Category: Sports

Coffee County traveled to Nashville on Saturday night for a pair of games with Nashville Central Christian.  Both Coffee County teams found their shooting touch in the non-district sweep.  The Lady Raiders rolled to a 63 to 38 win while the Red Raiders ground out a hard fought 74 to 61 win.

The Lady Raiders held the home-standing Warriors to 1 point in the first quarter but could mange just a 10 to 1 lead headed to the second period.  Coffee County found their range in the 2^nd to pour in 21 points and cruise to the win.  Jacey Vaughn led the Lady Raiders in scoring with 13 points.  Abby Morgan added 12 points and Morgan Jones came off the bench to score 7.  For her steady play in the 2^nd half, Jones was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  The Lady Raiders are now 13 and 0 on the season.

The Red Raiders used their defense and strong outside shooting to race out to a 27 to 16 lead in the 1^st quarter.  But Nashville Central Christian kept fighting back to close the gap to single digits throughout the game.  A 21 point outburst in the 3^rd quarter and solid defense in the 4^th quarter lifted the Raiders to the win and snapped their 3 game losing streak.  Shawn Anderson had 21 points in the 1^st half and finished with a game high 22 points as he earned the Crazy Daisies player of the game award.  Darius Rozier added 15 points and Kyle Farless netted 9 for Coffee County who improves to 6 and 3 on the year.

Coffee County returns home for this weekend’s 2018 Coffee County Christmas Tournament.   The Lady Raiders open up tournament play on Friday at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym in a rematch with Nashville Central Christian.  The Lady Raiders will take on Oakland on Saturday afternoon at 2 PM, and Thunder Radio will bring you that broadcast via out stream and at WMSRradio.com.  The Red Raiders open tournament play on Thursday at 5 PM against Wilson Central.  Thunder Radio will be there to broadcast that game beginning with live coverage at 4:50.  The Red Raiders come back for a 9:30 AM game on Friday against Riverside Christian and will then finish play on Saturday morning.

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

The Coffee County Youth Basketball League crowned their season champions on Saturday with a full day of action at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  The day opened up with a pair of consolation games as New Union defeated East Coffee 21 to 10 in the girls’ consolation.  In the boys’ consolation, Westwood rallied from a 4^th quarter deficit to drop North Coffee 24 to 20.

In one of the most exciting girls’ finals in the league’s 46 year history, the Westwood Lady Eagles rallied to beat North Coffee’s Lady Chargers 30 to 28.  Trailing by 10 points entering the 4^th quarter, Westwood scored 15 points in the final period to gain their 3^rd league title in the last 5 years.  North Coffee got off to an 11 and 0 start in the first quarter and led by 10 entering the halftime intermission.  Foul trouble plagued the Chargers in the 2^nd half as Westwood chipped away at the lead before taking the lead with 25 seconds left on an Audri Patton basket.  Jules Ferrell led Westwood in scoring with 17 points, including 13 in the 4^th quarter.  Patton added 7 points for the Eagles.  Natalie Barnes led North Coffee in scoring with 13 points while Danni Hillis added 11.

In the boys’ final, the College Street Cougars won their 6^th straight league title with a 31 to 15 win over Deerfield.  The Cougars got off to a red hot start as they scored 7 points in the final 90 seconds of the first half to take a 13 to 2 lead after 1 quarter.  The two teams stayed even in the 2^nd quarter before College Street outscored the Bucks 14 to 6 in the 2^nd half to gain the win.  Blake Cummings led College Street in scoring with 14 points.  Kane Dixon added 4 points as 10 different College Street players scored in the game.  Landon Abellana led Deerfield in scoring with 10 points while Jase Cashion added 3 points for the Bucks.

Members of the Westwood girls’ and College Street boys’ teams will be guests on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to review their seasons.  The Coffee Coaches Show airs at 10 AM each Saturday and is broadcast live from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln.

The Coffee County CHS, Coffee County Middle School and Westwood Middle School swim teams hosted their final home meet of the year on Friday night.  The high school team honored the senior members of the swim team in a pre-meet ceremony.  Seniors Anna O’Connor, Jack Beachboard, Emelia Walker, Ali Marlow and Haley Richardson were presented gifts by young members of the Manchester Makos.

