Ethan Abplanalp

The much anticipated rematch of the 2015 District 8 AAA soccer title game between Columbia and Coffee County did not disappoint on Thursday night as Coffee County got a 1 nil win in extra time in Manchester. Ethan Abplanalp scored on a great pass from Paco Barrera in the 99th minute to notch the lone goal of the contest. The goal, which came 19 minutes into the extra period came 1 minute before the 2 teams would have gone to penalty kicks to decide a winner. Coach Robert Harper praised the sophomore saying: “(That was a) great spot for his first career varsity goal.” The goal was the first for Coffee County against senior goalkeeper Luke Wilson who has signed to play college soccer at Lipscomb. “Five and a half hours of soccer in the last 3 years against the best keeper these guys are ever gonna see before we finally scored on him” laughed Harper following the game. The win moves Coffee County into first place in the district with a record of 2 and 0 with a pair of critical district contests coming up in the next 2 weeks with Tullahoma and Shelbyville.

Karson Young (Photo by John StClair – JohnStClairPhoto.com)

Building a huge lead in the field events, and dominating the scoring in the hurdle races, the Lady Raider track team won the King of the Mountain Track Meet on Tuesday held in Crossville.  The Lady Raiders outdistanced the host Panthers of Stone Memorial 151 to 128 as they finished in first place out of 9 teams.  The highlight of the meet was the 1-2-3 finish in the high jump by Karson Young, Sarah Pearson and Diana Davis respectively.  Young and Pearson also went 1-2 in the long jump.  The Red Raiders got a 3^rd place finish in the shot put from Reece Pratt along with 5^th place finishes in the 4x200M and the 4x800M relay teams.   The Raider track teams will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Tullahoma for the District 8AAA Meet.  The field events will get underway at 2 PM.   Coffee County results are:

Griffin Meeker

The Coffee County Middle School baseball team won for the 4th time in their last 5 games on Thursday night as they dropped White County 8 to 5 in Sparta. The game was a makeup from March 1st and the win gives the Raiders a season sweep over the Warriors. Griffin Meeker was 2 for 4 at the plate with 2RBI to lead Coffee County in hitting. Brandon Jernigan and Jalen Morris also had 2 hits and Blanton Brown and Hayden Skipper each finished with 2 RBI. The JV Raiders also posted a win as they dropped the White County JV 8 to 1. The Red Raiders are back in action on Monday when they play host to Tullahoma at the CCMS field. First pitch is set for 5 PM. That game will also be 8th grade night as the class of 8th graders will be announced before the game.

Sarah West

The Coffee County Middle School softball team sent 11 batters to the plate in the 2nd inning on their way to a 6 to 2 win over Lincoln County on Thursday night. Trailing 1 to 0 entering the 2nd, the Lady Raiders used 2 walks, 2 errors and 3 hits to plate all 6 of the runs they would need in the win. Sixth grade pitch Hannah Richardson got the win as she scattered 7 hits and walked only 2. Sarah West had a 2 RBI double for the Lady Raiders while Amanda Mukai was 1 for 1 with an RBI single. Coffee County travels to Greenbrier on Saturday for a 1 day tournament on Saturday. The Lady Raiders have games at 9 AM, Noon and 3 PM. The Lady Raiders open play at 9 with a game against Moore County. The Lady Raiders return home on Monday for a 5 PM game with Tullahoma.

2016 Westwood 8th Graders and coaches Front row(Left to Right) : Zach Milan, Coach Guillermo Milan, Nick Smith. Back Row(Left to Right) : Head Coach Josh Morris, Jacob Garms, Dylan Koon, Austin Burch, Winston Alford and Coach Dustin Hereford

A strong Liberty Patriots baseball team spoiled 8th grade night for the Westwood baseball team as they downed the hard luck Rockets 7 to 5 on Thursday night. The Patriots scored 6 runs in the first 2 innings to build a 4 run lead before holding off a late charge from the Rockets to get the win. Austin Burch, Skylar Bratcher and Jacob Garms all had a pair of hits for Westwod. The Rockets have a make-up game with Community then move  into the postseason tournament. The date, time and location of their next opponent will be announced next week.

Wyatt Day

The Coffee County Central High School baseball team saw their modest 2 game winning streak come to an end on Thursday night as they dropped a 6 to 3 decision to Marshall County in Lewisburg. Marshall County got the leadoff runner on base in each of the 1st 5 innings to build a 6 to 1 lead over the Raiders. Coffee County was held to 6 hits as they struck out 10 times. Wyatt Day was 2 for 4 at the plate for Coffee County. Cade Giles had a triple, asn RBI and a run scored. The Raiders return to the diamond on Saturday morning at 10 AM when they will take on White County at Powers Field as part of the Rebel Classic. The Raiders will follow that up with a 2:30 PM game against McMinn County.

Jared Hu

The Coffee County Central High School tennis teams split a pair of matches with Warren County on Thursday afternoon in McMinnville. The Red Raiders swept the singles matches on their way to a 6 to 1 win over the Pioneers in boys match play. Trevor Ivy-Bodman, Jared Hu, Shlip Patel, Joel Lawrence, Grey Riddle and Will Davis all took singles wins, In doubles play, Riddle and Hu teamed up for a win to raise the boys record to 3 and 4 on the season. The Lady Raiders could only manage a pair of singles wins as they dropped a 5 to 2 team decision to the Lady Pioneers. Maddie Taylor and Natalie Elzeer captured singles wins for Coffee County. Coffee County returns to district play on Friday when they travel to Lawrenceburg to take on Lawrence County in a match that gets underway at 4 PM.