Category: Sports

Central High School had three medalists and two state qualifiers in the Region wrestling tournament over the weekend in McMinnville.

In the 145-pound division, freshman Jacob Barlow placed second and earned a trip to the state wrestling meet. He also earned Freshman of the Year.

Gavin Prater also placed second in his weight division – 152 – and will go to the state wrestling meet.

Zack Galy also medaled, taking third place in the 195-pound division. In a normal year, Galy would qualify for the state meet, but number of qualifiers has been cut down this year due to COVID-19.

The Coffee County Middle School Lady Raider basketball team put the finishing touches on an 18-2 season Saturday morning with a third place finish in the TMSAA State Tournament.

After losing Friday night in the semi-finals to an unbeaten Lake Forest team, the Lady Raiders bounced back Saturday morning with a 45-22 shellacking of Macon County in the third-place game.

Olivia Vinson and Channah Gannon led the offensive attack for CMS. Vinson finished with 11 points – 10 coming in the first half to help the Lady Raiders build the lead. Gannon put up 10 for the Lady Raiders.

Sophie McInturff pitched in 9 points for the Lady Raiders, Natalie Barnes 5, Ava McIntosh 2, Kaylee Mason 2 and Jaydee Nogodula 2.

District 8-AAA tournaments begin this week – with both the CHS Lady Raiders and Red Raiders earning first-round byes thanks to their first and second place finishes, respectively.

The Red Raiders finished second in the district and will host a tournament game on Thursday, Feb. 18. With a win, they will play in the championship on Feb. 22. If they lose, they will play a third place game on Feb. 22. A third place game would be at home, the championship game will be on the road if it’s against Columbia and at home if it’s against another team.

Meanwhile, the Lady Raiders will play at home through the district tournament. They will host at  p.m. Feb. 19 and Feb. 23.

All tickets are $6 and sold through gofan.co – no tickets are available at the door. No student tickets and season passes cannot be used. Coffee County employees cannot use their badge to enter. TSSAA and TACA cards are accepted. Masks are required.

Inclement weather could delay games early in the week, forcing delays later in the week. Thunder Radio sports will keep you up to date.

Coffee County’s Red Raider boys basketball team put the finishing touches on the regular season with a 53-44 win over visiting Gordonsville Saturday afternoon in Manchester.

Tied after three quarters, the Raiders outscored the Tigers 20-11 in the final 8 minutes to pull away.

The Raiders got a big second half from CJ Anthony, who scored all 11 of his points in the second half, including three 3-pointers. Trenton Scrivnor led the Raiders with 16 points, 10 coming in the second half.

Hayden Hullett sunk three 3-pionters, Phineas Rollman added 8 points and Connor Shemwell 6 to go along with Brady Nugent’s 2 and Tyler Taylor’s 1.

The Coffee Middle School Lady Raiders struggled to find any offensive rhythm and dropped a 42-25 decision to Lake Forest Middle School in the TMSAA State semi-finals Friday night at Rockvale High School (a game you heard broadcast live on Thunder Radio).

Olivia Vinson finished with 13 points to lead the Lady Raiders. But offense was hard to come by.

A questionable traveling call on Vinson at the end of the first half wiped two points off the board for CMS. Lake Forest turned that around into a bucket and took an 18-10 lead into the locker room. Lake Forest took off an a 6-0 run to begin the second half and CMS wasn’t able to make a serious run at the lead.

Channah Gannon scored 7 points for CMS and Ella Arnold 3. The loss drops the Lady Raiders to 17-2 on the season.

The loss eliminates the Lady Raiders from state title contention. However, they will play for third place against Macon County at 10 a.m. Saturday at Rockvale High School.

Coffee County Central High School’s Lady Raiders have four players who have been named to District 8-AAA All-District team and the Red Raiders have two.

The group is headlined by senior Lady Raider Bella Vinson, who has been named District 8-AAA MVP for the third consecutive year. Vinson recently crossed the 2,000 career point mark as a Lady Raider. Vinson is averaging 23 points per game and leads the state in free-throw percentage, shooting 91 percent at the charity stripe.

Also named to the all-district team for the Lady Raiders were sophomore point guard Jalie Ruehling, sophomore post Chloe Gannon and junior forward Elli Chumley.

The Lady Raiders finished their regular season with a 24-1 record (11-0 District) after a win over Tullahoma on Thursday, Feb. 11. They are ranked no. 3 in the state by the Tennessee Associated Press. They will host the winner of Lincoln County and Columbia at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19 in the District 8-AAA tournament semi-finals. The winner will advance to the district tournament title game at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23. If CHS advances to the title game, the Lady Raiders will host.

Meanwhile, the Red Raider boys had two players honored as All-District selections: seniors Trenton Scrivnor and Jaxon Vaughn.

The Raiders put together arguably their best all-around performance of the season in a 21-point blowout over Tullahoma Thursday, Feb. 11, to finish in second place in the district standings.

The Raiders will host either Lincoln County, Franklin County or Shelbyville in the semi-finals of the District 8-AAA tournament at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18. If the Raiders win, they will play in the championship at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 22. They will travel for the championship game if Columbia reaches the title game, they will host if it is Lawrence County or Tullahoma reaching the championship.

