Category: Sports

YOU CAN HEAR THE BRAVES ON THUNDER RADIO. YOUR EXCLUSIVE HOME FOR ATLANTA BRAVES BASEBALL IN COFFEE COUNTY.

Clinching the World Series with a second straight bullpen game wasn’t going to be easy. The approach had worked in Game 4 to inch the Braves one win away from a championship, but they ran into a heavy-hitting Astros lineup in Sunday night’s Game 5.

“That’s just a lot of innings to cover against a club like this that swings a bat so well,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said following the 9-5 loss at Truist Park. “The good news is, we’ll take a day off and be in good shape.”

After gaining a 3-1 Series advantage on Saturday, the Braves gave the starting nod to second-year pitcher Tucker Davidson in Game 5 as they looked to close it out at home. Davidson gave up Atlanta’s early lead — built by Adam Duvall’s first-inning grand slam — by allowing four runs (two earned) in two-plus frames. Veteran Jesse Chavez then tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings to bridge the gap to A.J. Minter, one of the driving forces of the Braves’ dominant bullpen.

For only the second time this postseason, Minter didn’t shut out his opponent. The left-hander took the loss and a blown save after allowing three runs on three hits and two walks in one-plus inning, while also recording two strikeouts.

“My God, he’s been so good. He’s had such a great postseason,” Snitker said. “He had to work really hard. It didn’t work. We were going to take that shot right there and see if we could keep the game in check and go from there, because we kind of felt like he was our best option in that situation, especially with [Michael] Brantley coming up, to maybe get it to where we could piece it together with the other guys.”

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All eyes are on the Central High School football team this week as the Red Raiders return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

But in the background – winter sports are lurking and preparing. The Coffee County Central Red Raider and Lady Raider basketball teams will have their first official team practices on Monday, Nov. 1 in preparation for the Nov. 19 opener against Moore County.

The Lady Raiders are coming off a 28-2 season – returning all but one starter. Meanwhile, the Raiders made the deepest postseason run in program history last winter.

Everyone is invited to join the Raider and Lady Raider basketball teams on Saturday, November 6 from 4:30-6pm at The Patch at CHS. You can watch both teams run through some practice drills, enjoy a free dinner and select your season ticket seats for the upcoming season. New to the basketball experience this year, fans will be able to purchase stadium seats and also pre-select their seat for the entire 2021-22 season with their season-ticket package.

The below packages are available:

bronze – includes a CC stadium chair and season ticket good for all regular season home games – $125.00

silver – includes a CC stadium chair and season ticket good for all regular season home games, plus you pick the location of your season ticket – $150.00

gold – includes a CC stadium chair and season ticket good for all regular season home games, plus you pick the location of your season ticket, plus free entry to the Raider hospitality room each home game – $175.00

Silver and Gold packages include a laminated seat square with your name for reserved seats! Along with your new stadium seat you will have a reserved spot where you will sit each game! There are only 100 stadium seats available so please hurry and reserve your piece of “The Patch.”

You can hear the Raiders and Lady Raiders all season long on Thunder Radio – driven by Al White Ford Lincoln. Listen at 107.9 FM, 1320 AM, 106.7 FM, on the Manchester Go app and thunder1320.com

On Halloween, the Titans walked out of Lucas Oil Stadium with quite a treat.

A 34-31 win by the Titans on Sunday gave them a three-game lead in the AFC South – a game you heard LIVE on Thunder Radio, presented by Charlie Gonzales with Weichert Realtors, Joe Orr & Associates.

Kevin Byard intercepted a Carson Wentz pass in overtime, which gave the Titans the ball at the Colts 32.

Then, kicker Randy Bullock booted a 44-yard field goal to win it.

With the win, the Titans are now 6-2, while the Colts dropped to 3-5.

It looked like the Titans might win it in regulation. A two-yard interception return for a touchdown by cornerback Elijah Molden gave the Titans a 31-24 lead with 1:26 left.

With Titans outside linebacker Bud Dupree’s arms wrapped around Wentz, Wentz threw the ball left-handed, and Molden snagged it out of the air and raced in for a two-yard touchdown in regulation.

But the Colts answered back with a touchdown of their own, as running back Jonathan Taylor scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 22 seconds left to tie the game at 31-31.

It only paved the way for a wild finish, and another gut-check win for the Titans.

The Titans took their first lead of the contest on a five-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Tannehill to receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine with 7:42 remaining in the third quarter, which made it 21-17. The scoring toss capped a 14-play, 75-yard drive that took 7:18 off the clock.

The Colts answered back with a five-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Carson Wentz to tight end Jack Doyle to make it 24-21 with 1:21 left in the third quarter.

