Category: Sports

Coffee County Central High School senior Rey Reyes made history on Wednesday.   The Red Raider became the first to sign an NCAA National Letter of Intent to compete as a wrestler at the collegiate level.  Surrounded by family, coaches and former and current teammates; Reyes signed his National Letter of Intent to attend Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Reyes competed at the TSSAA state tournament in February posting a 2 and 2 record in the 182 pound class.  At the collegiate level, Reyes says that the coaches want him to compete in either the 174 or 165 pound class.  When asked about the significance of being the first Red Raider to receive a college scholarship, Reyes humbly remarked that he is proud and a little surprised.  “I am just a small part (of this program)” said Reyes.  Reyes was impressed with the small school feel at Ouachita and “the facilities are amazing” added Reyes.

Raider coach Roger Barlow was exceptionally proud of Reyes and sees his success as vindication for the hard work of everyone in the program.  “Rey has bought in to what we are doing and has done everything we have asked him to do.  But in the end, this is all about his hard work.”  Barlow called out Reyes for his strong work ethic.  “Rey is gonna work his tail off because he is not afraid of hard work.  He has been the heart and soul of this team and we are like family” added Barlow.

Reyes caught the attention of the Ouachita coaches at a recent Greco-Roman wrestling tournament.  “We have found that the work we are doing in the off-season is crucial to the growth of our program” said Barlow.  “(The Ouachita coaches) were impressed with how he performed against high quality competition” added Barlow.

The Ouachita wrestling team has excelled since its inaugural season in 2010.  The Tigers have finished in the top-25 six times in the past nine seasons.  Ouachita competes in the Great Lakes Valley Conference at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)’s Division II level.  The Tigers are coached by head coach Kevin Crutchmer.

The Red Raiders held their 2019 Baseball banquet on Tuesday night to celebrate the season and recognize its players. Head coach David Martin with assistant coaches Matt Shepherd, Parker Gunn and Steve Wilder presided over the event. Below is a list of the night’s award recipients:

Varsity MVP – Hayden Skipper
Varsity Offensive POY – Skylar Bratcher
Varsity Co-Defensive POY – Bryson Hullet
Varsity Co-Defensive POY – Lane Spry
Varsity Pitcher of the Year – Harley Hinshaw
Red Raider Leadership Award – Kael McCall

2019 All District 8 AAA Team – Hayden Skipper, Skylar Bratcher

JV MVP – Trey Rogers
JV Offensive POY – Wyatt Nugent
JV Defensive POY – Luke Beachboard
JV Pitcher of the Year – Jacob Sherrill
JV Player Most Improved – Caleb Brewer

Coffee County’s Bella Vinson picked up the first All-State award of her career on Monday.  Tim Lownsdale of The TN Report named the team in the absence of an Associated Press All-State team this year.  Vinson was the only selection from District 8AAA and was joined on the All-State team by Aislynn and Alasia Hayes of Riverdale as the only 3 selections from Region 4AAAA.

The rising junior guard/forward led the Coffee County Lady Raider basketball team in scoring and was among the leaders in assists and rebounds as well this past season.  Bella was crowned the District 8AAA Most Valuable Player in a vote by district coaches.  She was also selected to the District 8AAA All-District Tournament team.

The Coffee County Central High School basketball teams released their 2019-2020 schedules on Monday.  The season is set to begin on November 22^nd and 23^rd with 2 days of Hall of Champions games at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  The regular season is set to wrap up with a home game against Tullahoma on February 13^th.  This year’s district tournament will take place at Lincoln County High School

In addition the normal district opponents(Tullahoma, Shelbyville, Franklin County, Columbia, Lincoln County and Lawrence County), the upcoming schedule features the addition of some familiar non-district opponents from years past.  Coffee County will take on White County in a home and home series.  The Lady Raiders will play Riverdale in a single game at home and Baylor in a single game on the road in the upcoming season.  Both teams will also travel to Grundy County on December 9^th and Warren County is once again on the schedule for a home and home series.

The Red Raiders will once again host their Christmas Classic Tournament.  The Lady Raiders will play in the Cannon County Tournament on Thanksgiving weekend and the Riverdale Christmas Tournament.  Both Raider teams are looking to improve on regular season District 8AAA championships and Region 4AAA tournament appearances.

Coach Joe Pat Cope will be a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to talk about the upcoming season.  The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast each Saturday morning at 10 AM LIVE from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln.  The Coffee Coaches Show is heard exclusively on Thunder Radio.

A big crowd turned out on Friday to see the CHS football team wrap up spring practice at the Raiders football practice field.  Coach Doug Greene was pleased with the crowd and the improvement through the spring session.  “I was pleased, I thought it went well and we were pleased with the crowd” said Greene.   “In fact, some of the people said they enjoyed being able to be that close and I know the kids enjoyed the atmosphere.”

With 50+ kids dressed out, but his quarterbacks limited due to injury, Greene was able to implement many team situations.  The full contact session had “no contact” rules in place for each quarterback, nonetheless, the scrimmage featured “improved tackling and opportunities for decision making for my QB’s” added Greene.  When asked about his impressions, Greene remarked that the players have improved a lot during spring drills.  “Our goals were to have the kids learn how to practice and begin to get a feel for who belonged in what position(during spring practice) and we accomplished those things” said Greene.  He went on to say “there were times where we executed well and times where we didn’t but effort is not a problem with these kids.”

