Category: Sports

Ozzie Albies’ leadoff single ignited a two-run fourth inning that held up for starter R.A. Dickey’s 10th win in the Braves’ 3-2 victory over the Nationals on Thursday at SunTrust Park.

Albies reached third base on a throwing error by catcher Matt Wieters on a pickoff attempt and raced home on a Freddie Freeman sacrifice fly — Freeman’s team-leading 71st RBI of the season — to give the Braves a 2-1 lead. Johan Camargo added an insurance run with his RBI single three batters later.
Dickey rediscovered the command of his knuckleball against the Nationals. He shook off a string of tough starts and limited the Nationals to two runs over eight innings. After allowing a solo homer to Ryan Zimmerman, he sat down 14 of his next 15 batters faced.
Wieters made things interesting with an RBI single in the eighth inning, but Dickey got out of the jam by getting Wilmer Difo to line out to left field.
Braves closer Arodys Vizcaino pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn his 12th save this season.

The Motlow State Lady Bucks captured the first win in school history, then followed that with their second consecutive road shutout victory, raising their record to .500 heading into Friday’s home game rematch against Meridian (MS) Community College.

Motlow (2-2-1) traveled to St. George’s High School in Memphis and beat Southwest Tennessee Community College 4-0 last Friday behind a three-goal hat trick from Tullahoma’s Anastasia Wellington. Monday, Motlow shut out Hiwassee College 7-0 in Madisonville, with six different players scoring goals for the Lady Bucks.

“We’ve asked our players to set the tone of the match from the first whistle, and in both these wins you could see our attacking intent from the outset,” said Motlow Head Coach Andy Lyon. “Anastasia is beginning to regain her confidence and sharpness, and she will only get better from here. The fact that we have had goals scored by various players is extremely encouraging.”

The Lady Bucks will play host to Meridian on Friday at Lincoln County High School in Fayetteville, with kickoff scheduled for 5 p.m. The game is a rematch of Motlow’s season opener, when they went to Meridian and played to a 1-1 tie Aug. 25.

“I anticipate another close contest against Meridian,” continued Lyon. “When we went down there for our season opener, they were solid overall as a team and didn’t provide us any easy opportunities. I think the Lady Bucks and the Eagles are both considerably better teams than they were in August. We have had great support from our area communities and we hope to have a big crowd in Fayetteville on Friday.”

Lyon’s squad dominated the action from the beginning in Memphis, but couldn’t put the ball in the goal in the first half despite outshooting the home team 17-0. Motlow’s fortunes changed in the second half though, with Wellington getting things started with her first goal coming at the 51 minute mark on an assist from Paige Loveless.

Callie Simmons, a freshman from Smyrna, increased the lead to 2-0 with a goal at the 58 minutes mark, with the assist coming from Rebekah Duross. With her confidence soaring, Wellington closed out the scoring, and the hat trick, with a pair of goals in the final two minutes, the second one aided by a Bethany Porter assist.

Motlow finished with 38 shots on goal, while Southwest TN had only one. Lena Alakabi played the first half as goalkeeper, and Manchester’s Ali Shelton played the second half and recorded Motlow’s lone save.

Monday afternoon in Madisonville, Wellington picked up where she had left off against Southwest, scoring her first goal at the three minute mark and her second, with an assist from Keely Smith, two minutes later. Just five minutes into the contest, the Lady Bucks led 2-0.

Five different players scored the next five goals for Motlow, with Bailee Walls scoring at the 25 minute mark with an assist from Wellington, and Megan Blumhoefer scoring on a penalty kick at the 43 minute mark, assisted by Tyler Feaster. The Lady Bucks went into halftime leading Hiwassee 4-0.

Feaster notched her second goal of the season at the 51 minute mark, with the assist from Blumhoefer, and Loveless followed that two minutes later with a goal, also assisted by Blumhoefer. Shelby Grow, who scored her only goal of the year in the opener against Meridian, finished off Monday’s scoring with a goal at the 63 minute mark, assisted by both Feaster and Walls.

The Lady Bucks have now outscored their last two opponents 11-0, and on the season Motlow holds a 13-5 advantage. Seven different players have scored for the Lady Bucks, with Wellington leading the way with five and Tyler Feaster and Grow with two each. Motlow’s defense has been stellar, allowing an average of only one goal per game. Alakabi, Shelton and Emily Bryant have each spent time in the goalkeeper position.

Visit the official website of Motlow Athletics at MotlowSports.com for rosters, schedules, stats and more. Interact with Motlow Athletics on social media at MotlowSports.

