The Coffee County Red Raider football team ended their season on Friday traveling to take on Riverdale.  Despite a strong defensive performance in the 2^nd half, the Red Raiders were held scoreless on the night.  Riverdale blanked the Red Raiders 31 to 0. 

Riverdale raced out to a 24 to 0 halftime lead including a 38 yard field goal on the last play of the 1^st half.  Riverdale took the 2^nd half kickoff and drove 60 yards on 12 plays to score a touchdown with 6 minutes left in the 3^rd quarter.  After that drive, the Red Raiders held the Warriors to 67 yards the rest of the game.  Coffee County got inside the Riverdale 30 yard line in both of their 2^nd half drives but could not get on the scoreboard. 

Connor Shemwell threw the ball 13 times as he completed 6 passes for 75 yards.  C.J. Anthony was the leading receiver as he had 4 catches for 57 yards.  Matthew Pittman was the leading rusher as he finished with 32 yards on 14 carries.  For his performance, Shemwell was named the Mid Tenn Turf most valuable player of the game. 

Download the broadcast at: www.thunder1320.com/downloads

The Coffee County Middle School basketball teams traveled to Winchester on Friday to tangle with conference rival North Franklin.  The Lady Raiders raced to a 47 to 14 win.  The Red Raiders won an 18 to 9 slugfest.

The Lady Raiders held North scoreless in the 1^st quarter as they built a 20 point halftime lead.   Coffee County held the Lady Gators to a pair of field goals in the game as they improved to 2 and 0 on the season.  The Lady Raiders were led in scoring by Taylor Anthony who had 15 points, 10 of those coming in the 1^st half.  Olivia Vinson added 12 points while Addi Sartain and Bella Lawson each netted 6 points.

The Red Raiders held North to 1 field goal in the boys game and 2 points in the 2^nd half as they ground out the win in a defensive struggle.  Ethan Hargrove led the Raiders in scoring as he finished with 9 points.  Evan Kirby finished with 4 points.  Brendan Sheppard and Cooper Reed each added a pair of free throws. 

Coffee County will be back home on Monday as they host South Franklin.  The girls’ game tips off at 6 PM. 

Story by MYFL President Lawrence Phillips

The SMTYFA teams of MYFL traveled to Franklin County on Saturday to compete for spots in the SMTYFA championship games.
The Division 1 (5-6-7 year olds) and the Division 3 (10-11-12 year olds) went into the contests as the #1 seeds and the Division 2 team (8-9 year olds) went in as the #2 seed.

Division 1
Manchester Red Raiders vs Fayetteville City Tigers.
Avery Hodges and Kayleb Morris had two touchdowns each. Karson Wimley had a touchdown and an extra point. Macc Chappin also added an extra point. Braxson Wilder, Lawson Maychrzak, Lahne Meeks and Andrew Boles all had fumble recoveries.

Manchester 32 Fayetteville 0

The #1 seed Red Raiders who now boast a (9-0) record and still have not given a up a point will face the #2 seed Franklin County Rebels (8-1) in the SMTYFA Super Bowl on November 16th.

Division 2
Manchester Red Raiders vs Giles County Red Hawks.
Levi Scott ran for four touchdowns and Treyvion Mathis added an extra point conversion. The defense of the Raiders played “lights out” and did not allow the Red Hawks to score.

Manchester 25 Giles County 0

The # 2 seed Red Raiders (8-1)will now face the #1 seed Shelbyville Golden Eagles (9-0) in the SMTYFA Super Bowl on November 16th.

Division 3
Manchester Red Raiders vs Liberty Patriots
The story of the day and the performance of the year was put on by the Red Raider’s Caiden Martin. Martin ran for two touchdowns, had two “pick six” touchdowns, two “scoop and score” touchdowns and added an extra point conversion. Landen Abellana ran for a score and Kaysen Lowery threw a two point conversion pass to Tyler Martin and Jase Cashion added an extra point and held the Patriots to 13 points.

Manchester 46 Liberty 13

The #1 seed Red Raiders (9-0) will meet the #2 seed Shelbyville Golden Eagles (8-1) in the SMTYFA Super Bowl on November 16th.

The SMTYFA Super Bowl will be held on November the 16th with the Division 1 game starting at 12:00pm followed by Division 2 at 2:00pm and Division 3 at 4:00pm.

