Category: Sports

Coffee County’s Middle School Raider football team had revenge on the agenda Saturday.

And now that can be checked off the list.

After losing to Tullahoma Middle in the 2019 CTC Football Championship game, Coffee County started fast and never slowed down Saturday night to spank the visiting Wildcats 63-22 in the 2020 CTC Championshpi Game at Carden-Jarrell Field.

Not only did the win mark a bit of revenge for the CMS Raiders, it capped a perfect 2020 season with a 7-0 record.

Saturday night, the Raiders opened the game with a Caiden Martin kickoff return for a touchdown.

Eighth grade quarterback Cole Pippenger followed that with a touchdown on the Raiders’ first offensive play from scrimmage to put CMS up 14-0 within 20 seconds after a Tullahoma fumble.

Pippenger scored three more touchdowns – all on the ground – before halftime.

By the time Pippenger was done with the Wildcats, he had reached the end zone six times on the ground to go along with one passing touchdown.

Caiden Martin scored two more times after his opening kickoff return.

Manny Gonzales was 7-of-8 on extra point attempts for the Raiders.

Coffee County Middle School eighth grade runner Sophie McInturff finished in fifth place Saturday in the TMSAA State Meet in Clarksville.

McInturff, who finished 14^th in the state meet last year, set a personal record by finishing the two-mile course in just 12:29.

Before leaving for the race Saturday, McInturff told the Coffee Coaches Show that her goal was to finish in the top eight and get on the podium.

Friday night was big play or bust for the Central High School Red Raider football team. In the end – the Raiders scraped together enough big plays to beat Rockvale 20-14.

Unofficially, Coffee County only managed 222 yards of offense on the night. But defense, special teams and a pair of big plays proved to be the difference.

Sophomore tailback Konor Heaton, who was filling in for an injured Marshall Haney, put the game away with 2:32 to play when he broke loose on a fourth-and-1 run and rumbled 37 yards for a touchdown score to put the Raiders up 20-7. Ian Welden’s extra point was blocked.

Heaton’s run was the first score for the Raiders since the first quarter.

The Raiders jumped on top 7-0 with 3:40 to play in the first quarter when Raider quarterback Connor Shemwell connected with Travis Martin in the seam. Martin raced 79-yards for a score. Then just four plays later, Henry Garcia blocked a Rockvale punt, then scooped the ball and rumbled into the end zone to put the Raiders up 14-0 late in the first.

Garcia later added an interception as part of a Raider defense that bent, but didn’t break for most of the night. In the first half Rockvale got inside the red zone three times (twice inside the 10 yard line) – but the Raiders forced a missed field goal, then a turnover on downs, and linebacker Tristan Galy forced a fumble that was recovered by Zack Galy.

Rockvale finished with 301 yards of total offense.

The win is the first road win on the season or Coffee County, and moves the Raiders back to .500 at 3-3 and 2-2 in Region 3-6A, which keeps the Raiders alive in the postseason picture.

The Raiders return home next Friday, Oct. 9, to host Maplewood in a non-region tilt. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on Thunder Radio.

Garcia was named Mid Tenn Turf player of the Game on the Thunder Radio broadcast.

Listen to the game again.

Click here for the first half.

Click here for the second half.

Coffee County Central’s Lady Raider soccer team bombarded Lincoln County with shots on Thursday night, eventually breaking through with four in the second half to cruise to a 5-0 win in a match you heard live on Thunder Radio as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series.

Five different Lady Raiders scored on the night.

Maddy Jones got the scoring started in the 18^th minute, but Coffee County wasn’t able to score again and only led 1-0 at the break before the floodgates opened in the second half.

Katie Cotten scored in the 43^rd minute, quickly followed by Ellie Fann in the 46^th. Jayda Wright scored on a free kick from 35 yards in the 60^th minute, and Dianna Ramirez buried one into the upper right corner in the 73^rd minute to close the scoring.

Coffee County outshot Lincoln County 30 to 5, putting 15 of those shots on goal to Lincoln County’s 3.

