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Down to the Last Play: Difference between revisions
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* Every hockey game ends with [[The Hero]] getting a breakaway and going one-on-one against the goalie—or, of course, a shootout, which is a series of forced one-player-vs.-goalie breakaways.
* Every American football game ends with a Hail Mary, or some bizarre, convoluted ace-in-the-hole offensive play that the team thought of in practice. Or, if the protagonist team is in the lead (which never happens because people like comeback stories), a goal line stand.
** The score usually puts one team up by at least a touchdown, so you can forget about those last-second winning field goals from 15 yards out. Writers seem to think this sort of thing isn't dramatic, when any sports fan can tell you otherwise.
* Every basketball game ends with free throws with no time left or a three-pointer made in desperation. Often from across the court.
** Alternately, having to dunk on [[The Rival]] / the nastiest player from the other team.
* Every race ends with a (sometimes literal) photo finish.
* Every golf tournament comes down to making a long putt, or to getting out from a trap or some other nasty place.
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** Episode 26 is even more blunt. His Super Asurada is having a problem, yet he beats Shinjyo out of determination in the last stretch in the English GP. In fact, Hayato is always seems to be this case up until SAGA Arc.
* This almost always happens in every duel in every ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' franchise, with [[Villains Act, Heroes React|the opponents getting in the lead by having the more favorable card/field presence first and cornering the protagonist]], setting things up for the latter to win at the last possible moment. Often results in accusations of [[Ass Pull]] on the part of the protagonist.
* Played straight with a basketball and baseball match in ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]''
* The anime adaption of ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' plays this straight in most of the matches, except the second season, in which [[The Worf Effect]] takes places to show how badass the bad guys are when they debut.
* Very common in the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime. Trainers can use anywhere from one to six Pokemon to battle each other, but matches will almost always end with a one-on-one fight.
** Adding a layer to that, many of those final one-on-one fights will end with both combatants being so exhausted that whoever can land the next successful attack will win. The last play of the last play.
* Almost all the matches shown in the anime version of ''[[Ro-Kyu-Bu!]]'' comes down to this.
** The Girls vs. Guys match was won by the girls through a game-winning shot from [[The Archer|Maho]] via an [[Didn't See That Coming|unexpected]] assist from [[The Hero|Tomoka]].
** [[Lethal Joke Character|Hinata]] made a game-winner against Class D.
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* ''[[Happy Gilmore]]''
* ''[[Kingpin]]''
* ''[[The Bad News Bears]]'' was the first film to have the protagonist team NOT win.
* The ''[[Rocky (film)|Rocky]]'' series often has the boxing matches go down to the final round—and possibly by decision. Averted in ''Rocky III'', when the final fight ends in only three rounds.
* ''[[Dodgeball]]''
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* In ''[[Escape From L.A.]]'', Cuervo Jones forces Snake Plissken to play a deadly game of solitaire basketball for the amusement of him and the crowd.
{{quote|'''Cuervo Jones:''' "Two hoops, full court, ten-second shot clock. Miss a shot, you get shot. Shot clock buzzer goes off before you shoot, you get shot. Two points for a basket, no three-point bullshit. All you gotta do is get ten points. That's it." ''*dramatic pause*'' "By the way, nobody's ever walked off that court alive. Nobody."}}
** Snake does indeed win, by way of making a lay-up, a jump shot from free throw distance, a jump shot from three-point distance, a half-court shot, and a full-court shot. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Cuervo prepares to [[I Lied|kill Snake anyway]], but Snake is saved when an earthquake happens, giving him the opportunity to escape the caged basketball court, and then the stadium itself. For bonus points, [[Kurt Russell]] actually ''made'' all those shots (including the full-court shot) during filming, although the number of takes it required is unknown.
* Happens in the opening game of ''[[High School Musical]] 3'', where with 16 minutes to go the Wildcats are losing horribly, but with upbeat inspirational music in their ears manages to even the score, and through a supposedly clever subversion manages to score a basket just as the clock ticks from 1 to 0.
