The Coffee County Middle School volleyball team is now 9-3 on the season after a clean 2-0 sweep of visiting South Franklin Tuesday night.
The varsity Lady Raiders dominated the Lady Trojans, 25-13 an 25-10. The junior varsity also notched a 2-1 win: 26-24, 25-27 and 15-10.
CMS will be on the road at North on Thursday.
The Coffee County Freshman football team was stout defensively against visiting Riverdale Monday night, but struggled to get the offense going in a 12-7 loss at Carden-Jarrell Field.
Riverdale intercepted a screen pass and returned it for a touchdown in the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead. Coffee County blocked both Riverdale extra point attempts on the night.
Coffee County finally got on the board late in the first half when quarterback Jackson Shemwell connected with Jaden Foster, who turned a screen into a 30-yard score.
The second half was about dominating defense for both teams. The Raiders picked up a goal-line stand when Riverdale got first-and-goal inside the five to force a turnover on downs. CHS stopped another scoring threat when Cole Fowler intercepted a Warrior pass in the end zone.
The freshman Raiders will return home Monday Sept. 21 for a 6:30 p.m. kick against White County.
In a match you heard on Thunder Radio as part of the First National Bank sports series, the Coffee County Middle School volleyball team picked up a 2-0 sweep of visiting Warren County Tuesday.
CMS won 25-18 and 25-18 in two sets.
The win improves the Lady Raiders to 8-3 on the season. CMS returns to action Tuesday, hosting South Franklin. The junior varsity will start at 5 p.m. with the varsity to follow at about 6 p.m.
By Jim Wyatt, Titans Online
Titans kicker Stephen Gostkowski has kicked in Super Bowls, and he has three rings to show for it.
Over the last decade, in fact, he’s been one of the NFL’s very best kickers.
But on Monday night (in a game you heard on Thunder Radio), he had a game he’d like to forget … until the very end.
That’s when Gostkowski stepped up and kicked the game-winner in the team’s 16-14 win over the Broncos.
“It’s definitely an opportunity I didn’t deserve, but grateful I got it for the team,” Gostkowski said. “The guys that went out there and busted their butt, I really put them in a tough spot – you don’t always get that lucky to get a chance to redeem yourself. I am just happy the guys got to celebrate.
“I am disappointed in myself, and embarrassed and frustrated. But at the end of the day we won, and luckily guys are happy going home.”
Gostkowski missed on kicks of 47, 44 (blocked) and 42 for the Titans before he got a chance to kick the game-winner – from 25 yards out, with just 17 seconds left.
It was the 10th career game-winning kick for Gostkowski, a former Patriot.
After the game, Gostkowski said he took the sock off his right foot because it’s a routine he worked with during the summer with success.
“I would have taken my pants off to make that last kick to try something different,” he said with a smile.
The Titans, who had issues at the kicking position last year, signed Gostkowski to solve their problems.
The three-time Super Bowl champion is the Patriots all-time leading scorer, and heading into the game he was ranked 12th in NFL annals with 1,775 career points and 374 field goals. Gostkowski’s 87.4 percent field goal accuracy rate heading into the 2020 season was the highest in Patriots history and fifth in NFL history.
Gostkowski, in a video conference call after the game, thanked his teammates for sticking with him.
“I am just disappointed in myself that I couldn’t bounce back quicker – that is something I usually pride myself on … and it just snowballed. I have to hold my head high and move on to the next one,” he said.
“I just got here, and to come out there and play like that … For guys to support me like that, it was pretty cool. I was grateful for the opportunity at the end, because the guys deserved to win.”
With Westwood football’s win on Thursday, Sept. 10 over Eagleville (a game you heard live on Thunder Radio) and Cascade’s loss last week, the Westwood Rockets have clinched the 2020 Duck River Valley regular season conference championship.
It marks the first time since 2013 for the Rockets to win the regular season title.
Westwood (5-0 overall) travels to Woodbury to take on Cannon County this Thursday, Sept. 17. That game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. and you can hear it live on Thunder Radio as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series.
With the regular season championship locked down, Westwood will host the DRVC championship game, which is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 8.
The Lady Raider volleyball team at Coffee County Central High school cruised to another win on Saturday afternoon in Manchester – this time making a little history in the process.
