Tennessee fell to No. 17 West Virginia, 40-14, to open the 2018 season Saturday in the Belk College Kickoff at Bank of America Stadium.

The Volunteers now turn their focus to next Saturday’s home-opener against ETSU. Kickoff for that contest—which marks first-year UT head coach Jeremy Pruitt’s Neyland Stadium debut—is set for 3 p.m. CT (SEC Network).

All-American West Virginia quarterback Will Grier led a high-powered Mountaineers offense that came to life in the second half—scoring 27 points over the final 30 minutes. Grier finished the game having completed 25 of 34 passes for 429 yards and five touchdowns.

Tennessee won the time of possession and played turnover-free football Saturday but was outgained 547-301 in total yardage. West Virginia averaged 9.0 yards per play on offense and totaled 12 tackles for loss on defense.

After appearing in nine games and making six starts a season ago, redshirt sophomore Jarrett Guarantano earned the opening-day start at quarterback for the Vols and was 19-of-25 passing for 172 yards and a touchdown. His 19 completions were a career-high.

Sophomore running back Tim Jordan enjoyed his best game as a Vol, logging career-highs for carries (20) and rushing yards (118) and scoring his first collegiate touchdown. Marquez Callaway led the Tennessee receiving corps with a career-best seven catches for 85 yards.

Linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. led UT’s defense with 10 tackles, and safety Nigel Warrior added eight stops.

The Mountaineers opened the game’s scoring with a 26-yard field goal on their first offensive possession. They then extended their lead to 10-0 via a 59-yard touchdown pass by Grier with less than four minutes to play in the first quarter.

Tennessee’s first scoring drive of the Pruitt era was an impressive, 17-play march that covered 78 yards in 8:47 in the second quarter. On fourth-and-goal from the WVU 1-yard line, Gaurantano—who completed five of six passes during the drive—found first-year tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson in the end zone to cut the Mountaineers’ lead to three, 10-7.

West Virginia added a field goal as the second-quarter clock expired to take a 13-7 lead into halftime.
WVU’s first two possessions of the third quarter both ended with Grier touchdown passes. His second and third TD strikes of the day went to David Sills V and Gary Jennings, and the Vols found themselves facing a 20-point deficit.

The Vols were quick to counter with a 4-yard scoring scamper by Jordan. His first-career touchdown capped a five-play, 75-yard drive for the Big Orange.

But another Grier touchdown strike, which came on the ensuing drive, pushed the WVU lead to 19 points (the Mountaineers’ attempt at a two-point conversion failed). A fifth Grier TD toss with two minutes remaining in the game brought the final score to 40-14.

“There’s always something you can learn,” Tennessee starting offensive guard Ryan Johnson said of the setback. “Every game, every snap, has a lesson in it. We’re going to go back and focus on (ETSU) now.”

Saturday’s game featured an 85-minute halftime due to a weather delay (lightning strikes within an eight-mile radius) that began after the teams left the field.

Tennessee’s opening-day captains were sophomore running back Ty Chandler, senior linebacker Jonathan Kongbo, senior defensive lineman Kyle Phillips and junior tight end Eli Wolf.

The game’s attendance was 66,793.

Against a reeling opponent looking for its first win in eight weeks, Nashville SC couldn’t halt its road woes as it fell at Charlotte Independence 1-0 on Saturday night. Charlotte has now won just twice since June 2, both times beating Nashville SC on its home turf. For Nashville, the loss brings its road record to 2-6-6, as the expansion side has failed to win any of its last seven road games, scoring just two goals in those seven combined.

ROAD SCORING WOES

Being shut out on the road is unfortunately nothing new for Nashville SC as it has been shutout in half (7 of 14) of its road games this season. The club has never scored more than one goal on the road in any game this season, and has just seven total road goals.

START FOR COCHRAN

With typical starting keeper Matt Pickens not making the trip due to the impeding birth of his third child, backup keeper CJ Cochran drew his third USL start of the season. His record is now 1-2-0 in his three starts, and he has allowed three total goals in those games.

SUB FOR A SUB

For the first time this season, Nashville SC was forced to bring a substitute on for an earlier substitute. Kris Tyrpak came on in the 60’ minute as Nashville looked for a spark. He had to be subbed off for Brandon Allen in the 80’ minute following an injury.

HOME COOKING

It was the third time Nashville has played Charlotte this season, and all three matchups went to the home team. Nashville beat the Independence at First Tennessee Park on April 7, 2-0 before falling in Charlotte on July 11, 1-0.

LIGHTNING DELAY

In the 82’ minute lightning struck close to the stadium causing a 30-minute delay towards the end of the second half.

UP NEXT

Nashville will try to solve its road woes next Saturday when it takes on North Carolina FC at Wake Med Park in Cary, N.C. When the teams met earlier this season, Nashville won on a last second goal by Ropapa Mensah 1-0. Saturday’s kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. CST.

Adam Wainwright tossed five shutout innings to lead the Memphis Redbirds to an 8-1 win over the Nashville Sounds in front of 9,956 fans at First Tennessee Park Saturday night.

In his second Major League rehab start against the Sounds in less than a week, Wainwright scattered five hits, walked two and struck out seven in the winning effort. Wainwright was in a jam in the bottom of the fifth when Nashville loaded the bases against the veteran right-hander but he struck out Jorge Mateo to end the threat.