The Motlow Bucks will begin defense of their Tennessee Community College Athletic Association (TCCAA) regular season championship when they travel to Jackson to face Jackson State on Friday, Nov. 10. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., or 20 minutes following the women’s contest.

The TCCAA conference opener is just one highlight of Motlow’s 2017-18 men’s basketball schedule. JUCO basketball teams can begin official practice on Oct. 1, and the first game of the season can be played Nov. 1.

The Bucks, who also won the TCCAA/Region VII Tournament title and advanced to the national tournament final eight, are expected to be ranked among the top teams in the nation when polls are released in late October.

Unlike previous seasons, when the Bucks tended to open the season against an area JV squad, Motlow has scheduled an NJCAA tournament rematch against Georgia Highlands, who the Bucks beat 70-69 last March to advance to the final eight, to open the year. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Rome, Georgia. The two teams will play again at Motlow’s Copperweld Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 29, with a 6 p.m. scheduled start.

Motlow’s men will only play four home games before the holiday break, then turn around and play eight after the break, with all but one of them being a TCCAA conference game. The first home contest comes Nov. 15, when the Bucks host the Cumberland University JV, coached by former Motlow head coach Lonnie Thompson, for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

The first TCCAA conference home game doesn’t come until Dec. 1, when Cleveland State visits Copperweld Arena at 7:30 p.m. The following day, Chattanooga State will play the Bucks at 4 p.m. on Motlow’s home floor in Moore County.

The Bucks, under first-year Head Coach Arthur Latham, have an ambitious scrimmage schedule in place, although scrimmage dates can sometimes change with little notice. The Bucks, who feature returning All-American Javion Hamlet and TCCAA Freshman of the Year Rashawn Fredericks, will play scrimmage games in Orlando and Atlanta in October against some of the nation’s top programs.
Motlow will also make a return trip to Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, where they went early last season and jumpstarted themselves to an outstanding 30-6 record. The trip is scheduled for Nov. 3 & 4, sandwiched in between the opener at Georgia Highlands and the conference opener at Jackson State.

The TCCAA alternates playing men’s and women’s games first on conference doubleheader dates. This coming season the women will play first through December, with the men playing first after the new year begins.

Visit the official website of Motlow Athletics at MotlowSports.com for rosters, schedules, stats and more. Interact with Motlow Athletics on social media at MotlowSports.

The Westwood soccer team hosted Fayetteville on Wednesday evening for 8^th Grade Night.  In a match originally scheduled for September 5^th, the Lady Rockets were looking to build on the momentum of Monday’s blowout win over Liberty as they march toward the postseason.  Westwood did exactly that as they captured a 3 to 0 win.

Westwood got 3 first half goals to claim their 2^nd consecutive conference win.  Diana Ramirez opened the scoring in the 4^th minute as she scored an unassisted goal to give Westwood the 1 to 0 lead.  Ramirez once again found the back of the net in the 13^th minute with an unassisted goal to make the score 2 nil.  Patricia Barrera added the 3^rd goal in the 22^nd minute as Westwood outshot the visiting Tigers 14 to 1 in the first half.

In a more conservative 2^nd half, the Lady Rockets fired off 3 shots as they managed to out shoot Fayetteville 17 to 3 on the night.  Alana Coker turned away all three shots as she finished with 3 saves.

Next up for the Lady Rockets will be the CTSC conference tournament.  Preliminary rounds will begin early next week with the semifinals and finals to be held at Huntland beginning on September 29^th.   Pairings and game times will not be known until Friday and Thunder Radio will keep you updated when that information is released.

Lady Raider soccer team of CCMS traveled to Shelbyville on Wednesday to take on Harris.  The match, originally scheduled for September 11^th, served as the final regular season match of the year for Coffee Middle.  The shorthanded Lady Raiders could not muster an offense against the Eaglettes as they fell 2 to 0.

The Lady Raiders are back in action the next 2 weekends in the Junior Varsity and Varsity CTC tournaments.  The varsity tournament will be held on Saturday, September 30^th at Warren County.  The JV tournament will be this Saturday and will be hosted by North and held at Franklin County High School.  The JV team will play pool play games at 9 AM against North and 11:20 AM against Harris.  The semifinals and finals will be played on Saturday afternoon.

The Coffee County CHS Cross Country teams were set to visit Normandy on Tuesday for a meet at the notoriously difficult Arrowhead Ranch course.  Storms in the early afternoon, and the threat of slippery conditions and possible bad weather forced the cancellation of the meet.

