Ellie Fann of CCMS soccer

The Coffee County Middle School soccer team traveled to McMinnville on Monday for a conference match with Warren County.  Taking on one of the conference’s top teams, the Lady Raiders fell to the talented Lady Pioneers.  Warren County captured the 5 to 1 victory.

Coffee Middle got their lone goal late in the 2^nd half.  Ellie Fann got the mark after an assist from Caitlyn Garrett.  The Lady Raiders will return to action on Monday when they travel to Tullahoma. Opening kick is set for 5:30 PM.

The Lady Raider volleyball team of Coffee County Middle School traveled to Shelbyville on Monday for a conference match with Harris.  The Lady Raiders continued to show improvement but could not get the road win.  Coffee County fell to Harris 22-25 and 16-25.

The Lady Raiders are back at home on Thursday when they host conference-leading White County.  First serve is set for 5 PM at the CCMS gym.

Britny Hernandez of Coffee County CHS soccer

The Lady Raider soccer team of Coffee County traveled to Chattanooga Christian School on Friday and Saturday to compete in the Chattanooga Christian Invitational.  Facing some of their best competition of the year, the Lady Raiders finished the tournament with a record of 1 and 2.

Coffee County opened tournament play in Chattanooga on Friday against Knoxville Catholic.  The Lady Irish outshot Coffee County 13 to 3 as they converted 3 second half goals for the 3 nil win.  Reyna Flores had the only Coffee County shot on goal.

The Lady Raiders opened play on Saturday against the host Lady Chargers of Chattanooga Christian.  The host Chargers got a pair of quick goals just before the half to take a 3 to 0 lead into intermission.  Chattanooga Christian got another goal in the 2^nd half to get the 4 to 0 win.  Coffee County was outshot 15 to 7 in the match as Allie Amado had 2 shots on frame.  Freshman keeper Lucy Riddle finished with 7 saves.

In the final game Saturday afternoon, the Lady Raiders rallied for a 3 to 1 win against Anderson County.  The Lady Raider defense did a better job holding the Lady Mavericks to 3 shots.  The Lady Raiders got goals from Reyna Flores, Britny Hernandez and Maddy Jones in the win.  Allie Amado assisted on all 3 goals for Coffee County.

The Lady Raiders return to action on Tuesday night as they welcome Columbia to the Raider Soccer Field.  That district match will get underway at 7 PM and Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the action as part of the 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  Our live pregame show gets underway at 6:45 PM.

Adriana Basurto of Westwood soccer

The Westwood soccer team welcomed Liberty to the Dyer-Bouldin Field on Friday.  Celebrating 8^th Grade Night, Westwood jumped out to a 4 to 1 halftime lead.  The Lady Rockets ended up with 4 players scoring as they won 6 to 3.

Westwood’s only 8^th grader, Adriana Basurto finished with a pair of goals to lead Westwood.  Princess Penaloza added 2 goals while Leonor Moreno Rivera and Chloe Bellamy each added one goal.

Westwood is back in action on Tuesday when they hit the road to Wartrace to take on Cascade.  That match will commence at 5 PM.

Hayes Shemwell(#7 in black) evades a pair of Shelbyville tacklers for the Division 1 Raiders on Saturday

The Manchester Youth Football League hosted their first home games of the year on Saturday as they welcomed Shelbyville to Carden-Jarrell Field.  Playing a tripleheader in front of the biggest home crowd ever, the Raider teams finished the day with a record of 1 and 2.

The Division 1 team opened the afternoon with a 31 to 7 win.  The Division 2 Red Raiders rallied after falling behind early but fell 34 to 20.  The Division 3 Raiders got a kickoff return for a touchdown but fell 23 to 7.

The Manchester Youth Football League will be back in action on Saturday when they host Fayetteville.  The Division 1 Raiders will kick off the tripleheader of action beginning at 2 PM at Carden-Jarrell Field.

Two lightning delays, a brawl, two kickoff returns for touchdowns, injuries to key players, and a game that took over seven hours to play, making it the longest game in NFL history.

The season opener for the Titans and Dolphins had it all here on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.

Only it didn’t include a Titans victory.