* Spectacularly averted in the Kevin Costner movie ''Tin Cup'', where the has-been pro (played by Costner) makes an impressive comeback in the U.S. Open Golf Tournament. It's down to the final hole, and he needs a par to tie and a birdie to win. The hole was a par 5 with a green guarded in front by a lake and he would have to murder his 3 wood to get it onto the green. Any sane golfer would lay up, he doesn't. {{spoiler|He hits it into the lake, refuses to drop near the green, hits from where he hit his second shot, going for it again, hits it into the lake again, rinse and repeat until he holes the shot with his last ball in the bag for a 12 (had he dunked that one, he would've been disqualified).}} More than a few critics found this broke their [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]], arguing such would ''never'' happen in a "real" golf tournament. Until it did, more or less, see the [[Real Life]] section below.
* In the final moments of the last game of [[Shaolin Soccer]], the score is tied at 0 - 0 (because the enemy team decided they would rather win by injuring enough players on the good team to force them to forfeit). Naturally, the [[Love Interest]] shows up when they reach the point where they are one player short, and she and the main character combine their Kung Fu to make the ultimate shot and win the game.
* In ''[[North Dallas Forty]]'', the professional (US) football team of the main characters was predicted to win their championship game and move on to the [[Super Bowl]], but were down by a touchdown near the end of the game. They scored the touchdown, and only needed the extra point to tie and move into overtime. Unfortunately, they fumbled the snap and didn't make the extra point, and so lost the game to the underdog.
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* ''[[Family Matters]]'': In the 1991 episode "A Pair of Ladies," Urkel gets revenge on Carl's big-talking, thinks-he's-macho, hustling superior officer Lt. Murtgauh in a poker game when the nerd one-ups Murtgauh's would-be-winning hand with "two pairs of tens".
* ''[[Monk]]'', episode "Mr. Monk and the Big Game."
* Averted in the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|DS9]]'' baseball episode, "Take Me Out To The Holosuite". The main characters lose the game 10-1 (with their single run being scored on an accidental bunt).
* [[Glee]] did this very badly.. at least to anyone with a barely working knowledge of American Football. In two seperate games, at the start of the Superbowl Shuffle episode, they lose a game by making a moronic play call in a situation where all they need to do is have Finn just take a knee. Then at the end of the episode they win another game when the other team ignores the same basic game ending strategy and and do the exact same error as Finn did in the first. There is a lengthy analysis of this at the Glee JBM for season 2 page.
* Just about every episode of ''[[Friday Night Lights (TV series)|Friday Night Lights]]'' that actually has a football game in it works like this.
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** They played it straight when Hank and Bobby entered a father and son target shooting competition. It all came down to Hank's last shot, where he needed a bullseye to win—and he missed the whole target. This didn't lead to the expected [[Downer Ending]], though, because Bobby was more than happy with second place.
* ''[[X-Men: Evolution|X-Men Evolution]]'' - season 2's first episode opens with this trope, as the only goal we're shown in the soccer match is the winning one, scored by Jean, of course.
* In an episode of ''[[The Fairly
* The ''[[Beetlejuice (animation)|Beetlejuice]]'' episode "The Unnatural" has B.J.'s New Yuck Prankees in a grudge baseball game against Scuzzo's Jokeland Laugh-letics, with the losing team relegated to a hell hole called "The Loser's Circle." With the score tied, the final play comes down to a play at the plate B.J. waiting to tag out Scuzzo, obscured by a cloud of dust. When the dust clears, the two opponents are demanding the umpire call it, but Lydia interrupts and brings everyone to tears with an impassioned treatise on sportsmanship. The game winds up ending a sister-kisser.
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=== American Football ===
* Hail Flutie, the 1984 BC-Miami game that ended with a Hail Mary pass from Doug Flutie to Gerard Phelan, giving Boston College a 47-45 win.
* Real life is stranger than fiction example. Boise State University, a huge underdog to the perennial-powerhouse Oklahoma Sooners, won the 2007 Fiesta Bowl by scoring on three trick plays on the last play of the game and in overtime. The touchdown scoring ones (a hook and ladder, and a halfpack pass) and the final 2-point conversion to win in overtime (a statue of liberty) were all well-known trick plays that fail more often than they succeed. To add to the theatrical quality, the player who made the winning score popped the question to his cheerleader girlfriend after the game (on national TV). She said yes.
