Competing for their 1^st ever middle school conference title, the Coffee County Middle School football team traveled to Tullahoma on Saturday for a rematch with the Wildcats of Tullahoma Middle.  The Red Raiders carried a lead into the final 4 minutes before Tullahoma scored twice to capture the win.  In a game you heard here on Thunder Radio, Coffee County fell 26 to 13.

Each team turned the ball over in the first 12 minutes as the 2 defenses fought off explosive plays from the offenses.  Tullahoma got on the board first as they scored with 2:03 left in the half on a 10 yard touchdown pass to lead 6 to 0.  But the Raiders answered back on a 50 yard touchdown run from Cole Pippenger to tie the game at 6 going into the half.  In the second half, Pippenger returned the opening kick 68 yards for a touchdown.  Ethan Hargrove hit the extra point kick to give the Raiders a 13 to 6 lead that they would carry into the 4^th quarter.  Tullahoma rallied for a touchdown with 3:50 to go and added an insurance score with 1:29 to play to ice the win.  As Coffee County has done all year, the Raiders fought hard to the final whistle as they drove down to the 1 yard line before running out of time.

Pippenger led the team in rushing as he 100 yards on 13 carries.  Jackson Shemwell was 4 of 6 passing for 30 yards.   After the game, 4 members of the Red Raiders were named to the CTC All-Conference team.  Cole Pippenger, Jackson Shemwell, Blayne Myers and Jacob Barlow were voted to the squad by the conference coaches.

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

Sophie McInturff of the Coffee County Middle School cross country team competed on Saturday in the Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association state cross country meet in Clarksville.   McInturff, a 7^th grader at CCMS, was competing in her 1^st state meet.   Sophie covered the 2 mile course in a time of 13:17.37.  That time was good enough to capture 14^th place out of 116 runners.

The Coffee County Youth Bass Club hit the water on Saturday in a Central Tennessee Region tournament at Tims Ford.  Eight boats from the Raider Anglers competed in the high school division.  Competing against a field of 67 boats, all 8 of the Raider boats came home with keepers.

The brother tandem of Branson and Dawson Wells were the top finishers for Coffee County as they landed 3 fish weighing in at 5.74 pounds.  Logan Floyd and Brent Boehman came in 29^th place as they landed a 4.58 pound bass.  Kaden Freeze and Briley Said came in 42^nd place with a one fish total of 2.97 pounds.  Adam Petty and Jayden Yates came home in 43^rd place with a 2.93 pound fish.  Other Raiders boats that also landed a keeper were: Sawyer Banks and Trey Brewer(53^rd place – 2.44 pound fish); Jacob Garms & Jase Rice(56^th – 2.16); Curtis Tudor & Ethan Bell(60^th – 1.96) and Tristen Boyd Reagan Hershman(62^nd – 1.87).

After 2 tournaments, 3 Coffee County Youth Anglers are in the Top 25 of the region standings.  Garms and Rice currently sit in 17^th place.  Freeze and Sain are in 19^th place and the Wells brothers are in 25^th place.

The Raider anglers will be back in action on October 19^th when they compete in a state trail event on Kentucky Lake.  The next region tournament is set for October 26^th on Center Hill Lake.  Both events get underway at first light.

Story compiled by MYFL President Lawrence Phillips.

MYFL continued their season on Saturday with all six teams in action.

The teams competing in TCYFL (TRI COUNTY YOUTH FOOTBALL LEAGUE)
Made a long road trip on Saturday to Celina, TN to take on the Clay County Bulldogs.

Flag Division (5-6-7 year olds).
Kyson Norris had touchdowns of 40 and 17 yards. Tripp Trussler had a 23 yard score.  Walker Lovelace and Caden Strickland each had two extra point runs.
The defense played well enough to garner the victory. Now 2-2 on the season.  Final Score: Manchester 20 Clay County 13.

