Coach Robby Pruitt is entering his eighth season as the head football coach at Coffee High School in Douglas, and his 37th season overall. He has the Trojans off to a great start in this 2019 season, despite the fact that only nine starters returned from last year’s team that made it to the third round of the GHSA Class 6A playoffs.

Pruitt’s young team is 4-0, on the season with wins over Brunswick, Salem, Ware County and Taravella, Fla. The Trojans have scored 179 points while allowing just 36 points on defense.

“We lost several really good players from last year’s team and this year we have become a team by committee,” said Pruitt, whose overall mark as a head coach is 186-53-1.

“We do have some outstanding players returning this year,” Pruitt said. “We have some tough kids, but everybody in our region does too.” The Trojans compete in Region 1, considered by many as the toughest league in Class 6A.

There are several top players on the team this season.

Antonio Dawson is a 5-foot-4, 130-pound senior running back, who Pruitt calls, “One of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached.” 

There is some size on the defensive side of the ball. Josiah Killebrew, a 5-11, 270-pound senior defensive tackle anchors the line of scrimmage, while Latorie Wynn, a 6-4, 190-pound senior linebacker is considered by Pruitt, “as a really good football player.”

Running back Maurice Turner, a 5-9, 170-pound sophomore has been outstanding in Coffee’s first four wins.

Sophomore Maurice Turner has been a productive back this season. (Photo - Coffee Facebook page)

In answer to playing in Region 1, Pruitt said, “Our region is brutal. We all have to fight like crazy just to make the playoffs. Hopefully you can get first or second in the region, so you’ll at least have a couple of home games. Last year we were on the road for three straight weeks before being eliminated by Lanier.” 

Coffee plays host to Miller Grove this week, and after an open date they then meet Godby High of Tallahassee before heading into their region schedule. They meet the Northside-Warner Robins Eagles at home on Oct. 11, and follow that game with another home field battle with the current No. 1 team in Class 6A, the Valdosta Wildcats on Oct. 18. 

The next week it’s on the road to unbeaten Houston County then another open date gives the Trojans a break before traveling to play defending state champion Lee County in their regular season finale. 

The Trojans are 60-28, since Pruitt arrived in 2012, and the future looks bright, but he attributes much of the recent success to a state-of-the-art weight room. 

“We have a weight room that rivals any in the state and our kids work hard in there. We also have a great nutrition program for our players,” Pruitt said.

The last five weeks of this year’s schedule is going to be tough according to Pruitt. “Godby, Valdosta, Northside-Warner Robins, Houston County and Lee County all in a row is a brutal schedule,” he said. “it’s going to be … fight like crazy just to make the playoffs.”

The Trojans have been there and done that before. The 2019 season should be no different.