Coffee ended 77 years of frustration Friday night, defeating Valdosta for the first time ever, 33-20 at Jardine Stadium.
Coffee (7-2-1) has been declared Region 1-AAAAA champions and will be the top seed when the playoffs start next week. Valdosta (7-2-1) is now the No. 2 seed, and will host Riverdale next Friday.
With the win, the Trojans felt the burden of 31 straight losses since 1924 to Valdosta come off their shoulders. Perhaps that's what drove them so hard Friday night.
``They didn't make any mistakes, and that was the difference,'' Valdosta head coach Mike O'Brien said. ``We didn't play that badly. Coffee just made the plays.''
What Coffee did was go against most scouting reports, which said the Trojan offense couldn't score a lot of points, no team could score a lot of points on the Valdosta defense, and no team could run the ball successfully on Valdosta.
Coffee did score on Valdosta, and earned all they got.
``I'd been saying they had a good offense, and tonight they just clicked,'' O'Brien said. ``They passed, they blocked, they played hard the whole game, offensively and defensively, and they got some big plays on offense and special teams that hurt us.''
NO. 10 LOWNDES WIN BUT END IN TIE: On a night when the only real drama came from the public address system, Lowndes gained an unlikely share of the Region 1-AAAAA championship and an unwelcome road trip.
The No. 10 Vikings overcame distractions from near (homecoming and senior night at Martin Stadium) and far (Coffee's upset of Valdosta) to blow out Lee County 34-10 in a game that was decided not long after the coin toss.
Lowndes (8-2, 4-1) finished in a three-way tie for first with Coffee and Valdosta for the second straight year. But after claiming the No. 1 seed last year, the tie-breakers went against Lowndes this time. The Vikings travel to Lovejoy next week as a No. 3 seed.
Lowndes set the tone early with two touchdowns in the first five minutes. Octavious Everett cracked the end zone from 8 yards out and Brandon Ponder found Zach Parker on a 25-yard touchdown pass for a quick 13-0 lead.
NO. 3 HARRISON SENIORS GET HELP FROM JUNIOR: The Harrison football team's senior class could be remembered as one of the best to go through Cobb County.
But with the program's first undefeated regular season and a third straight region championship on the line Friday, the heralded senior Hoyas turned to their junior kicker. Davis Brackett converted three field goals and Harrison completed its perfect run through Region 5-AAAAA with a 16-10 win over the visiting Walton Raiders.
Top-seeded Harrison (10-0) will play host to No. 4 North Gwinnett of Region 8-AAAAA in the first round of the state playoffs next week.
``It feels great,'' Brackett said. ``Special teams can win games, too. And we've worked real hard on that aspect all season. I just tried to stay focused and get them through there.''
Harrison piled up 284 total yards, including 133 on the ground, but the Hoyas advanced inside the Raiders' 20-yard line just three times.
NO. 7 DOUGLAS COUNTY GOES UNDEFEATED TO WIN REGION: Tray Stephens rushed for 216 yards and scored three touchdowns as the Douglas County Tigers completed an undefeated regular season Friday night AT Twelve Oaks Stadium in a 41-6 victory over North Clayton.
``Douglas County is a very good football team,'' North Clayton head coach Don Shockley said. ``(Stephens) is a really good player. We couldn't slow him down all night.''
North Clayton (4-6) had trouble holding on to the ball all night and fumbled seven times, losing four. The Eagles also tossed an interception.
Douglas County racked up 289 rushing yards but only had 20 yards through the air. Quarterback Duane Carter completed 2 passes for 20 yards and threw two interceptions.
NO. 9 DALTON WINS BUT SEASON ENDS: Dalton's football team needed two things to happen Friday night to make it to the state playoffs: win at Southeast Whitfield and have Paulding County or Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe lose.
The Cats did their part, thumping the Raiders, 40-7, but Paulding County and Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe knocked off Gordon Central and LaFayette, respectively, to eliminate the Cats from postseason contention.
It's the first time since 1983 that Dalton (8-2, 6-2 in Region 7-4A) won't be playing in the playoffs. Dalton was 13-2 last year and were runner up in Class AAAA.
NO. 3 DUBLIN GOES UNDEFEATED FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1985: The Irish have done it. With a 31-21 win over Central, Dublin has finished the heralded regular season with a perfect 10-0 record.
``It feels really good,'' senior Maurice Johnson said. ``It's my first time to ever be 10-0, ever since junior high.''
The game showed shades of Washington County from earlier in the season as Central came back in the fourth quarter to score two touchdowns. It was the most points the Irish have given up in the fourth quarter since playing the Golden Hawks.
No. 6 TWIGGS COUNTY MAKES FIRST STATE BID: Twiggs County did what was unthinkable at the beginning of the season. The sixth-ranked team in Class A finished the regular season 10-0.
Twiggs County had a 8-0 lead at the half, but broke it open in the third quarter with JoJo Cox scoring two touchdowns on a 17-yard reception and a 2-yard run. Rico Taylor returned a punt 75 yards to give the Cobras a comfortable 27-0 lead.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/11/187616