Junior Division (8-9 year olds)
Story by Ashley Delaney Whitman.
The Red Raiders assured themselves a place in the TCYFL Playoffs after a near flawless victory against Clay County on Saturday.  The Red Raider offense piled up yardage the entire game.  AJ Whitman lead all scorers with 3 touchdowns and an extra point. Huck Damon also had two touchdowns and an extra point.
Ty Stevens and August Lynch contributed with an extra point each.
The Raiders potent defense was also dominant as they held the Bulldogs scoreless and did not allow a first down the entire game. Lynch, Whitman, Tanner Daugherty, Audie Nicoll, Kelden Jolly, Myles McIntosh and Jordan Henley’s names were called through the stadium speakers repeatedly as the Raiders shut down the Bulldogs and any hope of them making it to the end zone. The Raiders move to
3-1 with 2 games left.  Final Score:  Manchester 36 Clay County 0

Senior Division (10-12 year olds)
The Raiders were held scoreless by a much bigger and faster team and were no match for the Bulldogs offense. Head Coach Gary Melton quoted  “The kids played hard and never quit. They had a really good running back that we hit but he kept getting away and we couldn’t catch him.”  The Raiders fall to 1-3.  Final Score: Manchester 0 Clay Co 30

The SMTYFA teams of MYFL played host to the Giles County Red Hawks at Carden-Jarrell field.

Division 1 (5-6-7 year olds)
The game was a forfeit to begin with as Giles County arrived with only 8 players and the referees would not officiate the game. The decision was made to continue without officials. (Special thanks to Jon Helms for stepping in to be
be a replacement referee).
Avery Hodges started the game with a touchdown and Kayleb Morris added the extra point. Morris threw to Karson Wimley for a 65 yard touchdown and Trenton Gadeken punched in the extra point. Christopher Meeks recovered a fumble and Griffin Woods ran for a 35 yard score but no attempt was made at the extra point as the Red Hawks, having taken too much punishment from the Red Raiders
high powered offense and dominate defense stopped the game giving the Raiders the win.The Raiders now have a 6-0 record as they remain unbeaten and have still not allowed any of their opponents to score.  Final Score:  Manchester 20 Giles Co 0

Division 2 (8-9 year olds)
The Raiders offense was outstanding as Levi Scott was sprung by huge lead blocks from Treyvion Mathis and outstanding line play. Scott ran for 5 touchdowns and an extra point conversion. He also had 2 interceptions. Mathis rushed for 100 yards, scored an extra point, had several sacks, forced 3 fumbles and recovered 1 one of those.  Kaden Strohm was instrumental as he dominated the ”A” gaps the entire game preventing the Red Hawks from gaining yardage up the middle. Xavier Foy, Easton Hinson and Riley McBroom all had a great defensive game. The Raiders, now 5-1 cruised to the win.  Final score: Manchester 32 Giles Co 6

Division 3 (10-12 year olds)
The Raiders once again showed the opposition no mercy in a game which ended before the kickoff to start the second half when the head official stopped the contest due to lightning. Caiden Martin started the game with a touchdown but the extra point attempt failed.  Kamerom Stafford caused a fumble followed by the “scoop and score”. Martin added the extra point.  Martin scored again with Landen Abellana adding the extra point. Martin scored yet again with Gabriel Hambly running in for the extra point. Matthew White contributed with a touchdown run and Kaysen Lowery threw for the 2 point pass play to a wide open Tyler Martin. To end the first half and ultimately the game. The Raiders maintain their stranglehold on the Division with another big win and now sit in 1st place at 6-0 with only 21 points having been allowed all season. Final Score: Manchester 35 Giles County 0

Next Saturday, October 12th all six teams will be back in action as the TCYFL teams of MYFL play host to the Cannon County Lions at 10:00 am at Carden-Jarrell field.  Take a break from Exit 111 and come check out some great football action.

The SMTYFA teams will be on the road in Lewisburg, TN against the Marshall Co Elite. Game time is also 10:00 am for the first game.

by Jim Wyatt, TitansOnline.com

The Titans let one get away on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.

And they have no one to blame but themselves.

“It’s super frustrating,” Titans defensive lineman Jurrell Casey said after the team’s 14-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills. “We tried to put together a game on both sides of the ball, and we just couldn’t get it together. We couldn’t make enough plays.”

Members of the offense put the loss on them. No one was arguing with that conclusion, although kicker Cairo Santos also spent post-game beating himself up as well.

