Category: Sports

The 2019 middle school football season kicks off on Tuesday night and Thunder Radio will be there to bring you all the action.  The Red Raiders of Coffee County Middle School will travel to Watertown for the first ever meeting between the 2 programs.  Kickoff is set for 6:30 PM.  Thunder Radio begins live coverage with the pregame show at 6:20.

The highly acclaimed 1st National Bank Hometown Sports Series returns for its 6th season as we highlight middle school football action from Westwood and Coffee County Middle, along with girls’ soccer and volleyball at the middle schools and at Coffee County Central High.

Beginning on Tuesday and continuing through the end of September, Thunder Radio will bring you a series of 19 regular season contests as we strive to spotlight Manchester’s incredible school and community spirit.  The Hometown Sports Series will continue into the postseason for the high school volleyball and soccer teams as well as any middle school football championship games in October.   Just another example of why Thunder Radio is your leader in Manchester and Coffee County sports coverage.

The tentative schedule is as follows:

Tuesday Prep Schedule

1:00 PM – CHS Golf at Cookeville
6:30 PM – CHS Girls’ Soccer at Blackman (scrimmage)
6:30 PM – CCMS Football at Watertown – 1st National Bank Hometown Sports Series broadcast on Thunder Radio

Down one run in the bottom of the ninth, the Sounds were able to load the bases with one out. Nashville was unable to get that tying run, losing to Albuquerque 5-4 on Monday night.

The first run of the game came in the bottom of the second inning when Eli White hit a home run. The ball bounced off the screen adjacent to the foul pole right above the 310′ sign. That gave Nashville the early 1-0 lead.

The top of the fourth was rough for the Sounds as they allowed five runs to the Isotopes. Albuquerque recorded five consecutive singles in the inning to score three of the runs. Pat Valaika followed with a two-run single for the fourth and fifth run. The Isotopes brought 10 batters to the plate in the inning and was up on the Sounds 5-1.

Nashville creeped back in the next two innings. Matt Davidson launched a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning and Patrick Wisdom led off the bottom of the fifth with his own solo home run. Zack Granite would rope an RBI single later in the inning to bring the Sounds within a run of the Isotopes, down 5-4.

The Sounds had an opportunity to at least tie the Isotopes in the bottom of the seventh inning. Nashville had runners on second and third base, but Granite popped out to third base and Ronald Guzman grounded out into the shift to end the inning.

A bigger threat came from Nashville in the bottom of the ninth inning. Christian Lopes hit a single and Andy Ibanez walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Zack Granite would then reach first base on an error to load the bases. But the Sounds failed to capitalize against Isotopes’ closer Yency Almonte, as he struck out Guzman and Davidson to win the game for Albuquerque 5-4.

Tuesday is a league day off before the Sounds head to California for a seven-game road trip on Wednesday. Nashville starts the road trip with a three-game series against Fresno and finishes with a four-game series at Sacramento.

Post-Game Notes

– With Monday’s 5-4 loss, the Sounds drop to 47-65 in 2019.

– Matt Davidson’s home run in the fourth inning, his 26th of the season. That matches his career-high (Chicago-AL, 2017). It also extended Davidson’s on-base streak to 24 games, the Sounds’ season-high. In 24 games since June 30, he is hitting .330 (31-for-94) with 16 runs scored, 6 home runs, 21 RBI, and 5 walks.

– The Sounds threw seven total pitchers in Monday’s game, with Ian Gibaut allowing all five runs in 0.1 inning.

Marshall Haney of Coffee County CHS football

The Coffee County Red Raider football team welcomed Stewarts Creek to Carden-Jarrell Field on Friday night for their lone home scrimmage of the fall.  Head coach Doug Greene expected a physical contest and his prophecy was correct in the controlled scrimmage.  After holding a 10 to 6 lead after 2 possessions, the Red Raiders saw the depth and experience of the bigger Redhawks take hold.  After the dust settled between the 2 teams 1st strings, Stewarts Creek claimed a 20 to 10 win.

