Minutes after the Coffee Trojans won their first-ever state championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta 31-14 over the Creekside Seminoles last Wednesday, head coach Mike Coe was asked if his defense was underrated this season. “Yeah. The whole team has been underrated — because we don’t have all these Power 5 guys. But I’ve got a bunch of dang good high school football players who will hit you slam in the mouth and won’t quit,” he replied.
At the time, I didn’t necessarily agree that Coffee was underrated, particularly as it pertained to the defense. In every story I read, every conversation I had about the Trojans, the first thing people and writers mentioned was the Coffee defense. There’s no way the defense has been underrated, I thought.
But after the Touchdown Club of Atlanta released its All State teams today, I believe Coach Coe may have been right. The TCA completely ignored the Coffee defense, which was the Georgia High School Association’s top defense in the state, allowing just 6.7 points per game. Over the last six games of the season, which included games against defending state champion Ware County and five playoff games, the Trojans allowed 8.5 points per game while scoring an average of 37. And that’s against the best 5A teams in Georgia.
In spite of those numbers, not a single Trojan can be found on the TCA’s All State teams. The club did give a cursory nod to Coffee, naming senior running back Fred Brown to its All State Second Team. Brown finished the season with 358 carries for 2,488 yards and 24 rushing touchdowns (along with one receiving touchdown). In the process, he was named Region 1-5A Player of the Year as well as Offensive Player of the Year in several different organizations’ season-end award ceremonies. Brown also now owns the Coffee High single-season rushing record. Additionally, Brown is ranked 40th in the country in rushing yards, second in Georgia, and first in the Georgia High School Association. (Frederica Academy’s Jordan Triplett leads the state with 3,172 yards; Frederica plays in the Georgia Independent Athletic Association.)
Many of these various lists contain head-scratching selections. Obviously, there is a bias towards players from the metro/North Georgia area with multiple Division I offers. But ignoring players off the state’s best defense, regardless of classification, does seem odd. The TCA did get into South Georgia with a couple of defensive selections — defensive lineman Elijah Griffin (Savannah Christian), defensive lineman Nasir Johnson (Dublin), defensive back Demerol Jones (Swainsboro), and defensive back Dee Roddick (Thomas County Central). All are First Team selections.
Offensively, running backs Jordan Triplett (Frederica, First Team), Ousmane Kromah (Lee County, First Team), receiver Ny Carr (Colquitt, First Team), quarterback Luke Kromenhoek (Benedictine, Second Team), lineman Kahil House (Houston County), and athlete Ahmad Gordon (Perry) were All State selections outside of the metro area in addition to Coffee’s Brown.
Though there are no Trojans on the TCA’s All State defensive teams, the Coffee defense outplayed every other defensive unit in the state and won a state championship with a 15-0 record to boot.
And the Touchdown Club of Atlanta doesn’t have a say in that at all.