Cameron West of CHS football

The Red Raider football team welcomed Warren County to Carden-Jarrell Field on Friday night in a renewal on the Highway 55 rivalry.  Needing to control the ball and the clock, the Red Raiders employed some wrinkles in their lineup against the Pioneers.  Those changes and 3 touchdowns in the 2^nd quarter lifted the Red Raiders to a 28 to 14 homecoming win over the Pioneers.

After a scoreless 1^st quarter, Alontae Taylor raced in from 15 yards out for a touchdown with 8:37 left in the half to give the Raiders the 7 to 0 lead.  Taylor added a 3 yard touchdown with 4:51 left to cap a drive that saw Zach Vaughn haul in a 43 yard pass from Colton Prater.  Prater added a touchdown pass with 23 seconds left in the half to Taylor from 39 yards out to give Coffee County a 21 to 0 lead at the half.

In the second half, Colton Prater raced 52 yards on the first play from scrimmage on a midline keeper to put Coffee County On top 28 to 0.  Warren County added 2 touchdowns in the 4^th quarter to make the final minutes a little uneasy or the Red Raider faithful, but Coffee County made the stops it needed late to capture their first win of the year.

Cameron West was huge in the game as he rushed 16 times for 90 yards to be named the Crazy Daisies Player of the Game.  Colton Prater passed 8 times with 6 completions for 91 yards and a touchdown.  Prater also rushed 6 times for 43 yards and a score.  Alontae Taylor had 5 receptions for 83 yards and rushed for 2 touchdowns.

During the halftime festivities, Tatum Baldwin and Issac Rackley were named the Homecoming Queen and King respectively.   Coffee County is back in action next Friday night when they hit the road to take on Cookeville.  That region game will kick off at 7 PM, Thunder Radio begins live coverage with the Friday Night Thunder Pregame Show at 6.

Download a copy of the broadcast at: http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/

Amanda Mukai of CHS volleyball

A 3 and 3 record and a semifinal finish capped off a long Saturday for the Coffee County Central volleyball team.  Hosting 14 teams from as far away as McEwen and Chattanooga, Coffee County battled to a 2 and 2 record in pool play with losses to Stewarts Creek and Chattanooga Christian.

That performance was good enough to advance the Lady Raiders to the Gold Bracket.  After a win over Columbia Academy in the first round of the finals bracket, Coffee County was eliminated by Chattanooga Christian. Chattanooga Christian went on the win the tournament over Stewarts Creek in the finals.

For the tournament, the Lady Raiders were led in kills by Alliyah Williams who finished with 29 kills.  Amanda Mukai led Coffee County in aces with 6.  Keelie Hillis led the team in blocks with 5.  Mukai led in assists with 87 while Tyana Fenton had 69 digs on the day.

The Lady Raiders will be back in action on Monday when they play host to Riverdale.  That match will get underway at 6 PM at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.

Gavin Smith of the Division 1 Raiders runs for a touchdown on Saturday

by Darryn Strickland

Last Saturday September 16, the Red Raiders took on the Moore County Blue Raiders in the first home game of the season. Each team did a fantastic job, and played hard during the games. Unfortunately, the peewee division did not play because Moore County does not have a team in that division.
The Div. 1 game was won by the Red Raiders with the score of 25-12. Gavin Smith led the team with 123 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. Close behind him was Zachary McCormick with 63 yards and #15 Jacoba Fells with 32 yards rushing.
In the Div. 2 game, Red Raiders played hard against the Blue Raiders. The game was close, but the Red Raiders come to victory with the score of 6-0. On the offense #9 Zander Gomez led the team with 90 yards, and #5 Gabriel Hambly with 33 yards rushing and a touchdown for the Red Raiders. On the defense #4 Carlos Martinez led with 6 tackles, and Kaleb Dodson recovered a fumble for the Red Raiders.
In the Div. 3 game, the score was tied in the first half, but the Blue Raiders seemed to quickly double that in the fourth quarter as the hard fought game was lost 43-18. On the offense Nico Sanfilippo led the team with 70 yards rushing and a touchdown. Jacob Barlow ran for 56 yards rushing, and 2 touchdowns for the Red Raiders. On the defensive side of the ball, Jonathan Akers had 9 tackles.
Next week, September 23, the Red Raiders host Homecoming at Dyer-Boldin Field. There will be games, bouncy houses, and face paint. Make sure to come out and support our Manchester Youth Football League.