The Raider runners hit the trail again on Tuesday when they host a meet at the Old Stone Fort Golf Course.  The race will feature races for middle and high school squads.  The first race will get underway at 4 PM.

The Nationals took advantage of a struggling Braves’ bullpen as they erupted for six runs in the eighth inning of a 7-3 victory on Wednesday at SunTrust Park. The Nationals are now within 3 1/2 games of the Dodgers for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

The Nationals patiently watched the Braves’ bullpen implode as they worked four straight walks in the eighth inning. Adam Lind and Michael A. Taylor capped the frame with back-to-back RBI singles to secure starter Gio Gonzalez’s 15th win of the season. Gonzalez allowed two runs over seven innings of work, striking out eight batters.
The Braves’ bullpen came into Wednesday’s game with the third-worst ERA in the National League. Relievers Jose Ramirez and Arodys Vizcaino took the brunt of the eighth-inning damage by walking in three consecutive runs, including two four-pitch, bases-loaded walks. At one point, Braves relievers threw three of 22 pitches as strikes.
The bullpen collapse dampened another solid start from rookie pitcher Lucas Sims. After giving up a leadoff home run to Nationals shortstop Trea Turner, Sims settled in and sat down 14 of his last 18 batters faced.
The Braves’ rookie was aided by a pair of home runs from Freddie Freeman and Kurt Suzuki. Freeman countered Turner’s solo shot with a 439-foot blast off Gonzalez in the first inning. Later, Suzuki gave the Braves the lead with his career-high 16th home run.
Jace Peterson brought the Braves closer by hitting his second home run of the season in the eighth, but it proved to be too little, too late as the Nationals’ bullpen sealed the series victory with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Nationals got on the board early when Turner blasted his 10th home run on the first pitch of the game. It was his fourth leadoff home run of the season. According to Statcast™, the home run went 368 feet and had an exit velocity of 94.1 mph.
Sims ran into a bit of trouble in the fifth inning as he loaded the bases following a walk to Gonzalez. Holding a 2-1 lead, he battled Turner and eventually got him to ground out to Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson. Swanson would flip to second baseman Ozzie Albies as the Braves ended the threat to preserve and early lead.

The Westwood football team closed out their season on Tuesday when they traveled to Woodbury to take on Cannon County.  The Rockets ended the season on a high note as they walloped the Lions 40 to 0.

Will Partin got the scoring started in the first quarter on a quarterback sneak.  Konor Heaton got Westwood’s 2^nd touchdown with 30 seconds left in the half.  Trenton Thompson added the 2 point conversions after both scores to give Westwood a 16 to 0 halftime lead.

Westwood opened the 2^nd half by recovering an onside kick.  Thompson scored 70 seconds later and Blake Hale added the conversion to put the Rockets up 24 to 0.  Thompson added his second touchdown on the night with 4 minutes to go in the 3^rd quarter when he returned a fumble 75 yards for a score.  Xavier Garcia added the last touchdown and 2 point conversion in the 4^th quarter.  The win gives Westwood 2 wins on the season as they close out the year with a 2 and 2 record in their final 4 games.

The Coffee County Middle School football team hosted Warren County on Tuesday night in their final home game of the year.  Playing their best football of the year, the Red Raiders roared back from a halftime deficit to beat the Pioneers 22 to 12.

Trailing 12 to 8 at the half, Coffee County rallied for a pair of touchdowns in the second half.  The Red Raiders got a touchdown to go up 16 to 12 with 1:30 left in the 3^rd quarter before icing the game in the final 2 minutes with their 3^rd touchdown of the night.  The Raiders got touchdowns from Kelby Walker, Ethan Baker and Connor Shemwell.

The Raiders close out the season next week when they travel to Sparta to take on White County.  That game will kick off at 6:30 PM on Tuesday.

Lady Raider soccer team of CHS traveled to Winchester on Tuesday night for a district match with Franklin County.  Playing their 3^rd match in 4 nights, the Lady Raiders showed no signs of fatique as they blanked the Rebelettes 3 to 0.

Jessica Barrera got the Lady Raiders on the board first in the 39th minute with a goal off an assist from Allie Amado.  That remained the score into the halftime break and halfway through the 2^nd half.  Reyna Flores got a goal in the 63^rd minute to give Coffee County some breathing room.  Maddy Jones had the assist for the Lady Raiders.  Emilee Roberson tacked on a goal in the 76^th minute on a pass from Flores.

The Lady Raiders are back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Winchester to take on Franklin County in another district match up.  Kickoff is set for 7 PM.