* In 1982, college football teams representing arch-rivals California and Stanford played their season-ending game. After a spectacular drive led by John Elway, Stanford took a 20-19 lead on a field goal with five seconds left, meaning "Cal" had to return the ensuing kickoff all the way or they'd lose (theoretically, they could down it promptly and try for a Hail Mary, but that's much more difficult). In the equivalent of a rugby play, Cal used five backwards passes to keep the play alive until they ran it into the end zone and scored a touchdown. Bonus points because the Stanford band thought they had ''already won'', and were filing into the end zone for their victory tune—and got clobbered in the process. [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3123608847915125083&q=California+vs.+Stanford+1982&total=39&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0 It's worth watching, really.] - (One of the passes may have been thrown after the player was already down by contact, and so Stanford to this day refuses to acknowledge the game as a Cal win.)
** Elway is the king of this trope. See: The Drive.
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** A final they were playing thanks to another extra-time goal by Forlán in the semi-final against Liverpool.
* In the 2011 Women's World Cup, Abby Wambach headed in a goal to tie Brazil 2-2 in the ''121st minute'', the injury time for the second OT period.
* The 1995/1996 season of the Danish Superliga, saw Brøndby IF (THE top dog of the league) and Aarhus GF (fielding perhaps their best squad of the past 25 years) locked in a hard-fought duel for the title. In round 30 (of 33) the two faced each other on Aarhus' homefield, Brøndby leading the table with 1 point. In the dying moments of 1st half Peter Møller pulled Brøndby ahead 0-1. After 75 minutes, Aarhus, with an outstanding performance (speaking as a Brøndby fanatic), had a comfortable lead of 3-1! Under normal circumstances this would be the end of Brøndby. A late goal brought some hope, and with 1½-2 minutes again Brøndby got a corner kick. On a whim Brøndby goalie, Mogens Krogh, decided to move into the Aarhus' penalty field (losing the match would spell the end for Brøndby's title aspirations, later Krogh admitted he didn't had the approval of coach Skovdahl to make this move) in order to disrupt their defensive play. In a frantic play, Krogh managed to make the equalizer, with 90 seconds to go. The match ended 3-3. At the season end, Brøndby secured the title with 67 points against Aarhus' 66.
* In the first leg of the 2012 Copa del Rey Quarterfinal, 3rd Division Mirandés were 0-2 in the 85th minute when 1st Division Espanyol came back to 3-2 before full time. Then, in the second leg, Mirandés were 1-1 in the last injury time when a last minute free kick got them 2-1 and into the Semifinals on away goals.
* The 2012 English Premier League Championship was won in the last match of the season by Manchester City over Manchester United with two goals in stoppage time. United needed to beat Sunderland to stand a chance of overcoming City in the final standings, while City faced Queens Park Rangers. Both matches were played simultaneously; United scored against Sunderland after twenty minutes, putting the pressure on City. City scored against QPR after 39 minutes, retaking the title provisionally. Then QPR equalised after half time and with sixteen minutes remaining sensationally went ahead, leaving City needing two goals to win the Championship. They got the equaliser right on full time and had five minutes of stoppage time to get another. At the same time United vs. Sunderland finished 1-0 in United's favour, leaving United looking like the champions until City's Sergio Aguero fired in a winner right at the death.
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=== Auto Racing ===
* [[Formula One]]. Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 championship from Felipe Massa on the last corner of the last lap of the last race. Massa won the race and Hamilton had to finish fifth or better to win the championship. On the last lap Hamilton was sixth when Timo Glock's Toyota slowed dramatically because it was still running on worn out dry-weather tyres as a heavy rain shower hit. Hamilton passed the slithering Glock in the last corner finished fifth and won the championship. To put this in perspective, Hamilton was still sixth when Massa crossed the line first and Massa thought he was champion.
