Category: Sports

Former Red Raider Alontae Taylor was originally recruited to Tennessee to play wide receiver. But during spring practices earlier this year, UT head coach Jeremy Pruitt elected to move Taylor from offense over to defense and try his hand at cornerback. Taylor almost exclusively played quarterback and wide receiver in his sterling career at Coffee County. Taylor took to his new position quickly and stayed there once fall camp began.
Fast forward to the halfway point of the 2018 season, and Taylor has been one of the best cornerbacks in the country at limiting big plays just six games into his Tennessee career.
According to the college division of Pro Football Focus, Taylor has been one of best corners among Power Five players this year at keeping receivers from picking up big yards. PFF released a graphic showing Power Five cornerbacks who have allowed the fewest yards per coverage snap to their match-ups this season, and Taylor comes in sixth behind studs like Michigan’s David Long, Mississippi State’s Maurice Smitherman, and TCU’s Innis Gaines.
Opposing quarterbacks haven’t targeted Taylor’s assignment much to start this year, and that’s because the true freshman has usually been in great coverage in the first six weeks of the season. He’s allowing less than half a yard per snap on passing plays this season.
Not bad for a true freshman and a player who was on the offensive side of the ball at Coffee County Central High School this time last year.
Taylor has started four games and played in all six of Tennessee’s games this season. He totaled a career-high seven tackles against Auburn this past weekend, and he recovered a fumble for a touchdown as well.
So far in his first season with the Vols, Taylor has 21 tackles, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery for a touchdown, a pass break-up, and a blocked kick.

Sophomore Megan Blumhoefer scored the game’s only goal at the 61-minute mark and classmate Emily Bryant shut out the opposition as the Motlow Lady Bucks beat Southwest Tennessee 1-0 Friday evening in McMinnville. Motlow’s scheduled game Sunday against Andrew College (GA) was cancelled.
With Friday’s victory, Motlow (5-0, 9-3-2) clinches the top seed in next week’s NJCAA Region VII Soccer Tournament, which begins Thursday, Oct. 25, at St. George’s High School in Collierville. Southwest Tennessee will be the No. 2 seed. The winner of the tournament will advance to the NJCAA Central District tournament.
The Lady Bucks will travel to Columbia for their final conference game on Monday, Oct. 22, with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Following the Region VII tournament, Motlow will host the Martin Methodist College JV for sophomore night Oct. 29, at 6 p.m. at Tullahoma’s soccer field behind East Middle School.
Blumhoefer’s goal came on an assist from Keely Smith, giving Bryant all the points she needed as she saved all five of the Lady Saluqis’ shots on goal. Motlow had 21 shots on the evening, with Southwest saving nine of the Lady Bucks’ 10 shots on goal. Motlow held a 7-1 advantage in corner kicks.
This season is the second year of women’s soccer for both Motlow and Southwest Tennessee, but the first season that Southwest has competed at the Division I level. Columbia State and Dyersburg State both began Division I women’s soccer this season, and if one more Tennessee Community College Athletic Association adds the sport then it will become an official conference sport.
Motlow has now won eight of its previous 10 games and has outscored its in-state rivals 14-2.

The Westwood Middle School basketball teams opened their season on Tuesday night in Fayetteville.

The Lady Rockets held off a late Lady Tiger rally to win 26 to 21.  The Rockets saw foul trouble stifle any chance at the upset win as they fell 36 to 18.

Leading by 7 entering the 4^th quarter, the Lady Rockets were able to hold off a frantic Fayetteville rally.  Anna Johnson led Westwood in scoring with 11 points.  Maddie Sullivan had 5 points, including 4 in the pivotal 4^th quarter.  Bryleigh Gray and Joely Sain each added 4 points.

Trailing by 9 at the half, the Rockets could manage only 2 points in the 3^rd quarter in the loss.  Westwood was led in scoring by Izick Sierra with 6 points.  Konor Heaton added 4 points.  Jayden Carter added 3 points for Westwood.   The JV Rockets fell by a final score of 20 to 14.  Caiden Warren was the leading scorer for the JV Rockets as he finished with 6.

The Rockets will hit the road again on Tuesday when they travel to Wartrace to take on Cascade.  Tip-off for the girls’ game is set for 6 PM.

The Coffee County Middle School 6^th Grade basketball hosted their first home games of the year on Tuesday night with a doubleheader against White County.  The Lady Raiders closed out the 1^st quarter on an 11 to 1 run as they won 44 to 17.  The Red Raiders fell behind 22 to 2 in the first half as they fell 42 to 18.

