Category: Sports

Going all the way back to Mike Soroka suffering a season-ending injury on Aug. 3, the Braves have been leaning on Max Fried and understanding the significance of each start. Their rotation has finally gained some depth as rookies Ian Anderson and Kyle Wright have emerged over the past few weeks.

But to remain optimistic with their World Series hopes and potentially survive playing seven games in seven days with only three defined starters, the Braves understood the significance of backing the strong effort Fried provided in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Monday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

So, a definite sense of jubilation was felt when Austin Riley showed the baseball world his impressive power by leading off a four-run ninth with a go-ahead homer that propelled the Braves to a 5-1 win over the Dodgers, whose powerful offense was subdued by Fried.

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(you can hear game 2 on Thunder Radio. 107.9 FM, 106.7 FM, 1320 AM)

Monday was a defensive battle for the freshman Central High School Red Raider football team – a battle the Raiders won.

Other than one long touchdown run, the Raider defense completely stifled the Warren County Pioneer offensive attack to pick up a 20-6 win at Carden-Jarrell Field in Manchester.

Red Raider quarterback Jackson Shemwell connected with Jacob Barlow from 6-yards out to put CHS up 7-0 on the first play in the second quarter. Elijah McCoy’s extra point was good.

The Raiders gave up a 53-yard Pioneer touchdown run on Warren County’s next play, but blocked the Pioneer extra point and didn’t allow another score.

The Raiders scored again on a 3-yard run midway through the third quarter and again on a 14-yard scramble from Shemwell with 2:28 to play to put the game out of reach. Shemwell’s touchdown was setup by an interception by Jaden Foster near midfield to stop a Warren County drive.

Coffee County jumped all over Maplewood early and cruised to a 37-20 win over the Panthers Friday night at Carden-Jarrell Field.

Sophomore tailback Konor Heaton powered the offense with his first career 100-yard game. Unofficially, Heaton rushed for 123 yards on 19 carries. He scored on runs of 1 and 7 yards.

Quarterback Connor Shemwell scored from 1 yard out after a bobbled snap, and senior tailback Marshall Haney stepped in during the second half and hit a 48-yard burst for a touchdown score. Shemwell also connected with Kelvin Verge from 8-yards out after scrambling and finding an open Verge in the back of the end zone.

Coffee County also picked up a safety after Ian Weldon pinned the Panthers deep with a good kickoff.

The win moves Coffee County to 4-3 on the season – giving the Raiders 4 wins in a season for the first time since 2007. Coffee County is 3-0 at home this season.

Coffee County will host undefeated Warren County (7-0) next Friday, Oct. 16. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and you can hear that game live on Thunder Radio beginning with the Friday Night Thunder pregame show at 6 p.m.

Max Fried will take the mound for Game 1 of the Braves’ National League Championship Series showdown with the Dodgers, followed by rookie sensation Ian Anderson in Game 2 and Kyle Wright in Game 3.

Los Angeles will counter with Walker Buehler in the opener and Clayton Kershaw in Game 2, while its Game 3 starter has not been announced.

The Braves are 12-1 in Fried’s starts this season, including 2-0 in the postseason. The left-hander will be making his third straight Game 1 start after going 7-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 11 regular-season outings. He allowed four runs in four innings against the Marlins in Game 1 of the NL Division Series after tossing seven scoreless innings in Atlanta’s postseason opener against the Reds. Fried took a no-decision in both.

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The 2020 Coffee County Elementary Basketball League will get underway Saturday, Oct. 17 with four games.

All games through the season will be played at Coffee County Central High School, with the exception of Oct. 24 when games will be played at Coffee Middle School.

The season is set to wrap up with the championship games on Dec. 12.

Keep up to date with elementary basketball league results at www.thunder1320.com

Coffee County jumped all over Maplewood early and cruised to a 37-20 win over the Panthers Friday night at Carden-Jarrell Field.

Sophomore tailback Konor Heaton powered the offense with his first career 100-yard game. Unofficially, Heaton rushed for 123 yards on 19 carries. He scored on runs of 1 and 7 yards.

Quarterback Connor Shemwell scored from 1 yard out after a bobbled snap, and senior tailback Marshall Haney stepped in during the second half and hit a 48-yard burst for a touchdown score. Shemwell also connected with Kelvin Verge from 8-yards out after scrambling and finding an open Verge in the back of the end zone.