Lucy Riddle was credited with three saves in goal for the Lady Raiders.

The win completes the regular season for CHS at 4-5-1 on the season and secures third place in District 8-AAA.

Listen to the podcast of Thursdays win over Lincoln County by clicking here.

Westwood’s Rocket football team put the finishing touches on a perfect regular season with a 30-0 shutout win over Cascade in Wartrace Thursday night. Rocket quarterback Jayden Carter crossed the 1,000 yard rushing mark on the season during the game.

Westwood will host Fayetteville in the DRVC championship game on Thursday, Oct. 8. That game will be broadcast live on Thunder Radio.

The Coffee County Central High School Red Raider football team (2-3 overall / 1-2 Region 3-6A) travels to Rockvale Friday to take on the Rockets (1-5) and look to get back to .500 on the season.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be heard live on Thunder Radio. Pregame coverage with the Friday Night Thunder pregame show begins at 6 p.m. You can listen to the game on  107.9 FM, 106.7 FM, 1320 AM, Manchester Go app and thunder1320.com.

Anyone wishing to travel to the game must purchase tickets digitally at www.gofan.co. No tickets will be available at the gate.

Thunder Radio is your home for all Red Raider and Lady Raider athletics.

 Ian Anderson might not be old enough to fully grasp the significance of the Braves once again tasting postseason success. But the young hurler already appears capable of giving Atlanta fans a chance to regularly celebrate in October.

Anderson drew comparisons to Tom Glavine and Steve Avery after dazzling in his postseason debut. His six innings extended a historic scoreless run for the Braves, who swept the Reds in the National League Wild Card Series with a 5-0 win on Thursday afternoon at Truist Park.

With a pair of shutout wins in this best-of-three series, the Braves became the first team in postseason history to hold a team scoreless over the first 22 innings of a series. The longest such streak was previously produced by the Yankees, who blanked the Giants over the first 20 innings of the 1921 World Series.

Read the complete story by clicking here.

Thunder Radio is your exclusive home for Atlanta Braves baseball in Coffee County.

Coffee County Middle School’s Red Raider football team is set to host the CTC championship on Saturday – but the opponent isn’t who was expected.

Tullahoma Middle School upset Harris Middle School on Tuesday to earn the #2 seed, meaning the Wildcats will travel over to Manchester for the 6:30 p.m kickoff on Saturday. This sets up a rematch of last year’s CTC title game, which Tullahoma won.

Coffee County enters Saturday 6-0, having beat Tullahoma 34-12 way back on Aug. 18.

Not long after delivering the walk-off single that gave the Braves a 1-0, 13-inning win over the Reds in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series on Wednesday afternoon, Freddie Freeman explained the wave emotions felt in this historical nail-biter.

“It was a very stressful 4 1/2 hours,” Freeman said. “Whatever emotions you feel, you just try to ride that wave. When it gets to the sixth, seventh and eighth innings with it still 0-0, I think everybody is on pins and needles. That’s just how it is, especially in a playoff game.”

Being on pins and needles became quite a familiar feeling for the Braves and Reds, who were the first teams to remain scoreless through the first 11 innings of a postseason game in Major League history. The two teams played for four hours and 39 minutes before Freeman’s single off Cincinnati lefty Amir Garrett scored top prospect Cristian Pache with the game’s only run.

You heard the game live on Thunder Radio. Game two of the series can also be heard on Thunder Radio – 107.9 FM, 106.7 FM, 1320 AM. First pitch is set for 11:08 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 1.

Read the rest of this story by clicking here.

Thursday is a busy night of prep sports.

At 6 p.m., the CMS sixth grade basketball teams will be at North, while the WMS sixth grade basketball girls team will be at South Middle.

Also at 6 p.m., the CHS Lady Raider Volleyball team will wrap up their regular season at Oakland.

At 6:30 p.m., Westwood Middle School will wrap up its regular season at Cascade Middle. Also at 6:30, the CHS Lady Raider soccer team will be at home, hosting Lincoln County for senior night. That game will be broadcast live on Thunder Radio as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series.