C.J. Anthony of CHS football

Opening region play on Friday night, the Coffee County Red Raider football team welcomed Blackman to Carden-Jarrell Field.   A young and hungry Red Raider squad was looking to match up against one of the preseason region favorites as each team was looking for their 1^st win of the year.  Blackman pushed the tempo from the opening drive and raced out to a 23 to 0 lead in the 1^st quarter to set the tone as they went on to win 65 to 0.

The bigger and faster Blaze from Blackman built a 44 to 0 halftime lead as they scored on the ground, through the air, on a safety and on a fumble recovery.  The physical game saw Coffee County lose starting quarterback Connor Shemwell to injury in the first half and starting outside linebacker Blanton Brown in the 2^nd half.  Additionally, a handful of Raiders missed portions of the game due to injuries suffered on the night.

Statistically, the margin between the teams in yardage was comparable to the scoring margin as Blackman outgained the Raiders 550 yards to – 8.  Marshall Haney led the Raiders in rushing with 16 yards on 10 carries.  C.J. Anthony caught one pass for 10 yards and added around 80 yards in kickoff returns on the night to be named the Mid Tenn Turf Most Valuable player for the Raiders.

Coffee County will enjoy a bye on Friday night as September 13^th serves as the open date on their schedule.  The JV and freshmen football teams will travel to Murfreesboro on Monday night to take on Rockvale.  The JV game is slated to kick-off at 5 PM with the freshman game to follow at 6:30 at Rockvale High School.

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

Mike Vrabel

The Titans quest to go from good to great got off to a nice start here on Sunday.

Underdogs in a hostile environment, the Titans took the fight to the Browns in a dominating performance – a 43-13 win.

It pleased Titans coach Mike Vrabel – at least for a day.

“Today, it was (great),” Vrabel said after the game. “But this is a long season. We don’t circle anybody on the schedule, we don’t red letter anybody on the schedule, they’re all tough. And we put everything that we could into this one and we’ll now move on and put everything that we have into Indy and go from there.”

There was a lot to like.

Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota completed 14-of-24 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns, good for a 133.3 passer rating.

Running back Derrick Henry ran 19 times for 84 yards, and he scored twice — once on a run, another on a catch.

The two combined for a monstrous play in the third quarter, as Mariota connected with Henry for a 75-yard touchdown pass after the Browns had cut the lead and reenergized the crowd. The play gave the Titans a 22-13 lead with 1:57 remaining in the third quarter.

“I knew going in that we had an opportunity with that play, and it just hit,” Mariota said. “I knew if I could get the ball to Derrick that it was going to have a chance. Guys did a great job of blocking downfield and you get that guy in space and he’s tough to tackle.”

It was also a big day for tight end Delanie Walker, who caught a pair of touchdowns a year after having his 2018 season cut short with a season-ending injury in Week 1 at Miami.

An 11-yard touchdown pass from Mariota to tight end Delanie Walker made it 29-13, and then Mariota found Walker again for a seven-yard touchdown toss to make it 36-13.

And the rout was on.

The Titans kept their composure through it all on a day when the Browns had 18 penalties for 182 yards, including several roughness and unsportsmanlike penalties. Walker got punched in the face, and safety Kenny Vaccaro got kicked in the side of the helmet, leading to a Browns ejection.

“We are not the team that retaliates,” Walker said. “We retaliate by making plays and finishing blocks and I guess they didn’t like that.”

The Titans also didn’t mind the fact the Browns got all the buzz leading up to the game, and season.

That’s OK, Walker said.

“They were who we thought they were,” Walker said of the Browns. “If you want to crown them, crown them. But they still have to play football.

“Hey, keep us under the radar. That’s where we like to be. Thank you.”

The Titans racked up five sacks and three interceptions in the game.

Cornerback Malcolm Butler added to the flurry of scoring with a pick-6 late in the fourth quarter, and FirstEnergy Stadium emptied. It followed interceptions by safety Kevin Byard and cornerback Logan Ryan.

“You can look good on paper,” Butler said of the Browns, “but it has to match up when you get on that grass. We stuck together and won as a team today.”

Veteran outside linebacker Cameron Wake was beastly in his Titans debut, racking up 2 ½ of sacks, including one that resulted in a safety. The sacks were No. 99 and 100 for Wake, who joined the Titans this offseason after playing his first 10 seasons with the Dolphins. He later added a half-sack.

“It was a crazy offseason, but I think I landed in the right place,” Wake said. “This organization has welcomed me with open arms and obviously I want to do my part along with the guys up front. And I think we did that today as a group. It was a lot of fun.”

Kicker Cairo Santos was pretty good in his Titans debut as well, making kicks of 37 and 53 yards.

The Browns took a 6-0 lead early on a four-yard touchdown run by running back Dontrell Hilliard, which capped an eight-play, 73-yard drive. But the Titans stiffened up on defense, shutting out the Browns the rest of the first half.

Titans defensive coordinator Dean Pees, who turned 70 during the week, kept his players on point the rest of the way.

“Dean told us to ignore the noise and play with poise,” Ryan said. “We just kept playing.”

The Titans got their first points on a 37-yard field goal from Santos.

The defense got to Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield the next series when Wake recorded his first sack of the contest.