Location:
Bobby-Ray Elementary
504 N Chancery St
McMinnville, TN 37110
“GO BIG RED”

The Coffee County Youth Bass Club headed to Percy Priest Lake on Saturday for a region tournament.  147 high school division and 35 junior division teams blasted off from Fate Sanders boat ramp under cold and foggy conditions.  The Raider squad grabbed 3^rd place finishes in both division under incredibly harsh conditions.

In the junior division, the team of Kylan Mantooth and Jonathan Lewis was one of 5 boats to catch a fish.  Their 2.13 pound fish was just 0.98 pounds out of 1^st place.  Saturday’s performance lifted the team to 8^th place in the season standings after 4 tournaments. 

In the high school division, the team of Adam Petty and Jayden Yates landed 3 fish, with one tipping the scale and 3.64 pounds.  That was good enough to lift them to a 3^rd place with a total weight of 8.72 pounds.  Kaden Freeze and Briley Sain grabbed on fish that weighed in at 1.95 pounds to finish in 27^th place.  The brother team of Branson and Dawson Wells finished in 31^st place with a fish weighing 1.52 pounds.  The teams of Logan Floyd/Brent Boeham, Curtis Tudor/Ethan Bell, Jacob Garms/Jase Rice, Tristan Boyd/Reagan Hershman and Colby Thurmond/Paul Zuzich were all shut out in the cold weather. 

After 4 high school division tournaments, the team of Freeze/Sain are in 7^th place in the region out of 233 teams.  The Wells brothers are in 10^th place, Garms/Rice are in 12^th place and Petty/Yates moved up to 23^rd place as the Raiders have 4 boats in the top 25. 

Next up for the Raider anglers is a state trail event on Chickamauga Lake on November 16^th.  That tournament will blast off from the Dayton Boat Ramp and will be the final event of the calendar year.  The Raiders return to region action on February 15^th on Normandy Lake. 

The prep swim season got underway on Friday night as the 3 local squads hosted Tullahoma and Grace Tutorial Homeschool. In team scores, the Coffee County Middle School swept their 2 matchups. The Westwood Middle School girls’ squad led the way as they captured 1 win and 1 loss in their 2 matches. The Coffee County CHS girls’ team won both of their matches, but an injury-plagued boys’ squad dropped both of their matchups.

The Coffee County Middle squad was led in individual competition by:
Brayden Kesling – 3rd place, 200 IM; 3rd place, 100 backstroke;
Christian Bourn – 4th place, 100 butterfly; 4th place, 100 breaststroke;
Emily Snider – 4th place, 100 butterfly; 5th Place, 200 freestyle;
Katelyn Hale – 4th place, 100 freestyle;
Riley Bellomy – 4th place, 100 freestyle;
Cadence Haywood – 5th place, 100 backstroke;

In team relay competition, the Coffee Middle team was led by the girls’ 200 freestyle team of Natalie Warner, Patience Driggers, Katelynn Hale and Emily Snider who captured 4th place.

The Westwood Middle squad was led in individual competition by:
Abby Gilday – 2nd place, 500 freestyle; 4th place, 100 breaststroke;
Elsie Lazalier – 2nd place, 100 breaststroke; 3rd place, 500 freestyle;
Jack Stowe – 3rd place, 100 butterfly; 5th place, 100 breaststroke;

In team relay competition, the Westwood were led by the girls’ 200 freestyle team of Ansley Beachboard, Elsie Lazalier, Cale Hays & Abby Gilday came in 2nd place.

The Coffee County CHS squad was led in individual competition by:
Kaylee Williams – 1st place, 200 IM; 1st place, 500 freestyle;
Emily Williams – 2nd place, 200 freestyle; 3rd place, 100 butterfly;
Taylor Wall – 2nd place, 100 freestyle; 4th place, 100 backstroke;
Kennedy Norman-Young – 2nd place, 50 freestyle;
Elli Masters – 3rd place, 100 backstroke; 5th place, 50 freestyle;
Gavin Benson – 5th place, 50 freestyle; 5th place, 100 freestyle;

In team relay competition, the Coffee Central team was led by a pair of medley race wins. The girls’ 200 medley team of Taylor Wall, Kaylee Williams, Emily Williams and Kennedy Norman-Young who won the 200 medley. The 400 freestyle team of Elli Masters, Kennedy Norman-Young, Emily Williams and Kaylee Williams won the 400 freestyle medley race.

