Author: Robert Preston

On the eve of the Coffee Trojans’ first appearance in a state football championship game, the Region 1-6A All Region teams have been released. And three Trojans top the list. Quarterback Wade Sumner has been named Offensive Player of the Year while defensive lineman Derrick Newton was named Defensive Player of the Year. Athlete of the Year honors went to running back/linebacker Jameon Gaskin, whose offensive performance this season (after three years of playing solely defense) might have saved the Trojans’ season. These three certainly weren’t the only Coffee players selected. Here are the others: First Team All Region Offense:…

For the first time in school history, the Coffee Trojans football team is playing for a state championship. As a result, schools will be closed on Friday, according to information posted on the Coffee County School System’s Facebook page. Coffee will face the Lee County Trojans at 8 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Unofficially dubbed the Trojan War, the two teams are region rivals and have already played each other once this season. With the Region 1-6A title on the line, Lee County won 23-7 in Leesburg. Now Coffee is looking for a little revenge and…

An era in downtown Douglas is about to end. Lott True Value Hardware, a fixture in Douglas for decades, is closing its doors. According to a Facebook post by JoAnne Hanna Lott, wife of owner Al Lott, Al has decided to retire. He will sell everything in the store in a large retirement sale, which will begin Thursday morning. In her post, JoAnne wrote that Al’s father purchased the business from a Mr. Powers of Powers Hardware in 1957, the year Al was born. In 1989, Al bought the store from his father. He has spent nearly every day of…

A pair of former Trojans had big weekends, helping their respective teams win conference championships. One is headed to the College Football Playoff while the other will face Southeastern Conference runner-up Auburn in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day. Maverick Morris, a 6’3″, 300-pound lineman who has graduated from Clemson University but had a year of eligibility remaining, and his Tigers defeated unbeaten Miami Saturday night in the ACC Championship 38-3, securing #1 spot in the nation and earning a shot at Alabama in the Sugar Bowl in the first round of the playoff. Wyatt Miller, 6’4″, 306, a…

Forty-eight years. Five hundred and sixteen games. Two hundred and eighty-six wins. Two trips to the semifinals of the state playoffs. Zero trips to the state title game. Until now. The Coffee Trojans are headed to Mercedes Benz Stadium to play in the state championship game for the first time in school history. The Trojans earned a berth in the title game by upsetting the formidable Tucker Tigers 14-3 at Adams Stadium in Atlanta Friday night. The win sets up a re-match with region foe Lee County, which defeated Coffee 23-7 in Leesburg on Nov. 3. The Trojans were limited…

A new school bus sustained significant cosmetic damage following a Wednesday morning traffic accident near the intersection Highway 32 and 206. There were no students on the bus and the driver wasn’t injured. According to information obtained from the Coffee County School System, the bus was traveling east on 32 and attempting to turn right on 206. The driver had finished her route and was taking the bus to the bus barn. Being one of the newer buses, it was scheduled to make the trip to the Atlanta area this weekend with the football team. Now, it will…

After a week and a half or so of controversy, skateboarders are back in the Christmas parade. Earlier this month, the City of Douglas released its rules for the annual Festival of Lights Christmas Parade. In the past, skateboarders have participated in the parade; their presence is organized by Trey Day, a lifelong skater and resident of Douglas. This year, however, the aforementioned list of rules prohibited skaters from the parade. But that’s not all. The city’s rules were very tersely worded, and it mentioned that neither skaters nor sex offenders were allowed in the parade.…

Working at a Huddle House isn’t easy. It can’t be. The hours are long and the work tedious. It certainly isn’t glamorous work. And I can’t imagine that the tips bring in a whole lot of money. But this waitress at one of the two Douglas Huddle House locations went well beyond the call of duty to help a patron who was unable to cut up his meal. The waitress’s name is Wanda Smith and she works at the Highway 32 West Huddle House in Douglas. A customer in the restaurant took this video with a cell…

When people discuss Coffee Trojan football, talk inevitably turns to the early 1980s – during the days of Andre “Pulpwood” Smith, Riccardo Ingram, Willis Crockett, Todd Wade, Terry Robertson, Harold Ragsdale, Chainsaw Smith, and a host of other characters who have become larger than life figures at Jardine Stadium. Maybe that will change. Instead of having to go back 35 and 36 years to discuss Coffee’s gridiron legacy, maybe people can talk about the teams of the last few years. Maybe Max Hughes, Demetrius Davis, Wade Sumner (Todd Wade’s nephew), Jameon Gaskin, Derrick Newton, Milton Jackson, Jordan Knight,…

The City of Douglas’s Festival of Lights Christmas Parade has gone viral – and for all the wrong reasons. Last Friday, Trey Day, a local business owner and lifelong skateboarder, posted on his Facebook page a copy of information sent to him by the city regarding the parade, which will take place on Saturday, Dec. 2. Two sentences drew Day’s ire. In the second paragraph of the letter are two sentences that, truthfully, are poorly worded and seem out of place: “No skateboarders are allowed in the parade. No sex offenders are allowed in the parade.” The photo and accompanying…