Coffee County also picked up a safety after Ian Weldon pinned the Panthers deep with a good kickoff.

The win moves Coffee County to 4-3 on the season – giving the Raiders 4 wins in a season for the first time since 2007. Coffee County is 3-0 at home this season.

Coffee County will host undefeated Warren County (7-0) next Friday, Oct. 16. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and you can hear that game live on Thunder Radio beginning with the Friday Night Thunder pregame show at 6 p.m.

Coffee County’s Lady Raiders are District Champions yet again.

Coffee County easily dispatched of Franklin County in the semi-finals before dropping Lincoln County 3-1 in the District 8-AAA championship match in Columbia Thursday night.

It is the third District 8-AAA championship in the past four years for the Lady Raider program and marks its 9^th consecutive trip to the region tournament.

Final scores over Lincoln County: 25-22, 25-20, 22-25 and 25-16.

Kiya Ferrell served up six aces in the championship match and dominated at the net with 18 kills. She also had 12 assists.

Lauren Brandt led the Lady Raiders with 20 assists. Maddy Sussen and Ferrell each had 10 digs for CHS.

Keri Munn, Lauren Brandt and Lexi Bryan received All-District honors, while Kiya Ferrell was named MVP and head coach Andrew Taylor received Coach of the Year honors.

Coffee County will play host to the region tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The Lady Raiders will host Rockvale at 4 p.m. Lincoln County and Siegel will play at 5:30 p.m. and the championship match will follow at 7 p.m. at Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.

After trailing 20-8 at halftime, the Westwood Rocket football team turned on the jets and ripped off 26 unanswered to take the lead and eventually a 34-26 win in the DRVC Championship game Thursday night at Dyer-Bouldin Field.

The win caps a perfect season for the Rockets. The game was broadcast live on Thunder Radio as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series.

Rocket eighth grader Jayden Carter got the second half rally going with a 51-yard touchdown run. The Rockets followed up with a safety on the next kickoff after a deep kick by Torin Van Zanderberg. Skylar Stinson also scored to put the Rockets up 34-20.

Fayetteville’s K’Veon Henderson connected with Montrell Patrick to close the gap to 34-26 in the fourth quarter, but Carter was able to pick up a first down on fourth and three to run out the clock.

Vaughn Parker, Caiden Warren, Caiden Hays and Jesse Hibdon were named all conference for the Rockets. Jayden Carter was named MVP.

Coffee County’s Red Raider football team returns home to Carden-Jarrell Field Friday night to host the Maplewood Panthers.

Coffee County (3-3 overall) is looking for its fourth win on the season  – a feat that has not happened since 2007, which happens to be the last time the Red Raiders had a winning season.

Maplewood comes in at 0-4 – the Panthers lost two forfeits and two actual games at East Nashville and Spring Hill. Maplewood bot a late start to the season due to COVID-19 restricting Metro Public Schools athletic departments.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the broadcast will be on Thunder Radio. Tickets will not be available at the gate. However, you can purchase digital tickets at www.gofan.co

The Friday Night Thunder pregame show begins at 6 p.m. with the area’s most complete local pregame coverage. Get your complete coverage of all Red Raider and Lady Raider athletics on Thunder Radio – 107.9 FM, 1320 AM and stream worldwide with the Manchester Go app and www.thunder1320.com

Though he has been with the Braves for nearly a decade, Freddie Freeman hasn’t been around long enough to fully grasp what it means for the team to be heading to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2001.

But as the Braves secured a spot in the NLCS by sweeping the Marlins with a 7-0 win in Game 3 of the NL Division Series on Thursday afternoon at Minute Maid Park, Freeman could certainly appreciate getting to where he and many of his teammates felt they deserved to be last year.

One year after surrendering 10 runs in the first inning of their final NLDS game against the Cardinals, the Braves left no doubt on the way to improving to 5-0 in this postseason. Kyle Wright delivered six scoreless innings, and Travis d’Arnaud highlighted another multihit effort with a two-run double in the four-run third against Miami starter Sixto Sánchez.

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(All Braves games can be heard on Thunder Radio)