Playing 10 play possessions, Coffee County got on the board first when Marshall Haney capped off a 70 yard drive with a 2 yard touchdown run.  Stewarts Creek answered in their opening possession but Coffee County blocked the PAT to hold on to a 7 to  6 advantage.  When the Raiders 2nd drive stalled deep in Redhawks territory, Coffee County kicked a 31 yard field goal to up the lead to 10 to 6.  The depth of the Stewarts Creek team became obvious as they bounced back to score twice in their next 10 play set.  The Raiders did manage to block a field goal late in the first string session.

Connor Shemwell drops back to pass in scrimmage action on Friday night against Stewarts Creek.

Unofficially, Haney finished with 111 yards rushing on 10 carries to go with his touchdown.  Haney also caught a Connor Shemwell screen pass and rambled 35 yards.  Shemwell finished the game passing for 125 yards as Colin Ward was an effective target across the middle.

Coach Doug Greene was a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to talk about the scrimmage.   The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast live each Saturday morning from 10 to 11 from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln.  You can download the interview at: http://www.podcastgarden.com/episode/coffee-coaches-show_147455

Westwood’s Zowee Dillard(background) goes up for a spike of a ball set by Lilee Scott(foreground) on Saturday

The Coffee County Middle School and Westwood Middle School volleyball teams got their first competitive action of the fall on Saturday.  Hosted by the Coffee County CHS Lady Raider volleyball team, 12 teams took part in the all day scrimmage tournament.  Both the Lady Raiders and Lady Rockets experienced some success on the day as opening day looms for both programs.

A young and rebuilding Lady Rockets team struggled in pool play dropping all 3 of their matches.  Westwood bounced back to grab a straight set win(25-22, 25-23) over Harris in the Silver Bracket semifinals.  Squaring off against Tullahoma in the finals, Westwood fought hard but fell 25-19 and 25-17.   First year head coach Kinda Baxter was pleased with the growth of the team.  “(We) were a team today.  Each girl had moments where they showed they can do it.”  Baxter called out Lilee Scott for her leadership on the day.

Katie Lawrence of CCMS volleyball

The Lady Raiders of Coffee Middle have a new head coach in Tori Taylor.  Taylor, who served as an assistant coach before her promotion, returns a more experienced team.  The Lady Raiders went 2 and 1 in pool play before falling in the first round of the Gold Bracket.   The Lady Raiders fell to South Lincoln 25-18, 25-22.  “I was pleased with our attitude, effort and how much we have improved on each individual skill” said Taylor.  She called out the play of Kurry Neel, Katie Lawrence and Savannah Cooper for the tournament.

Westwood opens the season on Thursday when they play host to Tullahoma at the Joel Vinson Gym.  That match will get underway at 4:30 PM.  Coffee County will open the season on Monday, August 12^th when they travel to Shelbyville to take on Harris.  That match will get underway at 5 PM.

15 hits for the Nashville Sounds helped give them a 7-6 victory over the Albuquerque Isotopes on Sunday. Albuquerque left the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth with one out but were unable to complete a late-inning comeback.

The Sound scored first in the bottom of the first inning when Matt Davidson hit an RBI ground out that scored Andy Ibanez. The Isotopes responded with two runs in the top of the second inning on a two-run home run by Drew Weeks, taking the 2-1 lead.

Both teams would see three lead changes in from the bottom of the fourth to the bottom of the fifth inning. Patrick Wisdom hit a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth inning to put Nashville up 3-2. Albuquerque scored two runs in the top of the fifth on a two-run homer by Sam Hilliard, giving the Isotopes a 4-3 lead. The Sounds took the lead right back on a two-run double by Davidson, making it 5-4.

Two more runs crossed the plate for Nashville on two solo home runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Wisdom led the half-inning off with the first dinger, followed by Ibanez with two outs to extend Nashville’s lead 7-4.

Albuquerque scored one run in the top of the seventh. Roberto Ramos roped a single to right field to score Hilliard. The Sounds would escape further damage leaving runners on first and third, keeping a 7-5 lead.

In the top of the eighth inning, the Isotopes threatened with runners on first and second base with no outs. Jake Petricka came in relief and earned the hold, not allowing any runs to cross and kept the score at 7-5.

