WMS Principal Chad Fletcher shows off the Mayor’s Cup that goes to the winning team tonight
The 2nd annual Mayor’s Cup is scheduled for TONIGHT at 6:30 PM at Westwood Middle School. Teams from the Manchester City School System, the Manchester Police Department and the Manchester Recreation Department will compete in the round robin basketball triple header to crown a champion.
Admission is free but donations are requested at the door and all proceeds will go to benefit the Coffee County Children’s Advocacy Center. The Advocacy Center provides help and counseling to severely abused children in Coffee County. The winner of the tournament will be presented the prestigious Mayor’s Cup trophy.
Last season, the Manchester Police department was crowned the champion as they swept the fire department and school system teams. Tonight’s fun and festivities, along with a LOT of good-natured self-promotion, will get underway at 6:30 PM. Thunder Radio will be on hand to broadcast all the action as Lucky Knott and Rob Clutter will bring you the call here on Thunder Radio.
In case you have not had the opportunity to download the games, the 2017 Coffee County Youth Basketball League Championships will be broadcast on Thunder Radio coming up Saturday at 1 PM. Also on Saturday, the league championship teams will be guests on the Coffee Coaches Show.
2017 CCYBL Champion Westwood Lady Eagles
In the girls’ championship, the Lady Eagles of Westwood exploded for 15 points in the 4th quarter to capture the title over the defending champion Lady Rebels of New Union 25 to 15. New Union jumped out to a 6 to 2 lead in the first period and led by one entering the 4th period. Westwood scored the first 15 points in the 4th quarter to seal the win. Westwood was led in scoring by Princess Penaloza who had 10 points while Kailee Rossman added 7 points with all of those coming in the 4th quarter. New Union was led in scoring by Samantha Kirby and Raelin Tucker who each finished with 4 points.
In the boys’ championship, College Street used a big 3rd quarter to break open a tie game to defeat Westwood 33 to 18. With the game tied at 14 at the half, College Street outscored Westwood 16 to 2 in the 3rd quarter to capture their 4th straight elementary title. College Street was led in scoring by Brady Wright who finished with 9 points. Jayden Carter added 6 points. Westwood was led in scoring by Cooper Reed who had 7 points.
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 here on Thunder Radio.
The NHL® Centennial Fan Arena, a traveling fan experience and main pillar of the NHL’s year-long Centennial celebration, is making its stop in Nashville Feb. 11-12 on its tour through NHL markets across North America. Stop by before or after the match-up against Florida on Saturday (1 p.m. CT) and Dallas on Sunday (5 p.m. CT) for a touring tribute to a century of hockey thrills!
Fans can visit with Nashville Predators alumni including Greg Johnson and Tomáš Vokoun in between checking out the Fan Arena’s weekend-long attractions, including the opportunity to seeing the Stanley Cup® in person!
The NHL® Centennial Fan Arena will be open on Saturday to season-ticket holders from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. and for the general public from 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. On Sunday, the general public can come through anytime between 1:00 – 8:00 p.m. The weekend’s experience is free of charge; you will not want to miss out on the opportunity to experience the NHL’s Centennial celebration here in Smashville!
Ticket Special – Centennial Celebration Package
Celebrate the NHL’s Centennial Year with ticket packages starting at just $100! The Blue and Gold Packages include tickets to two February games, access to the NHL Centennial Truck Tour, an exclusive Preds alumni meet-and-greet and much more! For more information, please visit www.nashvillepredators.com/nhl100pack or call 615-770-7800.
Attractions include:
Museum Truck – Showcasing the history of the Nashville Predators Hockey Club, this truck will feature more than 1,000 square feet of interactive digital displays, original video content, one-of-a-kind historical memorabilia, unique photo moments and a social media wall.
Video Truck – Home to a giant video screen that will feature team trivia and highlights.
CLEAR THE ICE Zamboni® VR Experience – This never-before-seen virtual reality experience allows fans to compete against each other in a race to resurface the ice. All races will be timed and shared on a leaderboard!
Recycle the Game Initiative – A special net will be available on-site, where fans can donate any and all used sports equipment. This continues the NHL’s League-wide commitment to improve hockey’s environmental footprint while supporting youth hockey, particularly in underserved communities. The Preds have partnered with Nashville local partner The Sports Fund, a charitable effort dedicated to helping ensure Middle Tennessee-area children have access to the opportunities sports and team membership provide – ultimately helping them succeed in school and in life.
RSVP Program
Fans attending the NHL Centennial Fan Arena in their local market can RSVP at NHL.com/FanArena in advance of the event. The RSVP program includes pre-registration for the free activities at the NHL Centennial Fan Arena including the CLEAR THE ICE Zamboni® VR Experience and photos with the Stanley Cup®, and provides event reminder notifications for each respective market (dates, times, locations, events, special appearances and more).