The Raiders are also guaranteed a spot in the Region 4-AAA tournament.

Central High School’s Lady Raiders knew what they needed to do Thursday night in Tullahoma. And they took care of business.

In a game that was never even as close as its final score, the Lady Raiders cruised past Lady Cats of Tullahoma 47-26 and clinched first place in the District 8-AAA regular season standings.

The win completes an 11-0 regular season for CHS. Friday’s game at Lawrence County will not be played because it does not affect the district standings, meaning the regular season is over for CHS as the Lady Raiders now prepare for the postseason. With the no. 1 seed, CHS will host any district tournament games, beginning on Friday, Feb. 19.

“We want to spend this week off working on our game and getting better at what we do and give 100 percent on both sides of the ball,” explained senior Bella Vinson following the Tullahoma win, adding that the team’s ultimate goal is to reach the state tournament.

Thursday night in Tullahoma, CHS led 9-3 after one quarter and 23-12 at the half on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Vinson, who finished with 18 points.

The Lady Raiders were outstanding at the charity stripe, going 13-of-14 at the line and slowly put their foot on the Lady Cats’ throat in the second half. CHS led by as many as 25.

Sophomore post Chloe Gannon added 10 points – 8 coming in the second half when CHS focused on getting her the ball under the basket. Junior Elli Chumley added 9, Jalie Ruehling 6 and Emma Fulks 4. Fulks also picked up a couple of big steals late in the first half.

“Emma played really well for us tonight,” said CHS head coach Joe Pat Cope.

The Lady Raiders close the regular season 24-1 and ranked no. 3 in the state AP poll.

The Tullahoma Wildcats are going to have nightmares about this year’s Coffee County Central Red Raiders.

When the two teams played back on Jan. 19, the Wildcats were 5-0 and in first place in the District 8-AAA standings. In that game, the Raiders went on 22-9 fourth quarter run to pick up a win and send the Wildcats into a tailspin.

On Thursday, Feb. 11 in Tullahoma, the Raiders picked up where they left off. CHS jumped on Tullahoma early and never let the Wildcats even sniff the lead in a 64-43 blowout.

CHS led 12-3 after the first quarter and 31-18 at the half. In arguably the Raiders’ most complete game of the year, CHS spread around the scoring. Trenton Scrivnor and CJ anthony each put up 12 points for the Raiders. Anthony was a perfect 8-for-8 at the free-throw line.

At one point in the second half the Wildcats cut the deficit to 7 points. But that was as close as Tullahoma got despite hitting 10 3-pointers on the night. The Raiders always had an answer to prevent any big Wildcat runs.

Hayden Hullett added 10 points and drew a pair of charges on the defensive end. He was named the Stone Fort Mortgage Player of the Game by Thunder Radio.

Connor Shemwell also got into double digits with 10 points. In his first career start, Phineas Rollman notched 7 points. Kyle Farless added 6, Tyler Taylor 3, Brady Vaughn 2 and Brady Nugent 2.

The win finished the regular season district season for the Raiders with a 7-5 record – good enough for second place behind Columbia.

Since losing to the Raiders back on Jan. 19, Tullahoma has gone 1-5 over its final 6 district games and dropped from first to fourth in the district standings.

Coffee County’s boys will wrap up the season with a non-district contest at 4 p.m. Saturday when Gordonsville comes to town. Tickets will be available at the door.

The first game-winning goal of Dante Fabbro‘s career came just in time.

Fabbro’s floating point shot entered the net with exactly one minute to play in regulation to give the Nashville Predators a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena in their 100th regular-season meeting.

The result snaps Nashville’s three-game skid and gives them a much-needed victory, thanks in part to another stellar effort from Pekka Rinne, who made 24 saves on the night for his third win of the season.

The Nashville Predators are heard live on Thunder Radio.

The regular season is winding down for the Central High School basketball teams and there is still much to be decided. Appropriately enough, several things will be decided Thursday in Tullahoma.

The CHS Lady Raider basketball team enters Thursday night’s (Feb. 11) game at 10-0 in District 8-AAA play and can clinch the regular season title with a win over the Lady Wildcats (9-2 District 8-AAA).

Also, a win in Thursday for the Lady Raiders means they will not travel to Lawrence County on Friday for the regular season finale because that game would not effect the District 8-AAA standings.

The Lady Raiders remain ranked no. 3 in the Tennessee Statewide AP Poll.

Meanwhile, the Raider basketball team enters Thursday night with a 6-5 District 8-AAA record. A win would put the Raiders with a second place finish and a first round bye in the district tournament. Meanwhile, a loss would knock the Raiders down to fourth.

The Lady Raiders tip with Tullahoma at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11 with the Raiders to follow. Both games can be heard LIVE on Thunder Radio beginning at 5:45 pm. Listen at 107.9 FM, 106.7 FM, 1320 AM, Manchester Go app and thunder1320.com.

game added

The CHS Red Raiders added a game for 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13. The Raiders will host Goodlettsville. It will be a boys only contest.

Tickets will be sold at the door and there will be no concession available.