Petricka stayed in the game for the ninth inning and flirted with danger. The Isotopes loaded the bases with one out after scoring once on a Josh Fuentes RBI single. But Petricka struck out Brian Mundell and was able to get Noel Cuevas to ground out to seal the 7-6 win.

Nashville looks to get the series win Monday night versus Albuquerque. With first pitch at 7:05 p.m., right-hander Austin Bibens-Dirkx (0-3, 7.23) will start for the Sounds versus right-hander Antonio Senzatela (0-1, 4.91) will start for the Isotopes.

Post-Game Notes

– With Sunday’s 7-6 wins, the Sounds improve to 47-64 in 2019.

– Joe Palumbo made his first start since July 14 after serving a stint on the 7-day injured list. He went 2.2 innings and allowed two earned runs on two hits and one walk while striking out five batters. He threw 37 pitches, 24 for strikes.

– Wes Benjamin came in relief for Palumbo, making his fifth career relief appearance in 84 career games. He earned his fifth win of the season for the Sounds

– Matt Davidson and Patrick Wisdom each recorded three RBI in tonight’s win. They rank first and second on the Sounds in three-RBI games, with Davidson at seven and Wisdom at five.

Lebo Moloto of Nashville SC

A frustrating first half turned quickly into a celebratory evening as Nashville SC picked up its first-ever three match winning streak with a convincing 2-0 road win over Swope Park Rangers on Saturday night. A first half goal from Lebo Moloto and one in the second half from Daniel Ríos sealed the victory in Kansas City, Kan.

The story of the first half looked to be missed chances by Nashville SC as big opportunities fell by the wayside throughout the opening frame. A missed open goal, a post and a missed chip, all from Ríos, made it appear Nashville SC would come up empty handed. Then two former Swope Park Rangers flipped the script. Kharlton Belmar found Lebo Moloto in the 43’ minute and Moloto, from the top of the box, curled it past Swope keeper Adrian Zendejas to give Nashville the deserved lead.

Just after the halftime break, Nashville doubled the lead through its star forward in the 47’ minutes. Ríos took a pass from Moloto and made no mistake to score for the fourth straight match and sixth out of his last seven. Ríos now has 14 goals on the season and is tied for the USL Championship Golden Boot lead with the tally.

From there, Nashville SC saw out the victory as keeper Matt Pickens registered his third consecutive clean sheet. Pickens had little to do as the Nashville defense allowed zero shots on target.

Here are three quick takeaways from the 2-0 victory by Nashville SC.

1) Former Rangers Run Wild at Swope Park

Midfielder Lebo Moloto and forward Kharlton Belmar ran rampant throughout the first half against their former club. Belmar had a shot on target saved from close range that would have given Nashville the lead. Moloto himself had two shots before finding the net with his third. The two players have combined for two goals and three assists in the two wins against Swope Park this season. While the two Nashville attackers returned to Swope, both for the first time since leaving the club, wearing different kits, they seemed right at home at Children’s Mercy Park.

2) Another Clean Sheet

It was the third straight match for keeper Matt Pickens and the third consecutive clean sheet for the veteran keeper. Pickens and the Nashville defense are riding a 286-minute shutout streak dating back to the team’s match on July 6 at Louisville City FC. Tonight’s keeper choice by head coach Gary Smith was particularly interesting as it broke the two-on and two-off streak for Pickens and fellow keeper Connor Sparrow. The three clean sheets also coincide with the acquisitions of Jimmy Ockford and Forrest Lasso to the Nashville defense.

3) First 3-Match Win Streak

It was a third consecutive 2-0 win for Nashville in USL Championship play, and it was particularly notable in that it marked the first-ever three-match league winning streak for Nashville. It couldn’t be coming at a better time as Nashville continues to rise in the USL Championship Eastern Conference standings. With the three points, Nashville SC is now in 4th place in the East, eight points behind first place Tampa Bay Rowdies, but just two points behind Indy Eleven in third.

Up Next

Nashville SC will hit the final stretch 13 matches with nine at home beginning on Wednesday night at First Tennessee Park against Hartford Athletic. Nashville beat Hartford earlier this season 3-2 on the road in a match it came from behind to win. Hartford currently sits 17th in the East, eight points behind the playoff line. Tickets to the Wednesday match are available