Holli Smithson of CHS basketball[Photo by Demarco Moore – Manchester Times]
In Coffee County’s final trip to the Hardy Loyd Gym in Columbia, the Red Raiders and Lady Raiders came away with a split on Tuesday night in district basketball action. The Lady Raiders got a big second quarter to tame the Lady Lions 63 to 36. The Red Raiders dropped a 75 to 52 decision as they lost back to back games for the first time all year.
In the girls’ game, Columbia got off to a hot start taking an early 9 to 4 lead before the Lady Raiders could work up a sweat. Coffee County rallied to tie the game in the 2nd quarter before going on a 15 to 1 run in the second quarter to seize all the momentum they would need to get the season sweep. The win improves the Lady Raiders to 16 and 6 on the year and 6 and 4 in district play.
Holli Smithson sparked the 2nd quarter surge as the senior guard hit a pair of baskets early. Smithson also came out hot in the 3rd quarter as she finished the game with 11 points to earn the Crazy Daisies player of the game honor. Jacey Vaughn led the Lady Raiders in scoring with 12 points while Jaya Arnold and Alliyah Williams each finished with 6 points.
Tyrese McGee of Coffee County basketball[Photo by Demarco Moore – Manchester Times]
The Red Raiders saw the Lions jump out hot on their senior night as they took an early 8 to 0 lead. After a Coffee County rally, Columbia stretched the lead to 10 at the half and never trailed in the game. The loss gives the Lions a season sweep over Coffee County. The loss drops Coffee County’s record to 19 and 6 on the year and 6 and 4 in district play.
Tyrese McGee, in spite of early foul trouble, tried to spark a 4th quarter comeback as he poured in 9 of his team leading 13 points in the final period. For his strong play on both ends of the floor, McGee was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game. Garrett Eldridge and Grant Sadler each added 9 points while Garrett Booth chipped in 8.
Coffee County returns home on Friday for a 3 game home stand to end the regular season. Coffee County will take on Franklin County in a pair of crucial contests in terms of district seeding. The girls’ game will get underway at 6 PM, Thunder Radio will bring you live coverage with the Char-El Apartments and Home Rental Pregame Show at 5:50.
The Coffee County baseball team will be hosting a pair of events coming up on March 11th at Powers Field. The activities begin at 9:30AM as Red Raider coaches and players will be hosting a players’ clinic. The clinic is for kids between the ages of 8 to 15 and each camper will receive age appropriate hands on instruction in all aspects of the game. The clinic will be on Powers Field and in the Crethan Hansert Hitting Facility at Coffee County Central High School. The camp will run from 9:30 AM to 1 PM.
Campers are asked to bring a bat, glove, tennis shoes, cleats, hat and a batting helmet to the camp. Cost is $20 per camper in advance and $25 the day of the camp. Any sibling that wants to also attend can get in at half price. Concessions will be available on the day of the camp. To register, print out the form below and mail it to: Coffee County Central High School Baseball Boosters, PO Box 496, Manchester, TN 37349 BEFORE March 3rd. If you have questions, please contact Chris Langham at ctlua37@gmail.com or 931.247.2629 with any questions.
Coast to participate is $10 which will cover the cost of the t-shirts. Any additional money raised will go to benefit the Williams J Myers Foundation. Members of the Williams J. Myers foundation will also be on hand so sign up to register at the link given.
Patric Hornqvist scored twice against his former club, and the Nashville Predators fell by a 4-2 final to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday night. The result in Nashville’s first game out of the All-Star Break sees their five-game point streak come to an end, but still features an impressive 7-2-1 mark in their last 10.
Solid first and third periods bookended a middle frame that saw the Preds allow three goals, a 20-minute stretch that Head Coach Peter Laviolette called “awful.”
“They’re a good team, and they’re going to make good plays… but for our group [in the second], we had turnovers; we weren’t moving our feet,” defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “The first and third were good, but the second, we lost it in the second.”
“I thought the first period we were good, third period we were good, just that 20 minutes there in the second period, we let off the gas,” forward Ryan Johansen said. “Like we always talk about, especially with the losses, you have to play 60 minutes, especially with a team like them. They made us pay there in the second, so that was the game.”
Calle Jarnkrok gave the Predators a 1-0 lead in the first period when he poked a loose puck past Matt Murray to extend his point streak to a season-high three games, but four-straight goals from Chris Kunitz, Trevor Daley, and two off the stick of Hornqvist was all the Penguins needed to claim the win.
Colin Wilson pulled the Preds to within two when he converted on the power play with a determined individual effort, but that was as close as the Preds came to a comeback.
“The third period, we played hard again and scored a goal looking to close the gap on that and couldn’t get it done,” Laviolette said. “We left it too far hanging going into the third period with a terrible second.”
It was one and done on the road for the Preds, as they’ll head home to host Edmonton on Thursday with six more points up for grabs on a three-game home stand.
“We’re going to have to learn from this,” Ellis said. “We had a streak going, we were playing really good hockey and we need to regroup, refocus and come back next game better.”
Defenseman Roman Josi skated with the team this morning, but did not play Tuesday and remains on Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury. Brad Hunt, Derek Grant and Mike Ribeiro were scratched against the Penguins.