* The Indianapolis 500 lead has changed hands on the last lap on two occasions (shown below). Five other races (1982, 1992, 1996, 1997, and 2003) were won by margins of less than a second (not counting victories under yellow).
** 2006: Sam Hornish was in second behind Marco Andretti with two laps to go. On lap 199, Hornish tried to squeeze past Andretti in turn 3, but had to back off and lost nearly a full second. On the final lap, Hornish caught up (considering the laps take barely 40 seconds, a heck of a piece of driving by itself), then passed Andretti on the final straightaway about '''one second''' before crossing the finish line. Watch the clip [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT9R8xwu6rY here], and count the number of times the announcers say "Marco's gonna win this thing!". Marco Andretti's comment? "Second's nothing."
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* The 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans was the first time that the loophole-abusing Porsche 917 was entered, and throughout most of the race, the sheer speed of the Porsches was difficult to compete with. However, the untested cars were unreliable and attrition set in. The race was eventually contested between a fast prototype Porsche with failing brakes and the then-overweight and underpowered Ford GT 40 driven by the rookie, Jacky Ickx. The last hour of the race had the two cars swapping places constantly, and ended up with Ickx's GT 40 winning by a scant 120 metres after 24 hours of racing.
** Le Mans final laps are usually parade laps as the winning car is often laps ahead by the finish. Other close finishes at Le Mans that have taken place at full speed include in 1983 when the two Rothmans Porsches were 17 seconds apart at the line. The lead car had a broken engine and it seized practically as it crossed the line to win. In 2011 the gap between the winning Audi R18 and 2nd placed Peugeot was 13.8 seconds, or about the length of the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apb49DI4Xs4 last few corners].
* The 1976 Daytona 500 went into the last lap with Richard Petty and David Pearson running 1st and 2nd respectively. Pearson passed Petty for the lead on the backstretch, but as the two entered the 4th and final turn, Petty passed Pearson back. Approaching the finish line, the two cars made contact and both hit the retaining wall before spinning out onto the infield grass. Petty's damaged car ended up stalling a mere 150 feet from the finish line. As members of Petty's pit crew ran over to try and get him re-started, Pearson limped his equally-wrecked car past Petty and over the line for the victory. Both drivers had been so far ahead of the rest of the field that Petty was able to eventually re-start his car and, despite the delay, cross the finish ahead of the 3rd place driver for second place.
* Tony Stewart won the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship by 1.3 seconds in the last race of the year. Stewart won the race ahead of Carl Edwards second, tying the two on points with Stewart winning by virtue of having more wins in the year.
** Though it should also be noted that Stewart cheated his way to victory by doing "favors" for other drivers to be easy on him and due to NASCAR's lax attitude for such behind curtain meetings, he's more of a [[Karma Houdini]] than anything.
* The 2011 British Superbike Championship came down to the last corner of the last lap between riders Tommy Hill and John Hopkins. The two riders battled nose-to-tail for the last two laps, the lead changed hands ''six times'' on the last lap and Hill beat Hopkins to the line and the title by 000.6 seconds. Needless to say it was [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjePvNcu8n4 quite a finish].
* Professional drag racing is all about this, particularly in the top tiers of high-powered nitro-fueled cars. Winning margins measured in hundreths or even ''thousands of seconds'' are not uncommon.
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* Kirk Gibson of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who was dealing with injuries to both legs that caused him to limp visibly as he walked to the plate, hit a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 1 of the 1988 World Series to beat the Oakland A's 5-4. The victory propelled the underdog Dodgers to a shocking five-game victory over the heavily favored Athletics.
* The New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers played a special three-game tiebreaker for the 1951 National League championship after finishing the season with identical 96-58 records. In the bottom of the ninth of the third game, trailing 4-2, Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer off of Ralph Branca to win the NL pennant. Thomson's homer is remembered to this day as [[wikipedia:Shot Heard chr(27)Round the World (baseball)|The Shot Heard 'Round the World]].
* Game 6 of the 2011 World Series provided several remarkable moments.