The Titans scored just one touchdown on Sunday and squandered too many chances. Four missed field goals by Santos didn’t help the cause, but pass protection was also shaky once again and too many drives stalled in the red zone.

The Titans also racked up eight penalties for 60 yards, including several that came at inopportune times.

“We feel like we shot ourselves in the foot over and over again like we did in other losses,” tackle Jack Conklin said. “And we have to get that fixed. We knew they were a physical defense and give them credit – it looks like they were more physical than us today. We have to be better.

“The defense played great – we let them down.”

In a defensive slugfest, the Titans simply didn’t land enough punches.

And they eventually got knocked out.

Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota completed 13-of-22 passes for 183 yards against the Bills, but he was sacked five times.

Running back Derrick Henry ran for 78 yards on 20 carries, including a one-yard touchdown run.

But it wasn’t enough as the Bills left Nissan Stadium with a win. With the loss, the Titans fell to 2-3.

“When it comes down to it, out defense is playing outstanding,” Mariota said. “And we just have to play better complementary football.”

It was part of a frustrating day for the Titans, and the team’s fans.

“When you lose a game in this league it is always frustrating,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “I think there were a lot of missed opportunities and self-inflicted wounds. … We didn’t do enough. We didn’t play well enough, we didn’t coach well enough.”

Trailing in the third quarter, the Titans tied the game 7-7 on a one-yard touchdown run by Henry, which capped off a seven-play, 38-yard drive.

The drive was set up by an interception by safety Kevin Byard.

But the Bills reclaimed the lead 14-7 with 9:46 left on a 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Josh Allen to Duke Williams. It came after the Titans had two touchdowns called back because of penalties — and following a fourth straight missed field goal from Santos.

It was a tough day for Santos, who misfired on a 50-yard field goal early, and then missed on kicks from 36 yards, 33 yards and 53 yards. The 33-yarder was tipped at the line of scrimmage and fell short.

“It was a very painful, disappointing day,” Santos said. “I don’t feel sorry for myself, I feel sorry for my teammates and coaches. I haven’t missed four kicks even in practice in years. So just sorry. … (My teammates) deserve for me to do my job better.”

Vrabel didn’t blame Santos, and neither did his teammates.

“This is a guy that’s made some kicks for us,” Vrabel said of Santos, who is now 4-of-9 on the season. “We’ll have to do a better job of making them, and coaching him, and executing them.”

The game was a defensive battle, which was expected.

The Bills took a 7-0 lead with 2:36 left in the first half on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Allen to tight end Lee Smith. Earlier, the Titans defense held the Bills on a 4th down try at the 30-yard line in the first quarter and the game remained 7-0 at the half.

With the game tied after three quarters, this was a game there for the taking.

But on this day, the Titans left it on the table.

The Titans travel to Denver to face the Broncos next Sunday.

“Leadership is critical right now,” Byard said. “At times like this, the culture of this team is going to be tested – I think we have a good culture here. There will be bad days, but bad times don’t last, tough people

Viktor Arvidsson scored on the power play and Matt Duchene dished out two more assists, but it wasn’t enough, as the Nashville Predators fell to the Detroit Red Wings by a 5-3 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena.

It’s Nashville’s first loss on the young season, and it came against a Detroit team skating in their first game of the 2019-20 campaign.

The Preds and Red Wings traded chances throughout the night, but a slow start from the home team saw them having to play catch-up, and they were never able to find a go-ahead goal.

“We could have been better in the first, and I think we lost the game there,” Preds defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “It was their first game, so they had some excitement and some jump to it, and we couldn’t really match it in the first. That can’t happen in our barn on a Saturday night.”

“Not good enough,” Preds winger Filip Forsberg said of his club’s performance. “The first period was bad, obviously down 2-0, but the second period was really good. We came back. Like you said, it was back and forth. That’s not the hockey we want to play. It’s definitely not the hockey we talk about playing. We gave up too many chances and they score on two. There’s some positives, but overall not good.”

The Predators found themselves down by two after the game’s first 20 minutes, but they took care of the issue in the second period, and it started with their first power-play goal of the season.

