Twenty-seven years ago, Jack McCurry viewed himself as the bad guy, an up-and-coming coach at North Hills who could rub fans the wrong way, but who was trying to complete an improbable championship run. For WPIAL playoff games in the 1982 season, McCurry wore a New York Yankees batting helmet because he figured everyone hated the Yankees.

"I figured people might be throwing some things at me that year, so I thought I'd wear a helmet one of the kids gave me," McCurry said.

North Hills went 6-4 in the '82 regular season, but the bad guy made North Hills look great in the playoffs as the Indians made one of the most surprising playoff runs in WPIAL history, winning the school's first title.

Now, North Hills is trying for a repeat performance. McCurry hasn't brought back the Yankees helmet, but he has brought back North Hills from the dead.

North Hills, along with Hampton, are the surprise teams of the WPIAL playoffs. After finishing the regular season at 4-5, North Hills upset McKeesport and North Allegheny in the first two rounds, and meets unbeaten Gateway (11-0) tonight in the WPIAL Class AAAA semifinals.

Hampton, meanwhile, was the No. 14 seed for the playoffs, but has made it to the Class AAA semifinals and will play unbeaten Hopewell (11-0) tonight.

North Hills' and Hampton's stories are unusual, but not totally uncommon.

Since the WPIAL instituted at least three rounds of playoffs for all classifications in 1980, some other teams have finished with mediocre records in the regular season and then made surprising runs in the playoffs. Mt. Lebanon, under legendary coach Art Walker, won back-to-back titles in 1983-84, despite finishing as the No. 4 seed from its conference both years.

"The way we won those WPIAL championships those two years, those two teams have a special place in my heart," Walker said.

But how does it happen? How does a team look average in the regular season -- and then win a title?

"I think when you look back over your [regular] season, you see that you haven't played that poorly," McCurry said. "For us this year, we had games where we had 10-12 penalties or made bad turnovers. We were our own-worst enemy."

In two playoff games so far, North Hills doesn't have a turnover.

McCurry and Walker will tell you a pretty good team that plays efficiently and without mistakes in the playoffs, has a chance against almost anybody.

And then there is luck. For example, North Allegheny fumbled the ball away deep in North Hills territory late in the game last week.

"I remember when we upset Penn Hills in 1984, we played them on a real muddy field," Walker said. "We threw a [halfback] pass and two Penn Hills defenders ran into each other. We caught it and ran for a touchdown. There is definitely some luck involved."

Since 1980, only one team has made it to a championship game with a losing record in the regular season. West Mifflin did it five years ago. Here is a look at some surprising runs in WPIAL playoff history:

The M & M boys -- quarterback Shawn Morton and receiver Larry Miles -- tore a path through the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs and led unheralded Bethel Park to the title game. In what many consider one of the greatest playoff games in WPIAL history, Bethel Park beat North Hills, 33-27, in four overtimes in a first-round game. North Hills' star halfback was future NFL player Mark Kelso.

Bethel Park then upset Gateway, 20-14, in the semifinals as Morton completed 27 of 33 passes for 277 yards. Bethel Park lost in the WPIAL final at Pitt Stadium, falling to Mt. Lebanon, 30-14.

Jim Cassandro was a running back-linebacker-kicker on the '82 team -- and now he's a North Hills assistant coach.

North Hills finished 6-4 in the regular season, upset Connellsville, 14-0, in the first round of the playoffs and then faced a North Allegheny team that had allowed only one touchdown all season -- to North Hills in the regular-season finale.

On a muddy Ambridge field, Cassandro scored the game's only touchdown on a 2-yard run in the second quarter and North Hills won, 7-3. North Allegheny coach Mark McCann quit as coach after the game, although he said it had nothing to do with the loss.

North Hills went on to defeat Butler, 9-0, at Pitt Stadium in the championship game.

After finishing fourth in conference play and finishing the regular season with a 5-4-1 record, the Blue Devils got hot and won two playoff games against Connellsville (16-15) and Butler (12-7). In the championship game at Three Rivers Stadium, Mt. Lebanon won, 7-0 as Pat King threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Dan O'Brien in the third quarter. North Allegheny fumbled on the Mt. Lebanon 6 with 55 seconds left.

The Blue Devils finished 6-3-1 in the regular season, tying for third in conference play. But Walker worked his November magic again and the Blue Devils won a second consecutive WPIAL title.

Mt. Lebanon beat Penn Hills, 14-0, in the first round and Bethel Park, 14-0, in the semifinals. Mt. Lebanon then defeated Gateway, 20-12, at Three Rivers Stadium in the title game.

The Vikings finished the regular season 6-2-2 and in fourth place in the Quad East Conference, but upset Quad West Conference champ North Hills in the first round of the playoffs, 21-7. After edging North Allegheny, 3-0, in the semifinals, Central Catholic lost in the title game to Upper St. Clair, 7-0.

But Central Catholic went on to win the PIAA title. How? Well, it was the first year of the PIAA playoffs and Upper St. Clair's school board voted not to participate.

The Wolverines finished in third place in their conference and had a 6-3 regular-season record. But with small running backs Fon Nanji and Eric Walker, called "The Smurfs" by coach George Novak, Woodland Hills came on strong in the playoffs and won a WPIAL title, beating North Allegheny, 22-15, in the final. North Allegheny had a future NFL quarterback in Mike McMahon.

New Castle was 6-3 in the regular season and won its first-round playoff game at defending champion Upper St. Clair. After beating Greensburg Salem in the quarterfinals, New Castle upset Woodland Hills in the semifinals at Pitt Stadium. In the title game at Three Rivers, New Castle edged North Allegheny, 14-7.

New Castle lost to North Allegheny, 38-6, in the regular season.

The Tigers rode quarterback Cecil "The Diesel" Howard to a spot in the Class AAAA title game after finishing 5-4 and in fourth place in the conference in the regular season. McKeesport upset undefeated North Hills in the first round, but eventually lost to Woodland Hills, 21-7, in the title game.

The Titans were the first team to have a losing record in the regular season (4-5) and then make it to a WPIAL championship. The biggest shocker came in the semifinals when West Mifflin beat previously undefeated West Allegheny and Dorin Dickerson, 23-22. West Mifflin lost in the title game to Thomas Jefferson, 20-0.

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