The Raiders will now take off until Tuesday, May 28^th when they return to work with the incoming freshmen as part of the team.  “June will be critical for us.  We will be concentrating on installing our (offensive and defensive) systems and getting stronger” said Greene.  Workouts will begin at 8 AM on Tuesday and conclude each day around noon.  The football team will work out Monday thru Thursday until the dead period.  Greene will be a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to talk about spring and summer workouts.  The Coffee Coaches Show is hear live each Saturday beginning at 10 AM from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln.

The Coffee County Claybusters traveled to Nashville on Saturday to take part in a 200 shot singles event at the Nashville Gun Club.  Seventeen different shooters took part in the events and once again, the Claybusters brought home an impressive array of titles.

Logan Meadows won the overall event championship as he shot 197 out of 200.  Landon Meadows won the subjunior championship shooting 194 out of 200.  Colter Smith won the class A championship shooting 193 out of 200.  Additionally, Jacob Anderson shot his very first 25 straight.

The Claybusters will return to the Nashville Gun Club on Saturday, June 1st for the Scholastic Clay Target Program(SCTP) regional championship.

 

Al White Ford/Lincoln, in conjunction with Ford Motor Company, hosted a Drive 4 Ur School Event to benefit the Coffee County Central High School softball team.  The event, which was held in March, earned $8,000 for the Lady Raiders.  A check was presented to the team at a ceremony in the Al White showroom on Monday.

Coach Brandon McWhorter was appreciative of Al White’s help.  “We would like to thank Al White for their continued support of our community and sports programs. This is a great event that will help fund some needs in our program.”

Al White Ford/Lincoln raised over $65,000 this school year for schools and teams through test drive events like this one with both Ford and Lincoln.  Over the past 4 years, Al White has helped raise well over a quarter of a million dollars for the community through these events.  Al White’s test drive program concluded for this school year on Saturday in an event at Westwood to benefit the boys’ soccer team and girls’ volleyball.

Three Coffee County Middle School Lady Raider track athletes qualified for the 2019 TMSAA State Track Meet which was held on Saturday.  Competing at Fontana Stadium at Austin Peay State University, Holli Hancock, Jaylen Case and Kaitlyn Davis represented the Lady Raiders in the event featuring the top 16 qualifiers in 13 different events from across the state.  At the end of the day, Holli Hancock came home with the only medal of the day as she captured 6th place in the shot put.

Jaylen Case opened the day for the Lady Raiders in long jump.  Case got in 4 clean jumps as she added distance in each round.  Jaylen jumped 12′ 6.75″ in the first round and hit a distance of 12’11” in her 4th jump.  That jump was good enough to place her in 16th place overall.

Next up was the discus throw.  Holli Hancock was the lone competitor for the Lady Raiders.  Hancock got a safe toss in of 56′ 1″ on her first throw.  She upped her total on the next 2 throws topping out on her 3rd throw with a distance of 67’11”.  That toss was good enough for 11th place in the event.

The final event of the day was the shot put where Hancock and Kaitlyn Davis competed for the Lady Raiders.  Fouls were the story of the event as Davis fouled on her first attempt.  She rebounded to get 3 throws over 29 feet topping out at 30′ 3.5″ which was good enough for 11th place.  Hancock got off her best throw on her 1st toss as she ripped off a throw of 32 feet.  Fouls on her last 2 throws did not allow Hancock to improve her standing.  Hancock’s 32 foot throw was good enough to put her on the medal stand as she finished in 6th place.

Trace Bryant completed the 2 day, 10 event Decathlon on Friday at Fontana Stadium at Austin Peay State University.  Bryant is the first Coffee County Red Raider to qualify for the decathlon since 1997.  On Friday, Bryant matched the 1997 performance of Dustin Clark as each finished in finished in 9^th place overall.

After beginning the day in 12th place after the first 5 events, Bryant posted a time of 17.52 in the 110 high hurdles which was good enough for 10th place in the event which moved him to 10th place in the standings.  A 4th place finish in the long jump with a leap of 20′ 8″ moved him to 9th place in the standings where he would stay the rest of the meet.  In the high jump, Bryant again captured a 4th place with a jump of 5′ 8″.   In the shot put, Bryant had a toss of 35′ 8″ to finish in 7th place and Trace closed out with another 7th place finish in the 1500M run with a time of 5:15.96.

Bryant finished with a personal best point total of 5412 which was 250 points off the medal stand.  Bryant, along with 5 teammates will participate in the Division 1 state track meet on Thursday, May 23^rd at MTSU’s Dean Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium.  Bryant will compete in the pole vault and Macy Tabor will compete in the high jump beginning at 9 AM.  Chloe Haggard will compete in the pole vault at noon.  And the 4x400M relay team of John Dobson, Kelvin Verge, Renato Garcia and Trace Bryant will run in the final event of the 4 PM session on Thursday.

Full schedules, for boys and girls, can be found at: https://tssaasports.com/sports/track-boys/

Many people say that fishing requires a lot of luck.  While good fishermen might have good luck on a good fishing day, bad luck can always ruin the day for every fisherman.  A damaged propeller on Saturday hindered the Coffee County Youth Bass Club team of Kylan Mantooth and Lance Marcrom as they fished Tims Ford in the Tennessee BASS Nation Junior State Championship.

The M&M squad lost an ear off their propeller early Saturday morning hindering their mobility on a lake in which they have had success this season.  Nevertheless, the duo and their boat captain fought through adversity to land a fish and make the scoreboard in their first ever state tournament appearance.  The team landed 1 fish weighing in at a respectable 2.24 pounds to capture 26th place. Congratulations to Lance and Kylan.