In team scoring, the high school team went 3 and 1(combined) getting wins over Warren County and a pair of home school teams before losing to Sewanee as both boys’ and girls’ teams had identical 3 and 1 records.   In the team relays, both the boys’ and girls’ 200 medley relay teams finished in 2^nd place.  The boys’ 200 freestyle relay team captured 2^nd place and the girls’ 400 freestyle relay team came in 2^nd place.

Individual race winners for Coffee County were: Kaylee Williams in the 100 backstroke(with a time of 1:12.02), the 100 breaststroke(1:12.02) and 100 butterfly(1:07.96); Jack Beachboard in the 100 backstroke(58.71), the 100 butterfly(56.58);

Individual winners for the Westwood swim team were: Nick Bogle in the 50 freestyle(25.3)and 200 IM(2:22.02); Abby Gilday in the 200 freestyle(2:35.87);

For Coffee Middle, the 200 Medley relay team was 1^st in their heat as Emily Williams, Taylor Wall, Clancey Sand and Elli Masters swam the race in 2:24.02 which was less than a second behind the Sewanee high school squad which had the low time.  The same foursome also finished in 2^nd place in the 400 freestyle relay.  Individual winners for the Coffee County Middle School swim team were: Emily Williams in the 500 freestyle(6:17.33) and 100 butterfly(1:16.63);

Friday’s meet was the last of the calendar year for the prep racers.  The high school team will compete in Sewanee in January before the region and state meets.  The middle school swimmers will next be in action in the region meet set for late January in Nashville.

On another big day by running back Derrick Henry, the Titans picked up another big win.

Henry ran for 170 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries, one week after rushing for a franchise-record 238 yards against the Jaguars, as the Titans rolled to a 17-0 win over the New York Giants here at MetLife Stadium.

The Titans improved to 8-6 after their third straight win. It was the first shutout by the defense since December 25, 2000 vs. the Cowboys.

The Titans took a 7-0 lead on a one-yard touchdown run by Henry, which came on fourth-and-goal. Quarterback Mariota connected with receiver Corey Davis for third-down completions of 11 and 17 yards on drive, which ended up being 15 plays for 75 yards in 7:45.

Later, the Titans got another one-yard touchdown run by Henry. Kicker Ryan Succop kicked a 22-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to account for the final points.

Defensively, the Titans held the Giants in check. Titans cornerback Logan Ryan and safety Kevin Byard each recorded sacks of Giants quarterback Eli Manning in the first half, giving the team’s defensive backs the record for sacks in a season.

Early in the second half, Byard stepped up and made a big interception for the Titans, stopping a Giants drive deep in Tennessee territory.

The defense got an even bigger play later, when linebacker Kamalei Correa sacked Manning, forcing a fumble that was recovered by defensive lineman Jurrell Casey at the Giants 14.

Five plays later, Henry found the end zone again for the one-yard touchdown.

It was a big day for the defense, which came just one week after the Giants scored 40 points in a win over the Redskins.

The Titans return home to face the Redskins on Saturday at Nissan Stadium.

The Predators wanted to put forth a better effort in front of goaltender Juuse Saros. On Saturday night, they got a nearly perfect effort from the man himself.

Saros made 33 saves through 65 minutes – and turned away five more opportunities in the shootout – as Nashville defeated the New Jersey Devils, 2-1, at Bridgestone Arena.

The result gives the Preds a clean sweep of their three-game homestand, as well as a perfect record against the Devils to conclude the season series between the two.

“It was a really great hockey game,” Preds center Ryan Johansen said. “The Devils played really well, for having to play back-to-back hockey games; they worked really hard and made it tough on us. It was huge for us to find a way to get it done.”

Frederick Gaudreau provided the only goal through the game’s first 40 minutes as he potted a rebound for his second of the season with less than two minutes to play in the first period. Nashville had a power-play goal called back due to goaltender interference in the middle frame, negating what would have been Roman Josi’s sixth.

It looked as though Saros might be on his way to his second shutout of the season, but Brian Boyle evened the score with less than two minutes to play in regulation to send both the Preds and Devils to overtime for the third consecutive meeting.

Both clubs traded chances in OT, and in the shootout, it was Ryan Ellis and Johansen who played the role of heroes to earn the extra point.