The Titans tied it up at 24-24 with 11:15 left on a 46-yard field goal by kicker Randy Bullock, setting up the finish.

After a terrible start, the Titans got off the mat.

The Colts took a 7-0 lead early on a two-yard touchdown pass from Wentz to receiver Michael Pittman, which capped a 14-play, 82-yard scoring drive.

After an interception thrown by Tannehill, Wentz connected with Pittman again, this time from seven yards out, to make it 14-0 with 7:44 left in the first quarter.

Then, the Titans got back in it, starting with a fourth-down stop by the defense.

After that, Tannehill directed an 11-play, 60-yard drive that was capped off with a six-yard touchdown pass to tighe end Geoff Swaim to cut the lead to 14-7.

The Titans then tied it up on a 57-yard touchdown pass from Tannehill to receiver A.J Brown, who made a defender miss before racing to the end zone with 4:13 left in the first half.

The Colts led 17-14 at the half after a 34-yard field goal by Michael Badgley.

The Titans return to action next Sunday in Los Angeles vs the Rams.

Fundraising efforts are now underway to replace the signage in front of the Crethan Hansert Memorial Hitting Facility that sits between the baseball and softball field at Coffee County Central High School.

Erected in memory of Crethan Hansert, the facility houses indoor workout space for both the Red Raider baseball and Lady Raider softball teams. The facility was built soon after Hansert was tragically killed in an automobile accident on Halloween of 2003. He was a senior outfielder for the baseball team at the time of his passing.

The sign in front of the facility is outdated and in need of repair. Crethan’s father – Scott Hansert – is leading the effort to replace the sign with a updated, LED board.

An account has been setup at Coffee County Bank in hopes of raising $25,000 to replace the sign. Anyone can make a contribution at the bank or by downloading the “Zelle” app on the app store and contributing to account #9312734099.

Anyone with questions can contact Scott Hansert at 931-273-4099 or Brandon Hall or Cyndal Adams at the bank at 931-461-8416.

Below you can see the current sign, along with the style of proposed sign, much like the one currently at North Coffee Elementary.

Below is this week’s prep sports schedule. Events marked with an asterisk (*) are Thunder Radio on air broadcasts. Events marked with a pound (#) sign indicates a online audio stream broadcast.

Thunder Radio broadcasts can be heard at 107.9 FM, 1320 AM, 106.7 FM, thunder1320.com and on the Manchester Go app. Thunder Radio online only broadcasts can be heard by clicking here.

Coffee County hung tough with Rhea County for a half Friday night, but the Golden Eagles proved too powerful and pulled away for a 42-21 win in Evensville, Tenn. (A game you heard live on Thunder Radio, 107.9 FM).

Coffee County (5-5 overall) finishes the regular season at .500 for the first time since 2007 and has the playoffs to look forward to. The Raiders will travel to Riverdale to play the Warriors in the first round of the TSSAA State Football Playoffs Friday, Nov. 5. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be heard live on Thunder Radio.

On Friday night, the Raiders were looking to extend their winning streak to 5 games and were in position at halftime, trailing 21-14 behind a pair of touchdown passes from Connor Shemwell to Travis Martin. After falling behind 14-0, CHS evened the score on the two passing touchdowns.

But the Rhea County rushing attack was too much to stop consistently. The Raiders went 3-and-out on their first series of the second half and the Eagles proceeded to eat 8 minutes off the clock and put up a score to steal the momentum. CHS wasn’t able to get a single first down in the third quarter.

Ethan Davis did the majority of the damage for Rhea County, piling up 284 yards on 31 carries. He accounted for 5 of Rhea County’s touchdowns and also hauled in a pass for 19 yards, giving him over 300 all-purpose yards on the night.

The Raiders added a touchdown late when Shemwell connected with Martin for a third time in the end zone. Martin finished with 6 catches for 87 yards and 3 scores. Jahlin Osbourne caught 7 passes for 91 yards. Shemwell was 18-of-33 through the air for 208 yards and the 3 scores.

The Raiders had to try and use the air attack to open up room for Konor Heaton, who faced tough sledding against the Rhea County defense focused on stopping the running game. Heaton had 65 yards on 19 touches.

Thunder Radio named Martin the Mid Tenn Turf offensive player of the game and Blayne Myers the Mid Tenn Turf defensive player of the game.

THIS GAME WAS BROADCAST LIVE ON THUNDER RADIO, 107.9 FM, 1320 AM AND ON THE MANCHESTER GO APP AND THUNDER1320.COM. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FIRST HALF REPLAY …… CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE 2ND HALF REPLAY.

Missed free throws and open looks around the bucket that wouldn’t fall cost the Coffee Middle Red Raiders Thursday night, as the Raiders fell 32-24 to visiting Harris.