Unfortunately, the game also included an elbow injury to Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota, who watched the game’s fourth quarter from the sideline. Tight end Delanie Walker was taken off on a cart, outfitted in an air cast, after suffering a lower leg injury, and tackle Tayor Lewan didn’t finish the contest after suffering a concussion.

It was a painful start to the season for the Titans, who lost 27-20 to the Dolphins in Mike Vrabel’s first game as the team’s head coach.

The Titans took an early 3-0 lead on a 47-yard field goal by kicker Ryan Succop, which capped off a 9-play, 37-yard drive. Mariota connected with Walker and receiver Corey Davis for third-down completions that went for first downs on the drive, and nearly connected with receiver Taywan Taylor for a touchdown on a deep ball, but the pass fell incomplete.

The Titans then drove the field on their next possession, and had a first and goal from the Miami five after a 31-yard completion from Mariota to tight end Luke Stocker. But the Titans came up empty, after a fourth down try – a Mariota pass to Davis – came up short of the end zone after the team went for the touchdown instead of a second field goal early.

On the ensuing drive, the Dolphins took a 7-3 lead on a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Tannehill to receiver Kenny Stills which capped off a 12-play, 98-yard drive.

The Titans defense got a huge stop just before halftime, after the Dolphins went for it on 4th and 1 from the Tennessee 15. With linebacker Brian Orakpo in coverage, Tannehill’s pass to running back Kenyan Drake was ruled incomplete in the sideline, as Drake managed to get just one foot inbounds.

The game was delayed by lightning with just 1:11 before halftime, with the Titans trailing 7-3. The game ended up being delayed 1 hour, 57 minutes before play was resumed.

After play resumed in the third quarter, things got wild.

Mariota was hit away from the play by Dolphins defensive lineman William Hayes, which forced him to leave the game for a day with an elbow injury. Back-up quarterback Blaine Gabbert played one snap – he threw an incomplete pass on third down — before Mariota returned to the game the following drive.

When he returned, Mariota was intercepted on his next pass by Dolphins safety Reshad Jones, and what ensued next was a wild scene that included players from both teams pushing and shoving on the field, a brawl sparked when Dolphins defensive end Andre Branch leveledr Lewan with crack back block in front of the Tennessee bench. Two Dolphins were penalized in the fracas, along with Titans running back Dion Lewis. Lewan never returned after the hit.

It looked as if the Dolphins would add to the lead after that after having a first-and-goal at the Titans seven-yard line. But Titans cornerback Malcolm Butler stepped up with a big play, intercepted Tannehill in the end zone. Butler returned the interception to the Tennessee 35.

That’s when play was delayed again because of another lightning strike, and this delay was 2 hours and 2 minutes.

On the first play back, Mariota was intercepted by Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso. The Dolphins then extended their lead to 10-3 on a 27-yard field goal by kicker Jason Sanders.

Mariota would be replaced after that by Gabbert, who led the Titans on a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that was capped off with a four-yard touchdown run by running back Dion Lewis, which made it 10-10.

But disaster struck on the ensuing kickoff, as Dolphins return man Jakeem Grant went 102 yards for a touchdown to give Miami a 17-10 lead with 14:04 left in the contest.

The Titans appeared to answer back just as quickly on a 62-yard touchdown run by Derrick Henry, but the play was negated because of a questionable holding penalty on Walker.

The Dolphins then struck again, scoring on a 75-yard touchdown pass from Tannehill to Stills, which made it 24-10 with 10:22 left in the contest. Still got behind Butler on the play, after he raced to the end zone after making the catch.

Titans return man Darius Jennings then returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown, making it 24-17 with 10:11 left, igniting the bench on the Titans sideline.

On Miami’s next drive, Titans safety Kenny Vaccaro intercepted Tannehill.

When the Titans took over, Gabbert was picked off by Jones, who returned it 54 yards to the Tennessee 12-yard line. The Dolphins cashed it in for another field goal to make it 27-17 with 3:49 left.

Walker was injured late, and the Titans made it 27-20 on Succop’s 53-yard field goal late. The Titans failed to get onsides kick, and the Dolphins won.

The Titans face the Houston Texans next Sunday at Nissan Stadium.