Category: Sports

Maddy Jones of CHS soccer

Hosting their first home match of the year, the Coffee County CHS soccer welcomed Columbia to the Raider Soccer Field on Tuesday. After a tough defensive 1st half, Columbia notched a goal 2 minutes into the 2nd half to take a 1 nil lead. From that point forward, the Lady Raiders dominated the game scoring 6 goals in the final 33 minutes to claim a 6 to 1 win.

Trailing 1 nil, Jayda Wright crushed a free kick from 35 yards out into the upper right corner of the goal to level the match in the 48th minute. One minute later, Maddy Jones drove a shot off the Columbia keeper’s hand to give Coffee County a lead they would not surrender. Jones finished the night with a hat trick as she added goals in the 62nd and 69th minutes. Jenna Garretson finished with a brace as she had a goal in the 57th minute off an assist from Katie Cotten. Her second score came in the 60th minute.

The win gives the Lady Raiders a record of 5 and 1 on the season and 3 and 0 in district play. The Lady Raiders will hit the road again on Thursday as they travel to Shelbyville for a district match with the Eaglettes. Opening kick is set for 7 PM.

Jackson Shemwell of CCMS football

Coffee County Middle School football team celebrated homecoming on Tuesday night as they welcomed South Franklin to Carden-Jarrell Field.  The Red Raiders used big plays to score touchdowns on their first offensive play of each half as they rolled to a huge win over the Trojans.  Coffee County won by a final score of 40 to 0.

After forcing a punt on the first South drive of the game, Cole Pippenger raced 42 yards around right end to give Coffee County the 7 to 0 lead.  In their 2^nd possession, Jackson Shemwell ripped off a 14 yard touchdown run and Blayne Myers added the 2 point conversion to make it 14 to 0 just 5 minutes into the game.  Jacob Barlow fell on a South fumble in the endzone 17 seconds later as Coffee County led 21 to 0 going to the 2^nd quarter after Ethan Hargrove hit the extra point kick.  Shemwell hit Jaiden Foster on a 68 yard touchdown pass and rushed for a 2 yard touchdown to send the game to the half with the Raiders on top 34 to 0.  On the first play of the second half, Shemwell threw for his 2^nd TD pass as he hit Hargrove on a 48 yard strike to make the score 40 to 0 and set off the running clock for the remainder of the game.

Shemwell finished with 13 yards rushing on 4 carries for 2 scores and was 2 for 2 through the air for 116 yards as both passes were completed for touchdowns.  Pippenger finished with 63 yards rushing on 3 carries and Barlow had 23 yards on the ground on 2 carries.  Coffee County finished the night with 234 yards of total offense on 18 plays from scrimmage. The win moves the Raiders to 2 and 1 in conference play.

The Red Raiders will travel to Winchester on Tuesday night as they square off against North Franklin.  Kick-off is set for 6:30 PM.

Chase Hancock of CHS golf

The Coffee County CHS golf team traveled to McMinnville on Tuesday to take part in the Keith Maxwell Invitational at McMinnville Country Club.   The Red Raiders captured 7^th place out of the 10 teams competing as they shot a team total of 375.  Chase Hancock had the low round for the Raiders with an 85.  Cookeville won the tournament shooting a team score of 322.  The Lady Raiders were led by Maggie Crouch who shot a round of 116.

The Raider golfers will be back in action on Thursday when they welcome Shelbyville for a home match.  Tee-off for the 9 hole match is set for 4 PM at Willowbrook.

Tristan Galey of CHS football

In a performance fitting for Labor Day, the Coffee County CHS freshman football team worked over Tullahoma on Monday night at Wilkins Stadium.  Nate Luttrell intercepted a Wildcat pass on the first play from scrimmage and raced 55 yards for a touchdown and the Raider rout was on.  Coffee County put up three 1st quarter touchdowns, and Tristan Galey scored 4 touchdowns on the night, as the Raiders cruised to a 42 to 0 win over the Tullahoma freshmen.

Luttrell’s interception was one of 3 turnovers Tullahoma committed in the first quarter as Travis Martin had a pick and Caleb Bradford scooped up a Wildcat fumble.  Tullahoma reached the red zone only once in the game and that drive was shut down by one of 2 Ashton Ferrell interceptions on the night as Coffee County was the benefactor of 5 Tullahoma turnovers.  Galey finished the night with 21 carries for 141 yards and the 4 touchdowns.  Luttrell added an offensive touchdown as well as he picked up 33 yards rushing on 11 attempts.  Elijah Clemmons had 6 carries for 37 yards and Ian Weldon was a perfect 6 for 6 in point after kicks.