The Lady Raiders used a combination of effective full court pressure and exceptional ball movement to build a 32 to 7 halftime lead on the way to their 3^rd win of the year.  Olivia Vinson was the top scorer for Coffee Middle as she celebrated her birthday by scoring 16 points.  Sophie McInturff added 11 points and Channan Gannon chipped in 6.

The Red Raiders ran into a hot shooting Warriors team in the loss.  Coffee County was led in scoring by Colter Neel who had 8 points.  Courtland Farrar and Evan Kirby each added 4 points.

The 6^th grade teams will travel to White County next Tuesday for their next contest.  Tip-off for the girls’ game is set for 6 PM.

It’ll be a rematch. Due to results around the USL on Sunday, Nashville SC clinched the No. 8 seed in the USL Cup Playoffs and will travel to take on top-seeded FC Cincinnati in the first round on Saturday at 3 p.m. CST. It’ll be the second-consecutive meeting between the two clubs after they drew 3-3 this past Saturday at First Tennessee Park.

The two teams have gotten quite familiar with one another this season with three regular season meetings, drawing all three times. Nashville SC has played FCC tough in all three games, drawing 0-0 in the first matchup at Nissan Stadium in July. Then in August, Nashville scored a late equalizer to earn a 1-1 draw at Nippert Stadium. Then, Nashville SC upped the drama, scoring in the final minute on Saturday night to end its regular season with one more result.

Nashville SC is one of just two clubs that FC Cincinnati has not beaten in its record-breaking final season in the USL. Cincinnati has set records for points and wins in the USL regular season and is currently riding a USL-record 23 game unbeaten streak that dates back to May.

While Nashville will be playing in its first-ever USL playoff game, this is the third consecutive season that FC Cincinnati has reached the USL Cup Playoffs. In its two previous trips, Cincinnati was one-and-done, falling in a first round upset in 2016 to the Charleston Battery before bowing out in the first round again last season to the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

For fans that would like to make the trip to support Nashville SC in its inaugural playoff run, stay tuned to NashvilleSC.com and @NashvilleSC on social media for ticket information.

The College Street and Westwood Elementary cross country teams traveled to Chattanooga on Saturday for the Chattanooga Cross Country State Qualifier at Moccasin Bend. At the end of the day, the College Street boys’ team had a runner-up finish while the Lady Cougar runners finished in 4th place. With their performances, the Cougars qualified for the state meet scheduled for this Saturday. For Westwood, the boys garnered a 6th place team finish while the girls came home in 7th place overall.

In the boys’ race the top local finisher was Jordan Thompson of College Street who ran the 1 mile course in 7:05 to capture 8th place. The top Westwood runner was Farmer Rigsby(with a time of 7:48) who had a 35th place finish.
Other racers for the College Street boys’ team(with their times in parentheses) were:
11th place – Jacoba Fells(7:09)
30th place – Riley Evans(7:41)
31st place – Mario Gonzalez(7:41)
37th place – Jaxon Pruitt(7:52)
44th place – Ty Deaton(7:57)
54th place – Elijah Vernon(8:22)
55th place – Micah Wells(8:25)
56th place – Ethan McKenzie(8:26)
58th place – Blake Cummings(8:31)
60th place – Matt Moore(8:32)
66th place – Cole Shedd(8:43)
71st place – Erick Moncayo(8:55)
72nd place – Austin Flores(8:55)
76th place – Wyatt Jones(9:03)
79th place – Christopher Mijango(9:08)
83rd place – Joshua Mainville(9:15)
Other racers for the Westwood boys’ team(with their times in parentheses) were:
61st place – Gaiden Stinson(8:36)
67th place – Ismael Salazar(8:50)
69th place – Kevin Villamar(8:52)
80th place – Cole Watson(9:10)
84th place – Ethan Hamby(9:19)
85th place – Jerrard Morgan(9:21)
95th place – Aaron Jaimes(10:26)
97th place – Jacob Estep(10:46)
101st place – Joel Cano-Aguilar(11:30)