“It’s a huge win,” Gaudreau said. “Juuse did such a great job in the shootout and the whole game. It’s a big win.”

From here, the Predators will head back out on the road for a four-game trip, and they’ll try to do something they haven’t done in over a month – collect a win away from Nashville.

“It was important to get three wins after coming off the road and losing a couple,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We have some games here before Christmas. The road is something we’ve talked about. We have to do a better job. I don’t think that we played the right way or been competitive enough on the road, so there’s an opportunity coming up where we have a stretch of road games and a chance to fix that. We’ll be ready to play.”

Juice Is Loose:

Peter Laviolette didn’t mince words prior to Saturday’s game.

The bench boss believed his club wasn’t playing up to their high standards when Juuse Saros was tending the net as of late, calling recent efforts in front of No. 74: “lousy.”

Just hours after Laviolette issued the challenge, his group responded, and the man tending the cage did his part as well to clinch a satisfying shootout victory, the first such triumph of his career.

“I have to thank the guys for that; they let me see the puck and didn’t give up too many scoring chances,” Saros said. “They played great in front of me.”

“We played a more complete game,” Johansen said. “For [Saros] to come in and play the way he did was awesome. Overall, everyone on the team played great tonight.”

Not only was the defensive effort in front of Saros much improved, the play of the goaltender himself was also admirable. Saros made save after save in regulation, and after allowing a goal on the first shot of the shootout, he battled back to stymie the rest of the Devils on the way to his eighth victory of the season.

All night long, extended cheers of “Juuuusssse” rained down from the sellout crowd, and for good reason.

“He was really good,” Laviolette said of Saros. “There wasn’t a lot that tested him in the first two periods. I think sometimes that can be more challenging where you’re taking the hardest hits late in the game, in the third period, in the overtime, in the shootout, when you’re called on the most. That’s when he really shined for me. He got better as the game went on.”

Notes:

Anthony Bitetto and Zac Rinaldo were scratched for the Preds on Saturday.

Nashville is now 10-0-0 against the Eastern Conference this season.

The Preds have earned a point in eight consecutive games (4-0-4) against the Devils at Bridgestone Arena dating back to Nov. 19, 2009.

With the homestand now complete, the Predators will head out on the road for a four-game set prior to the Christmas break next week. The first stop comes in Ottawa on Monday, followed by visits to Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston.

In a pair of physical, up tempo games, the Coffee County CHS basketball teams visited Cookeville on Friday.  In a rematch from last Saturday night, the Lady Raiders gutted out a 66 to 56 win.  The Red Raiders trailed from start to finish in a 78 to 46 loss.

The Lady Raiders had to hold off a fast and physical start by Cookeville as they fell behind by as many as 5 points in the first half.  Trailing by 1 entering the second half, Coffee County held Cookeville to 6 points in the 3^rd quarter to lead by 13 entering the final period.  Coffee County was led in scoring by Bella Vinson who finished with 20 points.  Jacey Vaughn added 17 points, including five 1^st National Bank 3 pointers to be named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  Abby Morgan poured in 15 points as the Lady Raiders improved to 12 and 0 on the season.

The Red Raiders fell behind 9 to 0 in the boys’ game before finally getting on the board in the final 3 minutes of the 1^st quarter.  After trailing by as many as 12, Coffee County cut the deficit to 2 points halfway through the 2^nd quarter.  But Cookeville outscored the Raiders 21 to 6 in the final 4 minutes of the first half to seize control of the game.  Coffee County could not get any closer than 15 points in the second half as the Cavaliers captured the season sweep of the Red Raiders.  Darius Rozier led Coffee County in scoring with 15 points.  Kyle Farless came off the bench to score 11 as he was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  C.J. Anthony had 8 points and Hayden Hullett added 5 points in the final quarter.

Coffee County returns to the road on Saturday night when they travel to Nashville to take on Nashville Central Christian.  Tip off for the girls’ game is 6 PM, Thunder Radio begins live coverage at 5:50 with the Powers Storage Pregame Show.

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

The Coffee County Middle School basketball teams hosted conference rival Harris on Thursday night.  In a pair of games you heard here Thunder Radio, Coffee Middle used strong first halves to capture the conference sweep.   The Lady Raiders won 38 to 24 while the  Raiders won by a score of 40 to 34.