The swim teams will travel to Tullahoma for their next meet on Thursday, November 14th. That meet will be held at the D.W. Wilson Center.

The Coffee County Middle School 6^th grade basketball teams ended their season on Saturday in a tournament at West Tullahoma.  The girls were 2 and 0 on the day while the guys were 1 and 1. 

The girls got wins over West Tullahoma by a score of 40 to 6 and over Warren County 33 to 10.  The girls finished the season with a record of 7 and 2. 

The boys won their first game against Warren County 29 to 17.  Coffee County lost their final game by 12 points.  Alex Kilgore led the Raiders in scoring in both games. 

The Coffee County Elementary Basketball League was in action on Saturday at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  All 16 teams were in action in 4 girls’ and 4 boys’ games. 

In girls’ games, New Union caged Hillsboro 29 to 10; North Coffee charged past Deerfield 25 to 10; Westwood bounced East Coffee 31 to 19 and College Street grounded Hickerson 12 to 5.  

In boys’ games, New Union bested Hillsboro 21 to 10; North Coffee doubled up Deerfield 28 to 14; Westwood blanked East Coffee 26 to 0 and College Street clawed Hickerson 39 to 2. 

Saturday’s Prep Schedule

Updated League Standings

Juuse Saros made 28 saves, but the Predators only tallied once in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers at Bridgestone Arena. It’s Nashville’s only regulation defeat in their past seven tries with the first month of the season now in the rearview.

Nashville had their chances, especially as the game went along, but a couple of hit posts in the second period and 32 stops by Rangers netminder Alexandar Georgiev helped lead to the final result.

“We were chasing the game,” Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “I actually thought we were at our best parts of the game defensively and fell down 2-0. Kind of unfortunate the way that happened, and then from there you’re pressing… We missed some opportunities, missed some shots, hit the post a few times and just couldn’t seem to get it to fall tonight. That’s what happens when you’re coming from behind, but like I said, I thought we were fairly tight when we were behind and we were pressing offensively. That’s the way the game went today and the game we had to play.”

“It was a tight game,” Saros said. “Good battle. They scored first, and it would be easier for us to play in the lead, it was a tight one-goal game which could go either way.”

The Rangers had a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, courtesy of a goal from Filip Chytil, and they took a 2-0 lead early in the second when Ryan Strome beat Saros top shelf.

But before the middle frame was out, the Predators cashed in on the man advantage. Filip Forsberg fed Viktor Arvidsson a pass in the slot and the winger directed a shot past Georgiev and into the cage to give Nashville life after two periods.

Saros kept his club in the game throughout the afternoon, and Nashville went on the power play three times in the third period, but they were unable to convert before the final horn.

“We’ve got to be better from the start,” Arvidsson said. “We got going in the second and started to play better – we made a push at the end – but I think our power play needs to step up and get one more or two. We had chances and [Saros] played great, but we’ve got to bring it now.”

It was arguably the best game of the season for Saros, who made a number of key stops on defensive lapses from the Preds.

“He stood on his head there,” Arvidsson said of Saros. “In the third [the Rangers had some chances], had some breakaways, in the second too. He played great, and we’ve got to win this one for him.”

A familiar trio was reunited on the day as well when Filip Forsberg was moved to a line with Arvidsson and Ryan Johansen.

“We moved it around a little bit and it seemed to catch some fire with regard to [Johansen and Arvidsson and Forsberg],” Laviolette said. “They got going, and they started moving things pretty well in the offensive zone. They created a lot of chances and a lot of shots. I thought they were pretty good once they got together.”

With a home-heavy October schedule complete and another three-game homestand finished, the Predators now must head on the road for a four-game trip that will take them across the continent over the course of 10 days – and there will be plenty of challenges along the way.

“We’ve got to tighten up defensively, play better,” Arvidsson said. “But we have a good record, we have a pretty good homestand. We have to go on the road here and get after it.”

Notes:

Saturday marked career game No. 1,100 for Preds defenseman Dan Hamhuis, just the seventh active player and third blueliner to reach the milestone.

Prior to Saturday’s game, the Predators revealed the jersey they’ll wear at the 2020 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day in Dallas. Click here for more information and to see the fresh attire.

With the homestand now complete, the Preds will head on the road for a four-game trip, beginning Monday night in Detroit against the Red Wings. Nashville will then make stops in Colorado, San Jose and Vancouver before returning to Tennessee in mid-November.

