Gators are supposed to thrive in the water but that wasn’t the case Friday night at Jardine Stadium. The visiting Ware County Gators couldn’t establish any semblance of consistency or momentum and watched almost helplessly as the Coffee Trojans won 27-7 on a soggy, rain-soaked field. The game was delayed by lightning four times and didn’t end until almost midnight.
The Trojans used their tried and true formula – keep the ball on the ground and suffocate the opponent with a physical, punishing defense – to wear the Gators down. It took a while to get going but Coffee, thanks to four more touchdowns from Xavien Littleton, easily dispatched Ware. Littleton scored one touchdown in the second quarter, one in the third, and two in the fourth. His runs were five, 21, 12, and eight yards.
The Gators’ only score came midway through the fourth quarter after the Trojans mishandled a punt that Ware recovered on the Coffee 25.
After the Gators broke up the shutout, they attempted to mount some semblance of a comeback. But Coffee cornerback CJ Stinson intercepted a Ware County pass late in the fourth quarter that squashed any of the fleeting hopes the Gators had of late-game heroics.
The Trojans are 2-0 on the season. Next week, they host the Zephyrhills Christian Academy Warriors (Zephyrhills, Fla.) in a 7:00 p.m. contest at Jardine Stadium. The loss dropped Ware County to 1-1.