Ryan Johansen found Duchene on the goal line, and Nashville’s newest centerman dished a brilliant backhand feed to Arvidsson who deposited a shot past Jimmy Howard to give the Preds life. It was a bright spot on the night, and a moment the Preds hope to replicate with regularity on the man advantage.

“It was a really nice play,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “It’s been really good having [Duchene] down there with some different thoughts coming in from ideas on what we’re looking for. Having [Duchene] down on that goal line and the left-hand shot is a perfect example of how it comes around, it goes down on that goal line and you have the stick there that you want. He’s got the ability to make plays like that, so it was a really nice goal.”

Later in the frame, Filip Forsberg walked in from the left circle and snapped a shot short side to even the score through 40 minutes. Duchene also collected a secondary assist on Forsberg’s tally for his second helper of the night.

Dylan Larkin gave Detroit their third goal of the night four minutes into the final frame, but less than a minute later, Ekholm took a Kyle Turris rebound and slid it home to tie the score again. That was as close as Nashville got, however, and midway through the period, Luke Glendenning put the Red Wings up for good when he beat Juuse Saros on an odd-man break at 9:24 of the third. Tyler Bertuzzi finished it off with an empty-netter, his second tally of the evening.

“You shouldn’t be trading chances against a team like Detroit,” Forsberg said. “They have a lot of offensive speed. In the second period, they didn’t really get anything get anything because we played the way we wanted to. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that more.”

Nashville’s offensive lines continued to generate chances as they did in Thursday’s home opener, and all but three Predators skaters registered at least one shot on Saturday. However, the Preds gave up too much the other way, something that ultimately did them in in their second outing of the season.

“We fought back, the guys showed some courage with that, and we came back in the second and we played a lot better,” Ekholm said. “Going into the third we had a good feeling. I thought we played all right, but we can clean up a little bit defensively. We are getting the chances we want, but we can’t give up the point-blank chances that they’re getting. We could have played better tonight, but overall, I think they might have deserved this one.”

Notes:

Daniel Carr and Matt Irwin were scratched for the Preds on Saturday night.

Matt Duchene finished the night with two assists and has five in his first two games with the Preds.

Tonight’s attendance of 17,539 is the 155th consecutive sellout at Bridgestone Arena.

Nashville’s four-game homestand continues on Tuesday night when the San Jose Sharks come to town (at 7 p.m. CT). The Washington Capitals will visit Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

Friday Prep Schedule

All Day – TBCS Volleyball at Madison(AL) Baptist Tournament
7:00 PM – CHS Football HOSTS Rockvale – Thunder Radio broadcast

The Coffee County CHS golf team closed out the season on Thursday in the region tournament at Bear Trace.  A trio of Raider golfers qualified for the regional tournament hoping to qualify for the state tournament at Willowbrook later this month.  At the end of the day, the course and the hot weather ended up being the victor over the Raider golfers breaking a string of 7 straight years that Coffee County has been represented at the TSSAA state golf tournament.

Chris Robinson was the lone male golfer from Coffee County in the region tournament as he fired a 97.  Maggie Crouch fired a 116 and Cadie Prater shot a 127 representing the Lady Raiders.  Oakland won the team region team title for boys and Tullahoma claimed the girls region claim.

The Westwood Cross Country team closed out their season in Unionville on Tuesday.  Running in the Community School Invitational, the Rockets were looking to cap off a phenomenal season.  With several runners unavailable due to Fall Break, the Westwood runners did not compete for team titles.  That did not stop the Rocket runners from capturing 2 medals as individuals.

Nico Sanfilippo was the top finisher in the boys’ division as he posted a time of 10:23.  Aiden Smith was the 5^th place finisher as he posted a time of 10:40.  Joining that pair of medalists were Jaime Barrera who came home in 16^th place and Hunter Crosslin finished in 44^th place.

The Lady Rockets had 3 runners, but no medalists.  Kimberly Garcia was the top finisher for Westwood as she came home in 21^st place.  Melisa Garcia finished right behind her as she came home in 22^nd place.  Jennifer Sanchez closed out the Rocket runners as she broke the tape in 28^th place.