Story by Jim Wyant – TitansOnline.com

In a town known for car racing, the Titans were slow at the start.

By the time they got revved up, it was too late.

A game filled with backfires and a sputtering engine ended with a flat – and a 30-20 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

“It hurts, especially how it went down,” Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. “We didn’t execute, we didn’t play well in the first half and we kept shooting ourselves in the foot, and when you do that it is tough to swallow.

“When you come out and play clean football and you get beat, losing is always tough. But whenever you shoot yourselves in the foot, it hurts a lot worse.”

It wasn’t the start to the second half of the season anyone had in mind, as the Titans dropped to 4-5.

It killed the mood, and a two-game winning streak.

With seven games remaining, the Titans find themselves in catch-up mode in the AFC South, and in the race for a playoff spot. The Texans (6-3) now lead the division, with the Colts (5-3) right behind them.

Sunday’s performance was yet another reminder the team needs to improve if things are going to be interesting in December.

“We need to find a way to get on a run, we need to find a way to play well for four quarters in all three phases of the game, and we haven’t done that yet,” safety Kevin Byard said. “We have to figure out how to get this thing turned around. We have to play better.”

Tannehill completed 27-of-39 passes for 331 yards and a touchdown, and he also ran for a score. But he was sacked four times and intercepted twice on a day with the Titans made things tough on themselves with mistakes.

The Titans committed 11 penalties for 99 yards in the game, which killed momentum and field position. There were dropped passes, and missed field goals. The team also got burned on a fake punt.

Running back Derrick Henry ran for 63 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, but he was quiet – and not utilized much – in the first half.

Trailing 17-0 at the half, the Titans scored on an eight-yard run by Henry on their first possession of the second half to cut the lead to 17-7. Henry carried the ball seven times on the drive after getting just two carries in the first half.

After the Panthers answered back with a one-yard run by Christian McCaffrey to make it 24-7, the Titans responded again, this time with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Tannehill to Henry, which made it 24-14 early in the fourth quarter.

But it was too little, too late, as the Panthers took control of the game again on a 58-yard run by McCaffrey to make it 30-14.

A 10-yard touchdown run by Tannehill with 2:49 left made it 30-20, but kicker Ryan Succop missed his third field goal of the game in the closing minute, which killed any chances of a miracle rally.

“I had a good week of practice, and felt like things were really progressing nicely,” said Succop, who was added to the roster on Saturday. “I obviously just didn’t get it done today and that’s tough – that’s on me.”

The first quarter ended with a scoreless tie, but not without some Titans mistakes.

It was a sign of things to come.

Succop was wide left on a 43-yard field goal on the team’s first possession, and the Titans were flagged for three penalties on the offensive line (two on left tackle Taylor Lewan, one on right guard Nate Davis) to derail the team’s second possession. A fumble by running back Dion Lewis ended the team’s third possession in the second quarter, and the Titans would begin falling into a hole.

“Negative plays can’t happen,” Lewan said. “I take full responsibility. We have to be better, and I have to be better. … Our defense played their (butts) off for us, and as an offense we have to figure out a way to get started faster. I know it is redundant, and I know it is annoying to hear. If I was a fan I’d be frustrated, too. As a player I am frustrated and I need to find out a way to be better.”

Titans outside linebacker Harold Landry intercepted Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen to end one Carolina possession, but the Panthers took a 3-0 lead in the second quarter on a 35-yard field goal by kicker Joey Slye.

The Panthers extended their lead to 10-0 on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Allen to McCaffrey on a fourth-and-two play. The score was set up by an interception thrown by Tannehill that went off the hands of Titans receiver A.J. Brown.

The Panthers stretched their lead to 17-0 at the half on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Allen to Curtis Samuel, with cornerback Malcolm Butler defending on the play. Butler was injured when he landed and did not return.

Succop was short on a 56-yard field goal at the end of the first half, and the Titans trailed 17-0.

While the Titans showed more signs of life in the second half of Sunday’s game, it didn’t change the end result.

McCaffrey ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns, while Allen threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns for the Panthers.

The Titans face the Chiefs next Sunday at Nissan Stadium

“Every game is critical, and that’s why we’re going to get back to work and understand that we put ourselves in position to play meaningful games in November,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. “Unfortunately today we didn’t take the step that we needed to. But there’s a lot of good things that showed up there in the second half that we have to try and build on.”