** The Texas Rangers, seeking their first championship in forty years of existence (fifty if you count their previous 10 years as the Washington Senators), led the St. Louis Cardinals three games to two, and led 7-5 in the bottom of the ninth inning. With two outs and two runners on base, David Freese fell behind the count 1-2, leaving the Rangers one strike away from victory and a championship. Freese hit the ball over Nelson Cruz's head and off the right-field wall for a two-run triple to tie the game 7-7.
** After Yadier Molina flied out to end the ninth, the Rangers proceeded to take a 9-7 lead in the top of the 10th on a homer by Josh Hamilton. The Cardinals came up in the bottom of the 10th and went single, single, sac bunt to advance the runners, and RBI groundout to make the score 9-8 with two outs. Lance Berkman batted next and fell behind the count 1-2, leaving the Rangers '''again''' one strike away from victory and a championship. After the next pitch was a ball, Berkman lined a single to center field, again tying the game, this time 9-9.
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*** 2009, and the shoe's on the other foot as Monty Panesar and James Anderson hold out for ''twelve'' overs - nearly an hour's play. Panesar is a strong rival for McGrath's claim to be the world's worst batsman, and he held out much longer.
* The rules of fencing (in epee, saber, and foil) state that when the score is tied with one touch remaining, the fencers must salute each other (in other words, when this trope comes into play). When bouts go to five touches, it happens all the time, but it's considerably more epic when it happens in a bout to fifteen.
* In April 2009, Boston University's hockey team played against Miami (the Miami team was actually from Ohio...) and were down 1-3 in the last period. Boston had won every game so far that season and was doing flawlessly until that game. They scored ''two goals in the last minute of the game'' and won in overtime.
* [[Australian Rules Football]] has had the Adelaide Crows failing to make it to the semi-finals by the opposing team scoring a goal in the last ten seconds of the last quarter. Twice.
** The ''true'' "down to the last play" situation, however, is when a player takes a mark or is awarded a free kick within scoring distance when the final siren goes - if this happens, the player is allowed to take their shot after the siren. North Melbourne's Malcolm Blight was the subject of two famous examples. The first was when he kicked a goal from around 80 metres out to defeat Carlton. In the second, Blight had kicked a behind (one point) to tie the score against Hawthorn, but was awarded a free kick as the siren went. He had the option of accepting the behind or taking another shot, chose to take the shot... and missed the goals completely, resulting in Hawthorn winning the game.
* The 1999 US Open Golf Championship's final day was almost perfectly set up for this trope, especially in the final groupings, which contained three of the most popular golfers of the year.. The young prodigy Tiger Woods was hitting his stride as one of the best golfers of the decade, and fan favorite Payne Stewart was paired with another young gun, Phil Mickelson, who was attempting to gain his first major victory in his career. The fun part? All three were within a shot or two of each other, and the tournament was settled with Payne Stewart's 15-foot putt for par, ''barely'' breaking free of the tie between him and Mickelson.
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* Subverted at the 2009 Womens Field Hockey Champions Trophy in Sydney, Australia. The Hockeyroos, the Australian women's team, was the only team to have attended the annual tournament since it's inception in 1987. The competition pits six of the best countries against each other in a week long tournament. Due to the format of rules following an Olympic year, the Hockeyroos had to win to qualify for the tournament in 2010. They won all round games, except against Argentina, who they then faced in the finals. In the finals full time ended on a draw, and golden goal extra time ended with no goals, so the event went to penalty flicks to decide a winner. At the end of five flicks each, both teams had scored three goals. It then went to sudden death flicks, Australia missed and Argentina scored. The Hockeyroos now miss the Champions Trophy for 2010, even though they came second!
