Two weeks ago, Coffee was undefeated and ranked No. 2 in Class AAAAAA.
Now the Trojans are in last place in Region 1-AAAAAA after suffering their second consecutive loss in region play. This time it was a 37-22 loss to fourth-ranked Valdosta. Last week it was a 30-20 loss to Northside-Warner Robins that dropped the Trojans to No. 7 in the rankings.
Coffee is 0-2 in region play, a half-game behind Houston County in the five-team region. Houston County, which had the week off, is 2-5 overall and 0-1 in the region. Coffee hosts Houston County next week, and a loss in that one would be disastrous for the Trojans, considering they close out the regular season against top-ranked Lee County.
Valdosta, meanwhile, is alone in first place after going just 3-3 in non-region play. Those losses, however, came against three teams – Tift County, Colquitt County and Lowndes – that are a combined 18-3 and are all ranked in the top 10 in Class AAAAAAA.
Valdosta trailed Coffee 7-0 after the first quarter but outscored the Trojans 23-0 in the second. The Wildcats added a touchdown in the third quarter and then held on.
Here are some of the other big stories in Class AAAAAA from Week 9:
- Class AAAAAA was spared most of the schedule reshuffling that took place in the wake of Hurricane Michael, but one game that was postponed was a big one. Top-ranked Lee County’s game against No. 3 Northside-Warner Robins was pushed back a day and will be played at 4 p.m. Saturday at McConnell-Talbert Stadium. Lakeside-Evans’ game at Alcovy was moved from Thursday to Saturday.
- Creekside, an 0-10 team a year ago, moved into sole possession of second place in Region 5 with a 49-48 victory over Mays, the two-time defending region champ. It was the third consecutive victory for the Seminoles (4-3, 3-1) after starting the season 1-3. Mays (3-4, 3-2) fell into a tie for third place with Northgate and Alexander, the teams it will play in the final two weeks of the season.
- Johns Creek and Centennial remained unbeaten in Region 7 and set up a showdown next week at Johns Creek in a game that could decide the region championship. Johns Creek beat Cambridge 38-20, and Centennial beat Dunwoody 49-6. Third-place Alpharetta, the defending champion, is still in the hunt. The Raiders lost to Centennial 14-6 two weeks ago but play Alpharetta at home on Oct. 26.
- Allatoona won its fifth consecutive game after an 0-2 start when it beat Class AA No. 1 Hapeville Charter 23-14. Allatoona trailed 14-7 in the fourth quarter but got an 11-yard touchdown run from T.J. Carr with 5:26 left, then made a two-point conversion to take the lead for good. Hapeville had given up just three points this season, none since a 33-3 win over Heard County in its second game.
- Forest Park ended a 17-game losing streak in region games when it beat M.L. King 17-14. The victory was the Panthers’ first in a region game since beating Mt. Zion-Jonesboro 22-13 on Nov. 1, 2013. Forest Park (1-6, 1-5) played a non-region schedule the past two seasons and was 0-6 in region games in 2015 and 2014. Forest Park has a non-region game against Clarkston on Thursday.
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