Sam Ellison of CHS Soccer

It was a fantastic start and a frantic finish on Saturday night for the Coffee County Lady Raider soccer team.  In a physical district contest with Columbia, Coffee County had to settle for a 4 to 4 tie.  After the Lady Raiders got off to a 2 goal start, Columbia turned up intensity as they were assessed 3 yellow cards in the match.

Jessica Barrera got the scoring started in 6^th minute off an assist from Emilee Roberson.  Sam Ellison added a goal in the 7^th minute off a pass from Jenna Garretson.  That seemed to awaken the Lady Lions as they scored goals in the 8^th, 12^th, 14^th and 21^st minutes to race out to a 4 to 2 lead.  Coffee County notched a goal in the 39^th minute by Garretson with an assist from Allie Amado but still trailed 4 to 3 at the half.

In the second half, Reyna Flores corralled an Allie Amado chip pass at the back post in the 62^nd minute to level the match at 4.  Coffee County outshot Columbia 19 to 10 on the match.  Lady Raider keeper Ashley Woods had 3 saves in the match.

Coffee County travels to Columbia on Monday for the district rematch with the Lady Lions.  The varsity match gets underway at 7 PM.

The Westwood Middle School cross country teams traveled to Rutherford County on Saturday to take part in the Milton Invitational.  Facing off against 15 teams from all over middle Tennessee, Westwood still garnered Top 10 individual finishes in both the boys and girls races.  The Rockets finished 5^th in the team standings while the Lady Rockets finished 7^th.

In the boys’ race, Bodey Todd was the leading runner for the Rockets as he finished in 7^th place with a time of 13:07.34.  Louie Frazier came in 17^th at 13:44.44.  Other varsity runners, with their places in parentheses, for Westwood were: Brady Nugent(18^th) 13:45.51; John Dobson(34^th) 14:25.88’ Luke Beachboard(47^th) 14:51.22 and Connor Cravens(61^st) 14:45.50.

In the girls’ race, Patricia Barrera finished in 4^th place with a time 14:32.74.  Rylea McNamara came in 24^th place at 16:02.01.  Other varsity runners, with their places in parentheses, for Westwood were: Mattalyn Goney(44^th) 18:16.00; Marisol Moreno(55^th) 19:10.72; Kailee Rossman(58^th) 19:36.74; Lenor Moreno Rivera(64^th) 20:50.30; Brookelyn George(65^th) 20:55.08.

The Westwood harriers will next be in action on Tuesday when they travel to Fayetteville to participate in a meet at Dan Davidson Park.  The first race begins at 4 PM.

Diana Ramirez of Westwood soccer

The Westwood soccer team traveled to Community to take on the Vikqueens in a conference match in Unionville on Friday.  Despite a hat trick from Diana Ramirez, the Lady Rockets fell by a final score of 4 to 3.

Trailing 1 to 0 at the half, Westwood got their offense on track in the second half as Ramirez found the back of the net 3 times.  Each f the goals for Ramirez were unassisted.  Unfortunately for Westwood, Community was able to score 3 goals in the second half.

The Lady Rockets are back in action on Monday when they travel to take on Liberty.  That match gets underway at 5 PM.

The Coffee County Middle School soccer team traveled to Putnam County on Friday to tangle with Algood in a non-conference friendly.  Still short-handed due to injury, the Lady Raiders dropped the contest 4 to 1.

After surrendering a goal in the 27^th minute to Algood, the Lady Raiders leveled the match 3 minutes later.  Katie Cotten notched an unassisted goal to send the non-district tied at the half.  Algood turned up the pressure on their home pitch in the second half to tally the final 3 goals of the game.

Coffee Middle returns home on Monday at 5 PM as White County visits the CCMS pitch.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all the action as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  Our live coverage will begin at 4:50.