The Raiders were able to cut a 24-12 deficit to start the fourth quarter down to 27-21 with 1:45 to play and had possession. But they would get no closer.

THIS GAME WAS BROADCAST LIVE ON THUNDER RADIO. LISTEN TO THE AUDIO REPLAY BY CLICKING HERE.

The Raiders struggled offensively all night. CMS was 5-of-17 at the charity stripe and despite executing sets to get open around the basket, couldn’t get shots to fall in the first half.

Jase Cashion paced CMS with 10 points, despite missing the second and third quarters with foul trouble. Luke Campbell added 7 for CMS, David Lewis 5 and Landan Abellana 2.

Javon Lee led Harris with 10 points.

The loss drops Coffee Middle to 0-2 on the young season and 0-1 in conference play.

It was obvious from the onset that Coffee Middle was going to beat Harris Thursday night – the only question was how bad.

Ella Arnold racked up 26 points and the CMS defense forced 29 turnovers as the Lady Raiders rolled to a 70-12 win in Manchester.

THIS GAME WAS BROADCAST LIVE ON THUNDER RADIO AS PART OF THE BEN LOMAND CONNECT HOMETOWN SPORTS SERIES. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE REPLAY.

Arnold was joined in double digits by Natalie Barnes, who racked up 17 in the win. The Lady Raiders led 22-0 after one quarter and pulled ahead 35-0 before Harris finally got on the board on a free throw by Morgan Pridmore two minutes into the second quarter.

The Lady Raiders led 43-3 at the half and 66-12 after 3 quarters.

Adalyn Clark put up 9 points and Jaydee Nogodula 7 points, Kayson Morgan 5, Sierra Starr 4 and Riley Fuller 2.

The win improves CMS to 2-0 on the year and 1-0 in CTC play. Both teams will host North at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 1.

The high school football regular season will end Friday night across the state of Tennessee. But for the Red Raiders – it will not be the end of the year.

Coffee County Central is already guaranteed a playoff spot next week – but the Raiders still have big goals in mind as the head to Rhea County Friday night (Oct. 29) to wrap up the regular season.

Coffee County (5-4 overall / 2-2 Region) is looking for a win to extend its 4 game win streak to 5. it is the first 4 game win streak for the Red Raider program since 2003. CHS hasn’t won 5 in a row since the 1970s. A win would also give the Raiders a winning record in the regular season for the first time since 2007.

It will be a tall task for the Raiders – facing a 7-win Eagles team that runs a hard-to-defend, high-tempo wing-t offense.

Kickoff Friday is at 6:30 p.m. Central with Thunder Radio’s Friday Night Thunder pregame show starting at 5:30 p.m. (30 minutes earlier than normal).

Listen to the pregame and kickoff at 107.9 FM, 1320 AM, 106.7 FM, on your phone using the Manchester Go smartphone app or thunder1320.com.

The Coffee County Cross Country teams made history on Tuesday, Oct. 26, becoming the first teams in school history to make it to the State Championship. Running in the Regional meet at Cedars of Lebanon State Park, the Red Raider boys finished 2nd overall and the Lady Raiders placed 3rd to earn their trip to the State Championship next week in Hendersonville.

The Red Raider Boys who came into the meet seeded #2 in the region behind Siegel High School, went out and did what they had to do to secure their spot. CHS was led by Senior Jacob Rutledge with a time of 16:21 (3rd place individual overall). Rutledge was joined in the Top 10 by Freshman Fletcher Barnard, who ran a time of 17:17 which was good enough for 10th place. Garrett Masters (18:01), Jacob Slabaugh (18:07), and Landon Kenney (18:25) rounded out the scoring the Red Raiders all placing in the Top 25. Not counting in the team score, but also with great runs were Emmanuel Rodriguez (18:33) and Cayden Miller (18:42).

The Lady Raiders secured their spot in the State Championship with a huge upset of Oakland and Riverdale High School. Coming in to the race seeded #5 in the region, the Lady Raiders needed their best showing of the year and they did not disappoint. The Top 5 runners all ran their fastest times of the year which helped vault them to their 3rd place finish. The Lady Raiders were led by Senior Patricia Barrera with a time of 20:31, which was good enough for a 5th place individual finish. Barrera was followed by Ava McIntosh (23:27), Kailee Rossman (23:31), Madison Rooker (23:38), and Maddie Sullivan (23:58). Not counting in the team score, but also with great runs were Rylea McNamara (27:14) and Raygan Dubler (28:14). Patrica Barrera, Ava McIntosh, and Kailee Rossman all had Top 25 finishes.

Both teams will conclude their season at the State Championship on November 4th at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville. The girls will run at noon and the boys will run at 12:50 p.m..