Category: Sports

The Coffee County Middle School soccer team will be hosting their 14^th Annual “Kickin’ Cancer Soccer Play Day Scrimmage on Saturday at CCMS.  The Lady Raiders will welcome varsity and JV teams from 6 different middle Tennessee counties for the daylong event.  Games are set to get underway at 9 AM and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to a local cancer charity.  As an added bonus, the Lady Raiders will don pink jerseys and play with a pink ball.

Coffee County will play varsity games at 10:40 and 3:20.  The JV Lady Raiders will play at 9:00 AM and 1:40.  Everyone is encouraged to bring your lawn chair and come out to the Coffee County Middle School to enjoy some good soccer and donate to a worthy cause.   A portion of the proceeds from the tournament will go to benefit the Middle Tennessee Breast Cancer Coalition.

The Manchester Youth Football League will get their season underway on Saturday as all 3 teams will travel to Lewisburg to take part in the Southern Middle Tennessee Youth Football Association (SMTYFA) jamboree.   The jamboree kicks off an exciting 2018 season for the Manchester Youth Football League.  The league will open the regular season on Saturday, August 18^th in Pulaski.  After a trip to Lynchburg on August 25^th, the Raider team will host their very first home games at Carden-Jarrell Field on September 8^th.  The Manchester Raiders will play host to Shelbyville beginning with the Division 1 game at 2 PM.  For the 3^rd straight year, Darren Strickland, the 2016 Titans Junior Broadcaster of the year will serve as the public address announcer for the MYFL Raiders.  To get more information about Manchester Youth Football, visit their website at: https://www.myflraiders.com/

For the 3^rd consecutive year, the Ryan Sulkowski Show returns to Thunder Radio.  Starring Coffee County Red Raider head football coach Ryan Sulkowski, the show will be broadcast live each Wednesday night at 6 PM from West Main Brick Oven in Downtown Manchester.  The hour-long show will recap the previous week’s game, preview the upcoming opponent, bring you player and coach features and keep you in the know about all the happenings of Red Raider football.  Fans and foes alike are encouraged to come on out to West Main for dinner and enjoy the all the fun.

The Coffee County Middle School football team opened the 2018 season at home on Tuesday night.  In a game you heard here on Thunder Radio as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series, the Red Raiders played host to Tullahoma in the annual Coffee Cup Game.  Five turnovers cost the Raiders a chance at the upset as they fell 22 to 6 to the Wildcats.

Trailing 16 to 0 in the 2^nd quarter, Coffee Middle put together a 2 minute, 6 play, 42 yard touchdown drive capped off by a 2 yard touchdown run from Travis Martin to cut the deficit to 16 to 6 at the half.  The Raiders were held to 15 yards and turned the ball over 4 times in the 2^nd half to erase any chance at the comeback win.

Martin finished with a 40 yards on 11 carries.  Elijah Clemmons added 17 yards on 3 carries while Brendan Sheppard added 11 yards rushing on 2 carries.

The Red Raiders return to Carden-Jarrell Field next Tuesday.  They will play host to Lake Forest Middle School of Cleveland, TN.  Kickoff is set for 5 PM CDT.

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

Competing on their home course for the first time this year, the CHS golf team welcomed Shelbyville to Willowbrook on Tuesday.  The Raider linksters squared off with their visitors in a 9 hole match.  Coffee County captured the match win with a score of 162 outdistancing Shelbyville by 8 strokes.

Austin Farris paced the Raiders with an even par score of 36.  Josh Perry fired a 2 over score of 38.  Freshman Logan Hale fired a 43 while senior brother Matthew Hale shot a 45.  The win improved Coffee County to 31 and 2.

The Raiders will hit the road again on Thursday when they travel to Lincoln County.  Coffee County will take part in 9 hole match at Fayetteville Country Club.  Tee time is set for 4 PM.

Season tickets for the 2018 Coffee County Central High School Red Raider football season go on sale on Wednesday.  Tickets are $28 each and are good for all 5 regular season home games at Carden-Jarrell Field.  Tickets can be purchased in the CHS Main Office between the hours of 8 and 3.  You can contact Coffee County CHS at 931-723-5159.

The Nashville Sounds topped the Sacramento River Cats, 4-2, Tuesday night and finished off a perfect 7-0 homestand in front of 8,412 fans at First Tennessee Park. The win extended Nashville’s winnings streak to a season-high nine games.

Boog Powell and Steve Lombardozzi started the scoring right away in the first inning for Nashville. Powell singled to left and Lombardozzi walked to start the rally. Anthony Garcia put the first run on the board with a double down the left field line. Two batters later, Sheldon Neuse singled to right-center, bringing in Lombardozzi to give the Sounds an early 2-0 lead.

Sacramento managed to get a run back against Sounds’ starter James Naile in the second. Aramis Garcia plated a run when he bounced into a 5-4-3 double play, trimming the deficit to 2-1.