In the second quarter, the Titans put together a beautiful drive that produced a touchdown, which gave them the lead. Henry ended the 11-play, 87-yard drive with a one-yard run, which put the Titans ahead 10-6. Mariota connected with Walker on the drive, and the Titans also took advantage of some penalties on the Browns to move ahead 10-6.

Then came another sack from Wake, who tackled Mayfield in the end zone to give the Titans a 12-6 lead. Wake’s sack was set up by a 70-yard punt by Brett Kern that was downed at the three-yard line.

Santos hit a 53-yarder to cap Tennessee’s opening drive of the second half, making it 15-6.

After the Browns cut the lead to 15-13 on a Mayfield touchdown pass to tight end David Njoku, it was all Titans.

Mariota’s 75-yard touchdown pass to Henry was the biggest play of the game, and it was set up by a crushing block from guard Rodger Saffold, springing Henry loose and into open space.

After an interception by safety Kevin Byard set up the touchdown pass to Walker, and the Titans were on their way. Cornerback Logan Ryan later added his first interception as a Titan before Butler’s pick-6 late.

The Titans face the Indianapolis Colts Sunday at Nissan Stadium.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of that game beginning at noon.

Story by Lawrence Phillips

SMTYFA Resumed 2019 action on the road at Tullahoma on Saturday September 7th.
Division 1 started the day with a touchdown by Avery Hodges and the 2 point conversion from Hodges to Hayes Shemwell.  This was followed up by a touchdown run from Kayleb Morris with the extra point added by Davion Dycus.
Shemwell and Karson Wimley added touchdowns to seal the victory as the Division 1 Red Raiders defeated the Division 1 Wildcats 27-0.

Division 2 was led by Levi Scott with two touchdowns and Trevion Mathis with one and Michael Palmer with the extra point following Mathis’s touchdown to hand Tullahoma Division 2 a 20-0 loss.

On the opening kickoff in Division 3 Gabriel Hambly of Manchester fielded the ball and ran for a 70 yard touchdown, followed by an extra point run by Caiden Martin.
On the next possession Manchester stopped Tullahoma on fourth down.
On the next play from scrimmage Caiden Martin sliced through the Tullahoma defense for a score, the extra point failed. On the ensuing kickoff the Red Raiders buried Tullahoma at the 8 yard line and forced a turnover which was followed up with s short yardage run by Landen Abellana. Hayden Lowery tossed the two point conversion to Tyler Martin and the MYFL Raiders took a 21-0 lead into halftime.
Manchester’s defense got even more stingy in the second half and scores were added with a pass from Kaysen Lowery to Jase Cashion.
Caiden Martin had a 4 yard touchdown run. Kaysen Lowery to Tyler Martin for a two point conversion and with six minutes remaining in the third quarter the Red Raiders went into victory mode with a continuous clock and a stifling defense and cruised to a 35-0 win over Tullahoma.

The SMTYFA Manchester Red Raiders will be at home at Carden -Jarrell field against Warren County Saturday September 14th with Division 1 starting at 2:00 pm.

The Tri County Manchester Red Raiders will have their opening game of the season at Gordonsville at 4:00 pm on September 14th.

Please come out and support these young men and women at home or on the road, they are Coffee County’s future, and you are guaranteed to see some good football.

The Temple Baptist Christian School volleyball team welcomed Madison Baptist Academy to the E.C. Bailey Gym on Friday night.  The Lady Eagles, playing their first match in more than 2 weeks, were looking to keep their perfect record intact against the visitors from Alabama.  After taking a 2 to 1 lead, the Lady Eagles saw Madison roar back to win the match.

After Temple dropped the first set 23 to 25, the Lady Eagles bounced back to capture the 2^nd and 3^rd sets by scores of 25-15 and 25 to 11.  Madison knotted the match at 2 sets apiece with a 19-25 win to force the 5^th set tiebreaker.  In the tiebreaker, Madison got the 15 to 10 set victory to claim the match.  The JV Lady Eagles also fell to the Madison JV in 3 sets.  After winning the first set 25 to 23, temple dropped the final 2 sets 18 to 25 and 9 to 15 to suffer the defeat.

The Lady Eagles next home game on Tuesday has been postponed.  Temple will return to the court on Thursday and Friday when they host the 8th Annual Eagles Invitational Classic Volleyball Tournament.  Pool play games will take place on Thursday with the championship brackets set to be played on Friday.  The Lady Eagles open play in the 12 team tournament at 10:40 AM on Thursday.

The Coffee County JV volleyball team competed in a 12 team tournament in Watertown on Saturday.  The Lady Raiders finished 2 and 2 in pool play before dropping the first match in the elimination tournament bracket.

The JV Lady Raiders opened the day with a pair of losses as they fell to Wilson Central in 3 sets 23-25, 25-22 and 13-15.  The host Lady Tigers of Watertown beat the Lady Raiders in the 2^nd match but also needed 3 sets to do it.  Coffee County fell 25-15, 13-25 and 8-15.  The Lady Raiders broke through against Mt. Juliet as they claimed a 2 set win 25 to 12 and 25 to 15.  Coffee County also dropped McEwen in straight sets 25-14 and 25-17.  The Lady Raiders earned a rematch with Watertown in the single elimination bracket opener.  After winning the first set 25-15, Coffee County was swept 17-25 and 13-15 to end their day.

The Lady Raiders are back at home on Monday night when they welcome non-conference foe Oakland.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast of the varsity match as part of the 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  Opening serve is set for 6:00 PM.