Alpharetta Faces Coffee High School In State Quarterfinals

By Mike Blum

Now that Alpharetta’s football team has won a second round state playoff game for the first time, the Raiders will face a new experience as they play their first ever quarterfinal playoff game Friday night.

Alpharetta will face a south Georgia opponent for the first time in the school’s history, as Coffee travels from the small town of Douglas, which is located in south central Georgia east of Tifton.

The Raiders already have a playoff victory in its defeat of Douglas County last week. While the Raiders scored a 24-21 victory at home, Milton lost its second round game 28-23 at Brookwood.

Coffee at Alpharetta

Like both Alpharetta and Douglas County, Coffee does not have a long history of success in the playoffs, but either the Trojans or the Raiders will be playing in the semifinals next week against Allatoona or second-ranked Tucker.

The Raiders are 11-1 and ranked 10th in Class AAAAAA. Coffee (8-3) played a tough non-region schedule,
losing by a combined five points to Tift, which is state ranked in AAAAAAA and unbeaten Warner Robins, one of the top teams in AAAAA. The fourth-ranked Trojans placed second in their region behind Lee
County, the No. 1 team in AAAAAA. Coffee has not made it past the quarterfinals since 1981, but made it to the second round in 2015 after going 9-1 and winning a region title, and reached the quarterfinals last year after going 5-5 in the regular season.

The Trojans come into Friday’s game off back-to- back dominant victories in the playoffs, defeating Effingham County 52-32 and Evans 55-21, the latter win coming on the road against a team that won its region. Coffee led 42-6 at the half against Effingham and outscored Evans 21-0 in the second quarter en route to a 42-14 halftime lead.

In its two playoff wins, the Trojans are averaging 200 yards passing and more than 300 yards rushing, with running back Jameon Gaskin rushing for 275 yards last week. The Raiders contained a strong Douglas County ground game in their second round victory, but the Tigers were largely a one-dimensional offense, failing to throw effectively against an Alpharetta defense that lost standout defensive back Jaycee Horn to an injury early in the second half.

Alpharetta coach Jacob Nichols said after last Friday’s win that he was uncertain of Horn’s availability for the game against Coffee, and the Raiders may also be missing another key defensive starter who was ejected from the Douglas County game. Other than early season games against Milton and Centennial, the Raiders have kept every offense they’ve faced in check, but Coffee will pose the biggest challenge the Alpharetta defense has faced since the Raiders rallied from a 14-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat Centennial.

If the Raiders are short handed in the secondary Friday, they will need big games from a strong front seven that includes linemen Jack Stanton and Nick Markus and linebacker Reid Schulz. Offensively, the Raiders will need to run the ball more effectively than they did against Douglas County.

Nolan Edmonds, who was averaging more than 100 yards a game, was held to less than 20 yards rushing by the Tigers, who dared Alpharetta to throw the ball and yielded 336 yards passing, Matthew Downing passed for all three Alpharetta touchdowns but was intercepted twice. He has passed for 2365 yards and 23 touchdowns, spreading the ball around a deep group of receivers and Edmonds coming out of the backfield.

The Raiders have won region titles four times in the last seven years and won their first round playoff games three of the last four times they reached the post-season, but lost by sizeable margins the first two times they made it to the second round.

Brookwood 28, Milton 23

The Eagles battled one of the top teams in AAAAAAA on even terms on Brookwood’s home field, but came up short despite scoring a pair of touchdowns in the final four minutes. After taking an early 3-0 lead on a Hayden Hairston field goal, the Eagles trailed 7-3 at the half, with the Broncos scoring after breaking a 70-yard run. Brookwood drove for a touchdown to go ahead 14-3 in the third quarter, but the Eagles responded with a 49-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Yates to Syaire Waters.

Another Brookwood drive made it 21-10, but the Eagles came right back with a 17-play, 85-yard drive capped by a 1-yard run by Solomon Vanhorse with 3:45 to play to close within 21-16 after a two-point try failed. The Eagles attempted an unsuccessful onsides kick and the Broncos scored with just under two minutes on the clock on a well-executed screen pass from midfield.

Milton took only a minute to go 79 yards in five plays, with Dash Hairston catching a 60-yard pass from Yates before the pair teamed up for a 6-yard touchdown. The Eagles again tried an onside kick but Brookwood recovered to close out its victory.

The two teams finished with near identical statistics. Milton (9-3) had 398 yards of offense, with Yates
14 of 25 for 229 yards and TDs and adding 94 yards rushing on 15 attempts. Vanhorse carried 20 times
for 77 yards, with Hairston catching six passes for 97 yards. Brookwood (10-2) finished with 392 yards, 202 yards on the ground.

Yates finished the season with 2900 yards total offense, passing for just over 2000 yards and 19 touchdowns and rushing for almost 900 yards and nine TDs. Vanhorse had 1214 yards rushing and 219 receiving and scored 13 touchdowns.

Vanhorse is one of 15 senior starters who will graduate along with Dash Hairston and four of the five offensive linemen (Austin Paden, Blake Watson, Devonte Jordan and Nate Thompson). Defensive leaders George Coyle, Price Townes and Justin Blanks are seniors, along with linemen Juan Uribe and London Best, and Brendan McNellie, Will Kersey and Lucas Moore in the secondary, along with two-way player D.J. Albright.

Yates returns on offense along with receivers Waters and Holden Shaw and lineman Paul Tchio, who started as a sophomore. Among the front line defenderswho will be back next season are linebackers Jordan Davis and Adam Walker, and the secondary trio of Joe Charleston, Will Kersey and sophomore Jack Rhodes. Charleston is expected to be one of the area’s top college prospects.

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