Franklin Barreto and Sheldon Neuse started the bottom of the fifth with a walk and a single, respectively. After Bruce Maxwell grounded into a double play, J.P. Sportman gave the Sounds some breathing room with a run-scoring double to left-center.

Sacramento picked up a run in the fifth to make it 3-2. Naile went five innings and allowed a pair of runs. The right-hander improved to 7-10 on the season with the win.

Jorge Mateo sparked a seventh-inning rally with a one-out single. He moved to second on a wild pitch, stole third base, and scored on Dustin Fowler’s RBI double to give the Sounds a 4-2 lead.

Four relievers combined to throw four shutout innings after Naile exited. Carlos Ramirez took the sixth, Danny Coulombe tossed the seventh, Dean Kiekhefer threw the eighth and Liam Hendriks earned the save.

The Sounds have Wednesday off and head to Colorado Springs for a four-game series with the Sky Sox set to begin on Thursday. Right-hander Frankie Montas (3-5, 3.46) starts for Nashville against right-hander Brandon Woodruff (3-1, 3.18) for Colorado Springs. First pitch is scheduled for 7:40 p.m.

Post-Game Notes

• With tonight’s 4-2 win, the Sounds improved to 59-55 on the season.
• Tonight’s attendance of 8,412 at First Tennessee Park put the season total to over 500,000. The Sounds are the first team in Minor League Baseball to surpass the threshold in 2018.
• The Sounds extended their season-best winning streak to nine games and have set a season-high mark of four games over .500.
• Nashville’s multi-series homestand sweep was only their third in the Pacific Coast League era (1998-present). The last was April 3-10, 2013 at Greer Stadium when the Sounds went 6-0 against Iowa and Albuquerque.
• In the month of August, Nashville starters are 6-0 with a 1.69 ERA (42.2 IP/8 ER). Relievers are 1-0 with a 0.44 ERA (20.1 IP/1 ER).

The 2018 season is the Sounds’ 41^st in franchise history and fourth as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

Competing in their 3^rd tournament of the year, the CHS golf team was in Cookeville on Monday for the Early Bird Invitational.  Hosted by Cookeville High, the Early Bird features several top teams from all over the mid-state area.  The Red Raiders outshot Tullahoma in a 2 hole playoff to capture 2^nd place in the 15 team tournament.  Cookeville shot 295 to win the tournament beating Coffee County by 7 strokes.

Samuel Prater led the way for the Raiders as he shot a 3 over par 73.  Austin Farris and Matthew Hale each shot a 74.  Josh Perry carded an 81 for Coffee County as they ran their record to 30 and 2 on the year.  Coach Mike Ray was pleased with his team following the tournament. “I’m proud of our effort today but we can still play better.  It was good getting a little bit of playoff type experience under our belt; hopefully if we have to get in that situation later in the year we will be prepared.”

The Raider golfers will host their first home match of the year on Tuesday.  Coffee County will welcome old rival Warren County and district foe Shelbyville to Willowbrook.  The 9 hole match will get underway at 4 PM and the public is invited to attend.

Former Coffee County CHS pitcher Davis Green has signed a letter of intent to attend Cumberland University on a baseball scholarship.  Green, a 2017 graduate of the Red Raider baseball team for coach David Martin, will attend the Lebanon, Tennessee university after a year away from the game of baseball.   Green was a standout pitcher for the Red Raiders in his junior and senior years but did not sign a college scholarship following graduation.

After missing the game, Green began working out in Murfreesboro with pitching coach Tracy King.  Coach King helped Davis land a spot on the Mt. Juliet Riverdogs summer baseball team this summer.  While pitching with the Riverdogs, Green was coached by an assistant coach from Cumberland.  Cumberland head coach Woody Hunt came to watch Davis pitch and offered him the chance to achieve his team of pitching in college.

Cumberland is a member of the Mid-South Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).  Cumberland is coached by Woody Hunt who has been the coach at Cumberland for 37 years compiling over 1,500 wins.  The Phoenix have been to the NAIA World Series 12 times and captured 3 national championships with the last coming in 2014.

The Coffee County Middle School soccer team welcomed Algood to CCMS on Monday for a preseason scrimmage.  The Lady Raiders, who open the regular season next Monday, were looking to get in some work before Saturday’s scrimmage play day.  Despite a good start and a strong finish, the Lady Raiders fell by a final score of 5 to 0.

The Lady Raiders outshot Algood 4 to 2 in the opening 10 minutes with neither team getting on the scoreboard.  Algood scored off a deflection in the 14^th minute and used that momentum to add 3 more goals in the next 8 minutes plus another goal 2 minutes into the 2^nd half.  Coffee County was able to put 4 shots on frame in the 2^nd half, including a penalty kick in the 48^th minute, but could not get on the scoreboard.

The Lady Raiders will host their 14th Annual Kickin’ Cancer Play Day on Saturday at CCMS.  Games will begin at 9 AM and the CCMS varsity and JV teams will be in action.  A portion of the proceeds from the tournament will go to benefit the Middle Tennessee Breast Cancer Coalition.