In the girls’ race the top local finisher was Jazrea Fells of College Street who ran the 1 mile course in 7:44 to capture 9th place. The top Westwood runner was Abigail Bellamy(with a time of 9:12) who had a 45th place finish.
Other racers for the College Street girls’ team(with their times in parentheses) were:
28th place – Jada Nagel(8:21)
36th place – Sarah Shedd(8:54)
39th place – Faythe Irons(8:57)
43rd place – Sydney Shelton(9:04)
47th place – Scarlett Farnady(9:16)
50th place – Zoe Roman(9:28)
53rd place – Anna Reed(9:35)
54th place – Layla Cooley(9:37)
55th place – Kate Bryan(9:39)
60th place – Claire Lemmons(9:48)
63rd place – Raegan Vik(9:50)
64th place – Mackenzie Ragland(9:51)
67th place – Jonnalee Hillis(10:01)
70th place – Ava Thomas(10:04)
74th place – Kinsley Pruitt(10:20)
88th place – Avery Pruitt(11:51)

Other racers for the Westwood girls’ team(with their times in parentheses) were:
58th place – Hailee Hardin(9:44)
61st place – Addison Fredrick(9:50)
66th place – Hayley Pope(9:57)
81st place – Adelle Laine(10:35)
83rd place – Isabelle Laine(10:51)
84th place – Karlee Stinson, (11:02)
85th place – Danica Fleenor(11:10)
91st place – Lexi Brazier(13:38)
92nd place – Serena Selby(14:03)

The Tennessee State Elementary School Cross Country Championship is scheduled for Saturday in Knoxville. The race will be held at Victor Ashe Park and the girls’ race will begin at 10:30 AM(EDT). The boys’ race is set to follow at 10:50. With the start of the elementary basketball league and the MYFL championship game on Saturday, any College Street runners that qualified for state will need to participate as “unattached” allowing them to compete for an individual title, but not a team title.

The Coffee County Middle School 6^th Grade basketball hit the road on Monday night for a doubleheader at North Franklin.  The Lady Raiders raced to a 33 to 17 win.  The Red Raiders fought their way to a 40 to 17 win.

The Red Raiders raced out to an 18 to 3 lead in the first half.  Coffee County was led in scoring by Courtland Farrar who had 13 points.  Evan Kirby added 10 points.

The 6^th grade teams will host their first home games of the year on Tuesday night as they welcome White County to the CCMS gym.  Tip-off for the girls’ game is set for 6 PM.

Filip Forsberg scored his third goal in two games for the Nashville Predators in a 4-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Bridgestone Arena on Monday.

The Predators (5-1-0) have won three consecutive games and went 3-1-0 on their four-game home stand.

After Pekka Rinne made the save on Nino Niederreiter on a breakaway with 2:41 remaining, Nashville killed a tripping penalty against Miikka Salomaki with 2:17 left while leading 3-2.

The Wild (1-2-2) had a three-game point streak end.

Craig Smith gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 6:01 of the first period on the power play. P.K. Subban took a shot from the point, and Smith beat goaltender Alex Stalock on the rebound.

Matt Dumba scored for the Wild at 13:29 on the power play to tie the game 1-1. The puck bounced out to the high slot, and Dumba one-timed the puck past Rinne.

Mattias Ekholm gave the Predators a 2-1 lead at 3:51 of the second period on a shot from the slot. Ryan Johansen led the rush and found Ekholm with a pass in the slot for his second assist of the night.

Forsberg gave the Predators a 3-1 lead at 12:02 when he scored on a breakaway. Kyle Turris stole the puck and passed it to Forsberg coming off the bench, and he beat Stalock for his fourth goal.

Mikko Koivu scored for the Wild to make it 3-2 at 15:03. Mikael Granlund forced a turnover behind the Predators net and found Koivu.

Salomaki scored an empty-net goal after exiting the penalty box to make it 4-2 with 11 seconds remaining.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

The Red Raider football team traveled to Murfreesboro on Friday night to take on Riverdale.  Facing their 7^th playoff eligible team in their 8^th game of the year, the Red Raiders got  more production out of their offense but still came up short against the talented Warriors.  Coffee County fell by a final score of 48 to 0.

Connor Shemwell had 9 pass completions on 20 attempts for 65 yards as he was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  Shemwell rushed 6 times for 17 yards.  Andrew Mahaffey rushed 9 times for 47 yards.  Trace Bryant caught 4 passes for 24 yards while Weston Hargroves caught 2 passes for 25 yards.

The Raiders return to Murfreesboro on Friday night for a region matchup with Siegel. That game will kick off at 7 PM with Lucky Knott and Dustin Murray will bring you all the action here on Thunder Radio beginning at 6:45.  Thunder Radio’s live coverage begins with the Friday Night Thunder Pregame Show at 6 PM.

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