I don’t know what to say. I’ve covered a lot of ball games over the years and I’ve never been at a loss for words. I’ve always had an angle, a lead, a story after a game. Tonight, however, I don’t. The Kell High School Longhorns inexplicably defeated the Coffee Trojans 14-7 in the second round of the state playoffs at Jardine Stadium. It was tough to watch. It’s even harder to explain.
“I’m disappointed. I’m heartbroken. We just made too many mistakes. There’s not a whole to say,” said head coach Robby Pruitt following the game.
Coffee came into the game as 17-point favorites over Kell. Either nobody told the Longhorns they were supposed to lose or they were just too stubborn to listen. No matter the reason, Kell played a tough, physical football game and took advantage of the many Coffee mistakes to slip out of Jardine Stadium with an upset victory.
Early on, it looked as though it would be more of the same from the Trojans. Running back Demetrius Davis broke a long run on Coffee’s opening drive to take a 7-0 lead. From there, the Trojans moved the ball seemingly at will but just couldn’t capitalize. On the Trojans’ next possession, they drove 83 yards before fumbling on the Kell 13. The Longhorns recovered and ended up punting but they had kept Coffee out of the end zone. Two possessions later, the Trojans were one yard away from scoring when the ball came loose again. This time, Longhorns junior cornerback Shamar Bennett recovered and ran 99 yards for a touchdown. Late in the second quarter, the score was tied at seven.
Both teams went into the locker room at halftime with the score tied. In the second half, Kell launched an 86-yard drive on their second possession that chewed up most of the third quarter and spilled over into the final period. Senior Bryson Armstrong capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run that gave Kell a 14-7 lead with 11:36 left in the game.
After the Longhorns took the lead, the Trojans went 65 yards before stalling on Kell’s 10 yard line. Faced with fourth and short, Coffee went for it but didn’t get the first down. The Trojans only had the ball three times in the second half; they turned two over on downs and punted on the other. Kell, meanwhile, found a weakness on the right side of Coffee’s defense and pounded the ball on that side for the final two periods, often eating up big chunks of real estate.
After watching Coffee so thoroughly dominate their opponents through most of the season, it wasn’t easy witnessing the Trojans run into brick wall after brick wall. You could see the frustration building in the coaches and players. As the clock ticked down, the Trojans attempted to play with a sense of urgency. However, that urgency looked more like desperation most of the time, and the Longhorns exploited Coffee’s sense of frustration to their advantage.
At the end of the day, the Longhorns simply played a better game. And they’re moving on as a result. “It’s one thing to get beat by someone who’s better than you. Tonight, I honestly felt like we had the better team. But we gave it away. We turned the ball over and let them get momentum. You can’t give away 14 points and win,” said Coach Pruitt.
The Trojans finished the season with a 10-2 record, their second 10-win season in a row.