* The 1985 World Snooker Final, between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor fits the Trope ludicrously well. Davis (aged 27) has already won the title 3 times, is the best player in the world, and is hot favourite to win again. Taylor (aged 36) is a lovable Irishman, always joking with the crowd, in the world's top ten or so but apparently outclassed, despite having had a good season (coming back bravely after the death of his mother). In the first-to-18 final, Davis races to an 8-0 lead. Taylor fights back to 11-11, but can't get ahead. Davis takes a 17-15 lead, only for Taylor to pull back again to 17-17. The edgy final frame takes over an hour, and eventually Taylor pulls out a brilliant pot to take it to the final black. He then gets the first chance, but misses badly. Davis looks sure to be left a sitter, but it goes slightly awkward - still, he's left with a pot he'd get 9 times out of 10 to win. He misses too, leaving an easy chance. Taylor steadies himself, and pots it to win 18-17 after nearly 15 hours of play.
** That final was awesome, in fact Taylor says that the ninth frame was his turning point. Davis just barely missed a black pot which would have put him up 9-0. Taylor was able to pot the colors and win his first frame. Davis has said that he "lost the plot" after that, and Taylor began to make his comeback. The final 35th frame was an epic, it lasted SIXTY-EIGHT minutes, since each player played so many safety shots. Truly a sight to behold for any billiards fan
* Cycling: Tour de France 1989. After winning the Tour de France for the first time in 1986, in 1987, Greg Lemond was seriously injured in an hunting incident; his recovery took two years. The last stage of the 1989 Tour de France was a time-trail; Laurent Fignon was leading Greg Lemond by 50 seconds, by many considered to be a decisive lead, considering the final time trail was a mere 25 km. Using (for the time) unorthodox equipment (flat aerobars; teardrop shaped helmet), Greg Lemond beat Laurent Fignot by 58 seconds, winning the Tour de France by the smallest margin ever: 8 seconds. That's 8 seconds after 22 days, 3,285 km and 87h 38m 35s of cycling (a difference of 0.0025%). Lemond would win the Tour de France for a third and last time in 1990.
* Dick Mackey won the 1978 running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 14 days, 18 hours, 52 minutes, and 24 seconds, beating Rick Swenson by ''one second.'' The thousand-mile race was literally decided by a nose, as Mackey's lead dog was mere inches ahead of Swenson's.
* A Rugby Union example came in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final between Australia and England in Australia. After a half-time score of 5-14 to England, Elton Flately kicked penalty goals for Australia in the 47th, 61st and 80th minutes to tie the game at 14-14. English fly half Johnny Wilkinson kicked a penalty goal to put England ahead in the 2nd minute of overtime, which Flately responded to in the 97th minute with 3 minutes remaining. Johnny Wilkinson kicked a drop goal with 27 seconds left on the clock to win the game 20-17 and the World Cup for England.
* While most poker games are decided by marginal decisions, high-ranking hands tend to provoke all-ins, often eliminating a player outright. A lot less contrived than sport examples, which require a close score and a well-timed window of opportunity.
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** 2010 european championships - Denmark vs Norway (main round). Same as in the 2008 European championship, except the score being 23-23 before Anders Eggert took the penalty. Denmark finished 5th in that tournament.
** 2011 world championships - Denmark vs France (final). Again it's the last attacking play, only this time, Denmark is one goal behind the defending champions at 30-31. It's being lined up for a shot, where everyone expects tournament top scorer Mikkel Hansen to take the shot. The ball is passed to Spellerberg instead, who scores and sends it to overtime. Denmark loses the final in overtime.
** 2012 european championships - Denmark vs Macedonia (main round). Score is 32-32, 10 seconds left and the Macedonians are lining up for a shot which is to be taken by their star player, Kiril Lazarov. Lazarov shoots, save by Landin, rebound picked up by.. René Toft, pass to Hansen, pass to Lindberg, GOAL and with a second to spare. Video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD_mJIgBs9s&feature=fvwrel here. Go to 0:50 to see the sequence)]. Denmark went from (literally) zero to hero, the comeback starting with that win, ending with a 21-19 win against hosts Serbia in the final.
* All three races of the 1978 Triple Crown were won by 2 lengths or less, with all three with the same win and place: Affirmed and Alydar, respectively. The most exciting came at the Belmont: the pair remained neck-and-neck down the entire stretch, with Affirmed winning it (and the Triple Crown, so far the last horse to do so) by a nose.
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[[Category:Drama Tropes]]
[[Category:Sports Story Tropes]]
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