The freshmen-laden 2025-2026 Coffee Trojans had a great season. They ended a four-year playoff drought, made a strong run at a region title, and hosted a postseason game at home. The future is bright for the Coffee men’s program.
Which is why it’s so heartbreaking that their season ended the way it did. For all the successes, for all the big moments, for all the incredible plays, it’s not fair for the year to end with two oh-so-close games.
After dropping the region title game in overtime to a loaded Houston County team, the Trojans still had an all-important first round home playoff game against the Sprayberry Yellow Jackets. On paper, you’d think that the Trojans had the advantage – a #2 seed hosting a #3 seed.
But the region rankings didn’t tell the whole story. The Yellow Jackets were #11 in the MaxPreps rankings compared to the Trojans’ #25 ranking. Sprayberry was good and Coffee would have its hands full on Wednesday night.
In the first half, the Yellow Jackets put some distance on the Trojans. Coffee, however, showed they were very much a capable adversary. The score was 19-15 after the first quarter and 35-27 at halftime. No matter the sport, there’s nothing like good old fashioned second-half adjustments.
And the Trojans did just that in the third quarter.
Coffee outscored Sprayberry 12-5 in the third period to get within one as the fourth quarter opened. The final period was almost basket for basket. And just like the region title game against Houston, the Trojans gave themselves a chance to win.
With under a minute remaining, Coffee was down 55-49 when Timothy Stone hit a big three to cut the Jackets’ lead to 55-52. The Trojans fouled Nate McDaniel and sent him to the free throw line. He hit both shots to make it a two-possession game.
Coffee fed the ball to Stone one more time and he answered with another three, cutting the deficit to 57-55 with 29 seconds left. Another Trojan foul, this time on Abel Trotman, gave the Jackets another scoring opportunity. Trotman hit one of his two shots (recording his 1,000th career point in the process) to put Sprayberry up 58-55. The Trojans grabbed the rebound on the missed free throw and put the ball in Stone’s hands again. This time, his shot didn’t go in. The Yellow Jackets came up with the rebound and Coffee fouled McDaniel again. He made his free throws to put his team ahead 60-55. The Trojans managed to make one final shot to get within two.
They were playing with urgency. They had some momentum. The one thing they needed, however, was a little more time. And it just wasn’t there. Sprayberry escaped with a 60-58 win and at least one more game on their schedule.
Xavien Littleton led the Trojans with 20 points. AJ Scruggs followed with 11 points. Stone finished with nine. The Achilles heel for Coffee? Free throws. The Trojans missed 15 foul shots on the night.
Coffee ends the year with an 18-11 record and the kind of experience that a team only gets in the trenches – fighting, battling, persevering. The Trojans didn’t end their season the way they wanted to.
But they will be back. That you can be sure of.