The Red Raiders will be back in action on Monday when they travel to Rockvale their game will kick off at 6:30 immediately following the JV game set for 5 PM.

The Westwood Middle School baseball team will hold tryouts for the 2020 season on Friday, September 6^th and Saturday, September 7^th.  The tryouts will be held at the Babe Ruth Field at Fred Deadman Park in Manchester.  The tryout is open to all boys who are in the 6^th thru 8^th grades at Westwood Middle School.

The first tryout session is scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 PM on Friday, September 6^th.  A second day of tryouts, if needed, will be held on Saturday, September 7^th from 9 AM to 11 AM.  Student athletes wishing to tryout need to bring with them their own personal equipment to tryouts.  If you have questions, or need more information, contact head coach Jeff Houck at: 931-247-7234

The Coffee County CHS swim team is scheduled for September 13th, from 3:30- to 4:15 at the Manchester Recreation Department. All swimmers must tryout and are asked to bring  their swimsuit and goggles. Each swimmer must also bring a copy of their physical form along with their signed cardiac arrest and concussion forms. All HS swimmers must be able to swim a 100 Free & backstroke as part of the tryout.  All returning swimmers, are asked to bring forms filled out and signed.

Westwood & Coffee County Middle students will tryout on September 13th, from 4:15 to 5:00. All new swimmers must tryout and are asked to bring their swimsuit and goggles in addition to their physical, cardiac arrest and concussion forms signed. Swimmers must be able to swim a 50-100 free & backstroke. All  returning swimmers must bring all forms filled out and signed.

Matt Davidson hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 13th inning to give the Nashville Sounds a 6-5 win over the San Antonio Missions in the season finale Monday afternoon at First Tennessee Park.

Davidson hit a 1-1 pitch from catcher-turned-pitcher Tuffy Gosewisch into left field. It was deep enough to score Andy Ibanez from third with the winning run. Nashville finished the 2019 campaign with a 66-72 record.

San Antonio jumped out to an early lead with one run in the second and two runs in the fourth. Jake Hager’s RBI double in the second inning started the scoring. Jess Williams made it a 3-0 game in the fourth with a two-run single to center field.

Wes Benjamin tossed five innings in his final start of the 2019 season. The southpaw fell shy of a sixth consecutive quality start but limited the Missions to three runs in five innings. He struck out six in the no-decision.

The Sounds mounted a comeback in the middle innings. In the fifth, catcher Tim Federowicz put their first run on the board with a sacrifice fly to center field. Two home runs helped Nashville take the lead in the sixth. Andy Ibanez launched his 20th long ball of the season to start the inning, cutting the deficit to 3-2. With one out, Matt Davidson drew a walk and came around to score when Patrick Wisdom belted a two-run homer to deep left field. His 31st blast of the season gave Nashville a 4-3 lead.

It didn’t last long as San Antonio got the run back in the seventh. Reliever Joe Barlow issued three walks in the frame and it came back to hurt when Jacob Nottingham hit a sacrifice fly to even the game at 4-4.

The two teams exchanged runs in the 10th inning but otherwise struggled to score in the extra frames.

Post-Game Notes

– With Monday’s 6-5 win, the Sounds finished the 2019 season with a 66-72 record.

– Monday’s attendance of 9,987 brings the season attendance to 578,291 at First Tennessee Park. The Sounds finished with the second-highest per-game average of 8,631 in the Pacific Coast League.

– Wes Benjamin tossed five innings and struck out six batters. He finished the season with career-highs in innings pitched (135.1) and strikeouts (114).

– The home run hit by Andy Ibanez was his 90th run scored of the season. The 91 runs are the 10th-most by a Sound in a single season.

– Patrick Wisdom hit his 31st home run of the year in the sixth inning. It’s the eighth-most home runs hit by a Sound in a single season.

– Monday’s game went 13 innings, the longest game of the season for Nashville.

The 2020 season begins on Thursday, April 9 when the Sounds host the Iowa Cubs. 2020 season ticket memberships are on sale through the Nashville Sounds ticket office. For more information on membership packages, call 615-690-4487, or e-mail tickets@nashvillesounds.com.