In the girls’ game, the Lady Raiders dominated the first half as they built a double digit lead.  Chloe Gannon and Olivia Vinson each had 10 points to lead Coffee County in scoring.  Alivia Reel and Abby Mahaffey each finished with 6 for the Lady Raiders.  For her efforts, Vinson was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.

 

In the boys’ game, the Raiders led 18 to 9 at the half and stretched the lead into double digits in the 3^rd quarter.  Harris battled back in the 4^th quarter to cut the gap to 1 points, but the Raiders hit the free throws down the stretch to capture the win.  Jacob Holder led the Raiders in scoring with 15 points, including 8 in the final frame.  Hayden Garr added 14 points while Cooper Reed finished with 5.  Holder and Garr were named the Crazy Daisies co-players of the game.

The Raiders and Lady Raiders will travel to Woodbury on Monday night for a battle with Cannon County.  The girls’ game will tip off at 6 PM.

 

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

The Coffee County Elementary Basketball League played the boys’ semifinal round of their postseason tournament on Thursday night.  This pair of boys’ semifinal games set up the boys’ championship and consolation match ups which will be held on Saturday.

In the first semifinal, Deerfield used a big 2^nd half to pull away for North Coffee for the 36 to 21 win.  With the Bucks leading 16 to 15 at half, Deerfield outscored the Chargers 10 to 1 in the 3^rd quarter to take the win.  Landon Abellana was the leading scorer for Deerfield with 24 points.  Jase Cashion added 8 points.  For North, the leading scorer was Presley Rooker who had 16 points.

In the second semifinal, College Street scored 8 points in the final minute of the 1^st quarter to build a double digit lead they would never surrender.  College Street rolled to the 36 to 16 win as 9 different players scored in the game.  The Cougars were led in scoring by Blake Cummings with 8 points.  Matt Moore and Kaysen Lowery both finished with 6 points.  Westwood was led in scoring by Lane Fann who had 10 points.

 

 

Semifinal Results and Finals schedule

Monday, December 10, 2018	Girls’ Tournament Semifinals at CHS
6:00	Westwood – 31	vs	New Union – 10
7:00	North Coffee – 31	vs	East Coffee – 8
Thursday, December 13, 2018	Boys’ Tournament Semifinals at CHS
6:00	Deerfield – 34	vs	North Coffee – 21
7:00	College St. – 36	vs	Westwood – 16
Saturday, December 15, 2018	Tournament Finals and Consolation at CHS
Girls Consolation – 9 AM	New Union	vs	East Coffee
Boys Consolation – 10 AM	North Coffee	vs	Westwood
11:00	Cheerleading Exhibition
Girls Championship – 12 PM	Westwood	vs	North Coffee
Boys Championship – 1 PM	Deerfield	vs	College Street

The Temple Baptist Christian School basketball team welcomed the Shenandoah Baptist Academy to the E.C Bailey Gym on Thursday night.  Playing host to the visitors from Cleveland, Tennessee, the Eagles were looking to close out the 2018 portion of the season with a win. The JV Eagles won the JV game 37 to 19.  The varsity ground out a 56 to 51 win.

In the JV game, the Eagles held the visiting Lions to 6 points in the second half in the win.  Temple was led in scoring by Alex Gloden who had 11 points.  David Tran, Isaac Stewart, Nathan Baker, John Green and Sam Floyd all added 4 points.

In the varsity game, the Eagles built a double digit lead going into the 4^th quarter and had to hold off a late Lion rally to capture the 56 to 51 win.  Cody Swayze led the Eagles in scoring with 43 points.   Mich Gloden added 9 points and Alex Gloden chipped in 4 points.

Temple is now off until January 15^th when they travel to Jamestown to take on Faith Christian.  That game will begin at 5:30 PM.

The Westwood football team held their annual awards banquet on Thursday night.  Annually, the most prestigious football award Westwood has given since 1985 is the Brian Gregory Award.  Brian was a former Westwood, and Manchester Central, football player who died in a tragic farming accident while in high school. For the 34^th award winner, the Rockets football team honored starting quarterback Eli Felice as the Brian Gregory Award winner.   The Brian Gregory Award is presented to the most outstanding student/athlete football player at Westwood annually.  Eli is the son of John and Kelly Felice.