Coffee County ran away from visiting Columbia, winning 3-0 by scores of 25-16, 25-14 and 25-12. With the sixth point in the second game, Keri Munn became the all-time blocks leader. Munn now has 127.5 career blocks for the Lady Raiders, surpassing the previous record of 126.
In the win over Columbia Munn also led the way at the service line, picking up seven aces. She also had six kills.
Kiya Ferrell finished with 11 kills. Lauren Brandt had 14 assists to go along with nine for Ferrell.
Maddie Husted led the Lady Raiders in digs with six.
The win improves the Lady Raiders to a perfect 10-0 on the season. In fact, the Lady Raiders have yet to lose a single set – going 29 for 29.
The Lady Raiders are scheduled to travel to Lincoln County on Tuesday, Sept. 15, for a District 8-AAA match.
The Coffee Middle School and Central High School cross country teams each had standout performances in Warren County Saturday, including the CHS Red Raider boys who took first place overall.
For the Raiders, Jacob Rutledge took second, Landon Kenney fifth, Jacob Slabaugh eighth, Holden Shew ninth, Bodey Todd 10th and Ethan Welch 16th.
For the CMS runners, Sophie McInturff took first place overall in the meet, while Ava McIntosh took fourth, Jaydee Nogodula sixth and Chloe Hensiek 14th. In the boys division, Emanuel Rodriguez ran well enough for sixth place.
For the High School runners on the girls side, Patricia Barrera took second overall, Kailee Rossman third and Nayeli Cano 17th.
It was eighth grade night at Westwood Middle School Thursday. Fittingly, it was eighth graders that propelled the Rockets to a blowout 40-14 win over Eagleville at Dyer-Bouldin Field.
Jayden Carter rumbled 201 yards on 21 carries and found the end zone three times to make the Rocket offense go. Carter scored on running plays of 15, 10 and 8. Caiden Warren also scored for the Rockets on a jet sweep from 36 yards out.
Westwood went on top early when a bad Eagleville snap led to a safety for the Rockets with 2:58 to play in the first quarter. Vaughn Parker took the ensuing free kick and rumbled 45 yards untouched to the end zone – the Carter two-point conversion gave the Rockets a 10-0 lead late in the first quarter.
Westwood led 10-6 at halftime but were plagued by penalties that called back two scores. The Rockets were able to clean up offensively and pull away in the second half. Carter powered into the end zone with 5:10 to play in the third quarter and again with 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter to give Westwood a 24-14 lead after three quarters.
Carter scored again from 8 yards out one minute into the final quarter. That left the final score to Warren, who iced the game with 4:58 to play on a 36-yard touchdown score. Skylar Stinson also picked up 40 yards rushing for Westwood on five carries.
Both Eagleville touchdowns came on quarterback power runs up the middle by Kaleb Snitzer, who was able to break loose for scores of 32 and 50 yards, respectively.
The win moves Westwood to 5-0 on the season. The Rockets travel to Woodbury to take on Cannon County on Thursday, Sept. 17. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and that game will be broadcast live on Thunder Radio.
It was a senior night celebration for the Central High School Lady Raider volleyball team on Thursday.
Coffee County got nine kills from Lexi Bryan to go along with 12 service aces from Lauren Brandt to sweep Shelbyville 3-0.
Coffee County won by scores of 25-6, 25-12 and 25-4.
Brandt led CHS in assists with 14.
Aly Harris finished with six kills and Keri Munn had four.
The win improves CHS to 9-0 on the season. The Lady Raiders have yet to lose a single set, going 26 for 26.
CMS Volleyball falls
The Coffee Middle School volleyball team had a tough night in Sparta Thursday. CMS fell to White County 0-2, losting 25-17 and 25-22. The JV Lady Raiders also lost to the Warriorettes, 25-23 and 25-20.
The Central High School Lady Raider soccer team was tied with Warren County 1-1 at the half on a goal by Jorja Waggoner.
But the host Lady Pioneers pulled away late and were able to rout Coffee County 5-2 in a non-district match Thursday night in McMinnville.
After back-to-back non-district losses, the Lady Raiders return home on Tuesday, Sept. 15 to host Columbia in a district contest. That match is set to start at 6 p.m.