Bren Shepard/The Tifton Gazette
CNHI
TIFTON —
There have been many classics in the series between the Tift County Blue Devils and the Coffee High Trojans. There was the 2006 game where Coffee upset a No. 1-ranked Tift County team, the 2008 game where Tift rallied back from a late deficit before winning on a Jordan West field goal and now there is the 2011 edition where the Trojans blocked a 31-yard field goal attempt by Josue Perez to win 21-18, leaving a sour taste in Blue Devil fans’ mouths after a furious Tift comeback.
Coffee went up early in the game, after taking over with 9:51 left in the first quarter after the first Blue Devils’ drive stalled.
The Trojans drove 73 yards in just over two minutes, capping it off with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Santory Long to Tyreek Hill.
The Blue Devils wasted no time driving down the field after that, going 54 yards on four plays to the Coffee 18. The next snap was fumbled by Tadric Jackson and recovered by the Trojans back at their own 14. It would end up not costing the Devils though. The Trojans fumbled on their first snap and Bryson Chaney recovered his second fumble of the year, giving Tift a first and 10 on the Trojan 18 yardline. Four plays later Jakevin Jackson would come around on a reverse and sneak in the corner of the endzone to tie the game at seven.
The action would pick back up in the second quarter with another Blue Devil drive that would see Drew Davis ejected after making a catch for a first down. Davis appeared to be trying to kick his foot free from a Trojan player holding onto his leg, drawing the penalty and the ejection.
Tift would continue the drive, making it down to the 27 yardline before being forced into a field goal situation. Perez’s kick had the distance, but was wide left.
The Trojans would then orchestrate a 12-play drive that would eat up six minutes off the clock. Hill would get his second score of the game on a six-yard run, leaving 1:41 left on the clock in the second quarter.
Tift ran two plays to pick up a first down on their own 23 yardline. The next play, a fumble was scooped up by Coffee’s Jamel Bonner and returned it 14 yards for a touchdown. That would be good enought to send Coffee into halftime with a 21-7 lead and all the momentum.
Coffee’s opening drive of the second half was short lived despite the momentum. Shaq Bryant stripped the ball from Long on an option play setting the Devils up with a first down on their own 43. The Devils were able to drive down to the 13 where they were forced into another kicking situation, this time Perez nailed a 30-yard field goal attempt to bring the game to 21-10.
The Trojans put together another long drive, holding the ball for nine minutes, running sixteen plays before Hill was dropped for a 12 -yard loss on a fourth down attempt, being dropped by a host of Tift defenders.
Taking over with 10:13 and facing an 11-point deficit, the Blue Devils wasted no time putting a comeback together, driving 55 yards in less than three minutes before Ladarius Stewart broke through the middle of the Coffee defense from five yards out. The Devils elected to go for two to bring the game within a field goal difference, and Jakevin Jackson took the ball up the middle, stretching the ball across the goalline to make the score 21-18.
The Tift defense came up big as they have all year in big spots, holding Coffee to one yard on three plays. On the Coffee punt however, a Tift personal foul gave the Trojans a first down.
The defense was not phased by this, driving the Trojans back 18 yards on three plays, forcing another punt.
That set the stage for a thrilling finish.
With 2:04 in the game and 78 yards in front of the Blue Devil offense, Tadric Jackson led the team down the field, completing three passes to Nick Utley and one to Nigel Reese to get the ball down to the Trojan 12 yardline. After a couple shots at the endzone, Perez took the field with four seconds left with a chance to become a hero.
Instead it is the Coffee special teams that will be remembered, as they tore through the line to block the kick.
Tadric Jackson ended the game with 237 yards passing. His favorite target was Utley, who caught eight balls for 113 yards. Reese and Jakevin Jackson each brought in three passes, Davis and Gerald Pledger collecting two.
Rashad Daniels led the team with 46 yards rushing. Tift rushed for 108 yards on the night, their highest total in the last three weeks.
The Tift defense bent but didn’t break through the game, giving up long drives but fought back when it mattered most. Coffee was held to 233 yards of total offense.
The Devils head into next week’s game against Colquitt County with a 3-4 record, 0-1 in region. The kickoff will be at 8 p.m. in Moultrie.
Colquitt was off Friday.