Conner Shemwell of CHS football

The 94th renewal of the Coffee Pot rivalry took place at Carden-Jarrell Field on Friday night.  Under new head coach Doug Greene, Coffee County was looking to break a two game losing streak to Tullahoma.  Despite winning the turnover battle and committing fewer penalties, Coffee County failed to regain the Coffee Pot falling to Tullahoma 35 to 0.

The Coffee County offense was pinned into horrible field position for most of the first half as Tullahoma used good field position and effective interior running attack to build a 14 to 0 lead at the half.  In the second half a tenacious Tullahoma defense held the Red Raider offense in check. Tullahoma outgained Coffee County in total yardage 396 to 83 for the game.  Coffee County was lead in yardage by Marshall Haney who had 32 yards rushing and 21 yards receiving to be named the Mid Tenn Turf most valuable player of the game.   Quarterback Conner Shemwell was 6 of 17 passing for 31 yards and an interception.   Shemwell also rushed 6 times for 23 yards.

Coffee County will be back at home Friday night as they welcome Blackman for their first region game of the year.  Thunder Radio will bring you that broadcast beginning with the Friday Night Thunder pregame show at 6.  Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on your exclusive home for Coffee County sports,

Download the broadcast at: https://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/

Over 1,200 runners, representing seventy eight middle Tennessee high schools, descended on The Hermitage on Saturday for the biggest cross country meet of the season thus far. Competing in the prestigious Voyles Classic, 11 boys and 4 girls represented Coffee County Central High School. At the end of the day, each squad had top performances in the first true cross country meet of the season.

For the Red Raiders, Jacob Rutledge was the top finished for Coffee County as he posted a time of 17:20 for the 5K race to capture 26th place. Patricia Barrera was the top finisher for the Lady Raiders as she broke the tape in 22:19 which was good enough for 67th place. The Red Raider team finished in 13th place in the AAA division well ahead of local rivals Tullahoma, Warren County, Lincoln County, Blackman, Smyrna, Stewarts Creek and Columbia. For the JV Red Raiders, Jacob Slabaugh came in 87th in the JV boys’ race with a time of 21:09.

Lady Raider finishers and times
Patricia Barrera – 67th place – 22:19
Nayeli Cano – 180th place – 25:52
Zoe Mills – 220th place – 27:43
Haley Sherrill – 275th place – 30:55

Red Raider finishers and times
Jacob Rutledge – 18th place – 17:20
Landon Kenney – 83rd place – 19:21
Renato Ayala – 88th place – 19:32
Garrett Masters – 98th place – 20:02
Christian Alvarez – 123rd place – 20:41
Bodey Todd – 127th place – 20:58
Ethan Welch – 129th place – 21:09

Red Raider JV finishers and times
Jacob Slabaugh – 87th place – 21:09
Jacob Melton – 161st place – 22:57
Ethan Beaty – 222nd place – 24:28
Holden Shew – 276th place – 26:24

The Raider runners will be in action again on Thursday when they travel to Bell Buckle to compete in the Webb School meet. First race will get underway at 4 PM.

Story by Lawrence Phillips

Manchester Youth Football League traveled to Clay County High School for the Tri County Youth Football League Jamboree on Saturday August 31st.
The Flag Football Division got the afternoon started with a 36-0 win over Watertown’s “A” team flag team with 2 touchdowns each by Trip Trussler, Kyson Norris and Walker Lovelace. Cayden Strickland scrambled for a 39 yard gain and was tripped up at the 6 inch line to prevent a bonus score. The “B” team also made a great showing by posting a 24-0 score with Ethan Proctor and Trey Stevens having two touchdowns each.
The Junior Division (8-9) year olds kicked off their season with a 6-0 victory over Watertown’s Juniors. Jax Nash had the lone score for Manchester.
The Senior division Red Raiders (10-12) year olds came up short with a 6-0 loss to Watertown’s  senior division team but Isaiah Deadman had a touchdown called back on a controversial offensive offsides call.
The Tri County side of MYFL will begin their regular season at Gordonsville on September 14th, with the Flag Division starting at 4:30 pm.
The three divisions of SMTYFA will continue play on September 7th at Waggoner field in Tullahoma in the first annual version of the “Battle For the Coffee Mug” Action is set to begin at 3:00 pm.
Everyone needs to come check out these little guys on the Tri County and SMTYFA sides of MYFL, they are Coffee County’s future!