guys back in. Now, they’ve all kind of found their little niche. It’s nice having some depth right now, but more importantly, just seeing how they’ve kind of come together and kind of sacrificed minutes because we have a bunch of guys right now that can play. It’s been a pretty remarkable stretch of games for us.”
That early adversity created the depth the Tigers now lean on.
Players who were thrust into major minutes out of necessity are still part of the rotation by merit. Returning starters have eased back into defined roles. The result is a lineup that can survive foul trouble, grind out close games, and adjust from night to night — all traits that have fueled the streak.
It also includes statement wins across the conference landscape, including a victory over Harvey, the CVC Chagrin Division co-champion.
Which made the timing of No. 13 feel almost scripted.
With all the strange injuries, all the narrow escapes, and all the momentum built along the way, Chagrin Falls reaching its 13th straight win on Friday the 13th was the kind of symmetry that only makes sense in hindsight.
“We don’t want to go down that road,” Bargar said with a laugh.
Superstition aside, the Tigers have turned a season that once looked defined by misfortune into one defined by resilience — and into a February run no one saw coming.
