As good as the Coffee Trojans’ defense has been all year, one milestone had eluded them for 10 games. That streak ended in game 11.
Coffee hasn’t held an opponent scoreless all year long. Friday night, they finally pitched a shutout with a 12-0 win over the Tift County Blue Devils at Jardine Stadium in the first round of the state playoffs.
The game was a bit of a defensive struggle all night. The Trojans scored a pair of touchdowns in the first half – one on a 22-yard run by quarterback Tyler Dowling at the end of the first quarter and another on a short run by Bobby Reynolds in the final seconds of the second quarter (both points-after attempts – one a kick and the other a two-point conversion – were no good).
Coffee carried a 12-0 lead into halftime.
And that would be all the points either team would score. The Trojans gave the Blue Devils a few opportunities. In the third quarter, Tift intercepted a pass and, later, recovered a Coffee fumble. But they were unable to turn the takeaways into points.
In the fourth quarter, the Trojans were able to reach the end zone twice – on back-to-back plays in fact – but both were called back due to holding penalties. Coffee also missed a field goal in the first half.
“I’m proud of our kids but we’ve got to get better. You name it, we did it wrong tonight. We dropped three interceptions. But it’s like I told our defense – you’ve got to play your best when your best is required. And they did that. Even though we didn’t score there at the end, the offense marched the ball. How ‘bout [punter] Cam Minnifield? He’s unbelievable. He might be the MVP tonight. He did a great job pinning them down there. I’m proud of our team. At this point, an ugly win is better than any kind of loss,” said head coach Mike Coe following the game.
The Trojans will face Newnan next week at Jardine Stadium. Newnan defeated Habersham Central 37-7 to advance to the second round. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Coffee is 8-3 on the season. The win over Tift was the second this season; the two teams played on September 25 in Tifton. The Trojans won 35-14.