Memphis grabbed a 3-0 lead in the third with five hits off Nashville starter Raul Alcantara. Wilfredo Tovar started the scoring with a two-run single and Lane Thomas bounced into a fielder’s choice to knock in another run.

It was a 5-0 game in favor of the Redbirds before Sounds designated hitter Anthony Garcia cut into the deficit with a solo home run to make it 5-1. It was Garcia’s second homer in as many games and his team-high 25^th of the year.

That’s as close as the Sounds would get as the Redbirds tacked on runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth inning. Right-handed pitchers Ismael Aquino and Calvin Coker made their Sounds and Triple-A debuts in the loss.

Sheldon Neuse continued his strong second half of the season with another multi-hit game, his team-leading 34^th of the season. The Sounds third baseman is hitting .319 (61-for-191) after the All-Star break.

Game three of the four-game series is scheduled for Sunday night at First Tennessee Park. Left-hander Eric Jokisch (5-10, 4.13) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Jake Woodford (4-5, 4.81) for the Redbirds. First pitch is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.

Post-Game Notes

• With tonight’s 8-1 loss, the Sounds dropped to 71-67 on the season.
• Nick Martini extended his consecutive on-base streak to 66 games when he walked in the fifth inning. Martini’s streak is the longest by a Nashville player in the Pacific Coast League era and is the longest active streak in professional baseball. Since April 14, Martini has reached safely in every game
  he has played in with the Sounds. The 66-game on-base streak is the second-longest in professional baseball since at least 2009 when MLBAM began tracking the statistic.
• Designated hitter Anthony Garcia clubbed his 25^th home run of the season in the sixth inning. With a home run last night, it’s the third time this season Garcia has homered in consecutive games.
• Catcher Sean Murphy went 2-for-4 in his Sounds and Triple-A debut.

The 2018 season is the Sounds’ 41^st in franchise history and fourth as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com

Hitting the road on Thursday night, the Coffee County CHS volleyball team traveled to Winchester.  Squaring off against their district rival Franklin County, the Lady Raiders were looking to capture their second straight district win.  The Lady Raiders dominated the Rebelettes winning in straight sets 25-19, 25-12 and 25-14.

The Lady Raiders played perhaps their cleanest match of the year as they committed only 13 unforced errors on the night.  The combination of that along with 21 aces and 24 kills lifts the Lady Raiders district record to 3 and 1 as they improved to 6 and 3 overall.

Abigail Layne served up 11 aces to once again lead the Lady Raiders at the service line.  Keri Munn added 5 aces.  Kiya Ferrell led the team in kills with 7 followed by Abigail Parker, Keelie Hillis and Lexi Bryan who all had 4.  Amada Mukai and Hillis each had 8 assists while Munn led the team in digs with 4.

The Lady Raiders open up play on Friday in the Choo Choo Classic in Chattanooga at Red Bank High School.  Coffee County will open up play at 5 PM(EDT) against Signal Mountain.  The Lady Raiders will then take on Red Bank at 6 PM(EDT).  They close out pool play at 7 PM(EDT) against Lookout Valley.  Tournament bracket play begins on Saturday morning for Coffee County.

Reaching the midpoint of the district schedule, the Coffee County Central High School soccer welcomed Shelbyville to the Raider Soccer Field on Thursday night.  Coffee County scored first and last, but it was not enough to avoid their 4^th straight district draw.  The Lady Raiders and the Eaglettes settled for a draw at 2.

Britny Hernandez got Coffee County on the board in the 10^th minute as she punched a deflected shot by Allie Amado into a wide open Shelbyville net.  Shelbyville answered in the 13^th and 26^th minutes as they converted a pair of long through passes into one on one goals.  The halftime score of 2 to 1 held up until the 79^th minute when Amado attacked the Shelbyville defense on a 20 yard dribbling run and beat the keeper to her left to knot the score.

The draw gives Coffee County a district mark of 0-0-4 through the first half of the district season.  Lady Raiders will hit the road on Tuesday for a tough non-district matchup at Warren County.  Kickoff is set for 7 PM at Warren County High School.

Facing a Tigers team that had won 23 straight games, the Westwood football team rolled into Lincoln County on Thursday to tangle with Fayetteville Middle School.  Injuries and illness severely hampered the Rockets depth against the talented Tigers.  Westwood fell by a final score of 40 to 7.

Fayetteville jumped out to a  24-0 lead at the half and extended it to 40-0 late in the game.  Ian Weldon broke free on an inside reverse from 40 yards out to get Westwood on the board late.  Izick Sierra added the PAT kick to make the final score 40 to 7.  The PAT kick by Sierra is his 5^th conversion out of 5 attempts on the year.

The Rockets are back in action on Thursday when they host Community at Dyer-Bouldin Field.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast of that game as part of the 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  Kickoff is set for 6:30 PM, our pregame show will get underway at 6:15.

Celebrating 8^th grade night, the Coffee County Middle School soccer team welcomed South Franklin to CCMS on Thursday.  A lightning storm rolling through New Union delayed the start of the match several times before the game was called.  The fans and 8^th graders and their parents went in to the CCMS gym to recognize the 8^th graders.

There has been no official word on when the conference game will be made up.  The Lady Raiders will return to action on Thursday when they travel to Winchester to take on North Franklin.  That match will kick off at 5 PM.