Author: Robert Preston

Were my uncle, Montgomery Lane “Buck” Preston, Jr., alive today, he would be 88 years old. Fate, however, had a very different plan. On December 22, 1955, just over 69 years ago, Buck was killed in an auto accident on Highway 221 between Hazlehurst and Uvalda in, ironically enough, Montgomery County. For those familiar with that stretch of road, the accident happened over the hill just north of what is now Buzzy’s Truck Stop. Buck was 18 and had just finished his first semester at Mercer, where he planned to attend law school. It’s a story I’ve told before, most…

The South Georgia State College Hawks posted a 2-1 mark over the weekend, defeating the Gordon State Highlanders in Barnesville 14-6 on Friday then splitting a doubleheader with the East Georgia Bobcats at home. SGSC won game one 6-0 then fell in game two 6-2. Friday, the Hawks jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the Highlanders got on the board. SGSC added four in the seventh and four more in the eighth. Gordon State managed five in the fifth and one in the ninth. Jesse Brown led the way for the Hawks with a 4-5 day. He drove in…

The 2025 season hasn’t been an easy one for the Coffee Trojans. It’s been an up and down year, complete with some of the highest of highs (handing Houston County its only region loss of the season) and lowest of lows (letting close – and important – games against Lee and Houston get away). However, after a sluggish start, the Trojans began picking up steam. They played Lee close, took two out of three against Thomas County Central (and former Coffee head coach Sy Jones), swept Northside-Warner Robins, took one from Houston (and almost swiped a second), then swept Veterans.…

A storm system that rolled through Barrow County Wednesday night gave the Coffee Trojans a little time to regroup after their first-round playoff game against the Winder-Barrow Bulldoggs. After what happened in game one, that’s probably not a bad thing. The two teams were scheduled to play a doubleheader Wednesday then, if necessary, play game three Thursday. The weather, however, had other plans. The Bulldoggs defeated the Trojans 7-6 on a walk-off double after Coffee led most of the game. The Trojans jumped out to an early lead and kept fighting off the ‘Doggs. But they just couldn’t put them…

Blake Bryant homered twice and starter Thomas Gentry went six innings, allowing one earned run on two hits and striking out 12 in the CCA Patriots’ 9-1 region win over the Robert Toombs Christian Academy Crusaders Tuesday afternoon in Douglas. On Monday, the Patriots traveled to Lyons and defeated the Crusaders 12-0. In Tuesday’s game, CCA jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Landon Williams led off with a single to center. Williams stole second during Jonathan Rutland’s at-bat. Rutland bunted to the pitcher but reached first safely. Williams advanced to third on the play.…

Senior Weston Brown earned the win and junior Ben Fussell homered in the Coffee Trojans’ 10-0, six-inning home win over the Crisp County Cougars in the 2025 baseball season’s final game. The win came on the heels of a 3-1 loss to the Pierce County Bears on Thursday. That game was also played at Charles Wilson Field in Douglas. The Trojans managed just three hits in the penultimate game of the year; one of those was a Brax Carson home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Trojans wanted to avenge that loss and end the season on…

South Georgia State College’s love affinity for walk-off wins continued on Thursday. The Hawks defeated the Gordon State College Highlanders 11-10 in 10 innings at George Cook Stadium in Douglas. After two and half innings, the Hawks were down 7-1 and battled back to pull out the improbable victory Gordon scored seven runs over the first three innings then added two in the fifth and another in the eighth. The Hawks, meanwhile, moved at a much more methodical and deliberate pace. They scored one in the second, two in the third, two in the fourth, two in the sixth, and…

Will he or won’t he? That’s been the biggest question for the Miami Dolphins this offseason. The “he,” of course, is wide receiver Tyreek Hill. And the question is whether Hill will be traded from Miami before the start of the 2025 season. Hill made a few cryptic comments about his future when the 2024 campaign, the worst of his eight-year NFL career, came to an end. Since then, the rumor mill has been awash with reports ranging from those stating that Hill would almost certainly be traded to others saying he isn’t going anywhere. Reports coming from NFL insiders…

Last week, the South Georgia State College Hawks won two out of three games in walk-off fashion. On Monday, a mile away from the SGSC campus, the walk-offs continued – this time on the campus of Citizens Christian Academy. The CCA Patriots scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning – four of them with two outs — to defeat the 3A defending state champion Terrell Academy Eagles 8-7 Monday afternoon. Early on, the Patriots were plagued by uninspired and lethargic play. Then, when everyone – including the Eagles – thought the outcome was just a formality, CCA…

Things finally turned around for the South Georgia State College Hawks. After dropping four in a row going back to April 4, the Hawks took two out of three from the Andrew College Tigers. SGSC walked off Thursday’s game 11-10 in the 12th inning. The Hawks followed with another extra-innings walk off in game one of a Saturday doubleheader, 6-5. The Tigers took game two 7-4. Thursday, the Hawks had a 10-6 going into the ninth inning when the Tigers scored four runs. SGSC couldn’t score in the bottom of the frame, forcing extra innings. Neither team scored until the…