Colin Wilson earned his third multi-point game of the season on Thursday while scoring his seventh of the campaign, surpassing last season’s total.
The Preds fell in regulation for the first time this season after scoring the first goal of the game. They are now 15-1-5 when they tally the game’s opening goal.
The Preds return to Nashville for a three-game home stand, beginning on Thursday night when they host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. Thunder Radio will bring you live coverage on the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network immediately following our coverage of the Mayor’s Cup basketball games at Westwood.
Members of the 2017 Coffee County CHS Swim team and coaches prior to Friday’s regional in Nashville. [Photo provided]
The Coffee County swimmers enjoyed another splendid weekend in the water as the high school and middle school swimmers competed at the regional championships in Nashville. The high school swimmers hit the water on Friday in their final meet prior to the state meet in February.
On the day, 8 new personal bests were recorded and all 4 relay teams set new school records. The highest medalist honor of the day came from Jack Beachboard who finished in 6th place in the 200 yard IM with a new personal best time of 2:06.48. Beachboard also set a new personal best in the 500 yard freestyle as he scored a 9th place finish with a time of 5:10.79.
Kaylee Williams set a pair of personal bests in her 2 races. In the 100 yard breaststroke, Williams swam a time of 1:13.06 which was good to give her a 13th place finish and a southeastern regional qualifying time. Kaylee also had a state qualifying time of 2:26.76 in the 200 yard IM to finish in 22nd place.
Jack Beachboard 2017 Regional medalist in the 200 yard IM. [Photo providedd]
Ryan Farless set a pair of personal bests in the 100 yard butterfly as he finished in 17th place with a time of 58.63. Farless also recorded a new personal best in the 50 yard freestyle as he blitzed thru the water in 23.81 seconds to finish in 25th place. Nick Smith also bagged a pair of personal records when he sawm a 25.96 seconds in the 50 yard free and 59.26 in the 100 yard free. Donald Ridner posted times of 27.34 in the 50 free and 1:06.72 in the 100 free. Anna O’Connor had a 32nd place finish in the 100 yard butterfly and a time of 1:02.64 in the 100 yard free.
The Raider and Lady Raider relay teams were a perfect 4 for 4 in setting new school records on Friday as well. Additionally, both 4×100 freestyle relay teams medaled as each captured a 16th place finish. The Red Raider team of Jack Beachboard, Donald Ridner, Nick Smith and Ryan Farless broke the 4 minute barrier as they finished the 4×100 yard free relay in 3:58.95. In the 4×50 relay, the quartet came home in 25th place with a new school record of 1:43.39. The Lady Raider 4×100 relay team of Kaylee Williams, Lindsey Cauble, Maria Pascual-Garcia and Anna O’Connor earned their medal at a time of 4:26.92 which set a new school record. In the 4×50 relay, the Lady Raiders came home with a 22nd place finish in 1:57.72 which was also a new school record.
The Raider swimmers are now off until February 10th and 11th when they travel to Knoxville for the TISCA State Championships. That meet will be held at the University of Tennessee. Raider swimmers qualified for the state are: Ryan Farless, Jack Beachboard, Anna O’Connor and Kaylee Williams. To see complete results from the regional, you can check out the scoring at the website: https://www.teamunify.com/ssxcel/UserFiles/File/pdf%20results.pdf
The middle school members of the 2017 Coffee Counyt swim team prior to Saturday’s regional. Left to right: Kaylee Williams, Amber Ingleburger, William Tobitt, Aly Hutchings and Kennedy Norman-Young [Photo provided]
The Coffee County swimmers enjoyed another splendid weekend in the water as the high school and middle school swimmers competed at the regional championships in Nashville. The middle school swimmers swam in their final meet of the year on Saturday in the MTHSSA Region championships.
For the middle school swimmers, the highlight of a highlight filled day on Saturday was the performance of Kennedy Norman-Young who cut 0.6 seconds off her qualifying time in the 50 Yard freestyle preliminaries to advance Saturday night’s finals. Norman-Young shot through the water in 29.07 seconds for a new personal best. In the finals, Kennedy set a new personal best with a time of 28.84 to claim 14th place overall out of 240 swimmers. Emily Williams also set a new personal best in the 100 yard free in the preliminaries as she clipped 1.6 seconds off her previous personal best finishing at 32.69. Also in the 100 yard freestyle, Amber Ingleburger finished the race at 34.00 seconds while Aly Hutchings posted a time of 39.8. In the 100 Yard freestyle, Ingleburger captured a 72nd place finish with a time of 1:17.74 out of 133 swimmers. The quartet of Norman-Young, Hutchings, Williams and Ingleburger captured a 38th place finish in the 200 yard free relay with a time of 2:38.09.
Norman-Young also captured a 30th place finish in the 100 yard backstroke as she bested her qualifying time by 2.6 seconds to finish at 1:18.85. Emily Williams bested her personal best by 4.5 seconds in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:38.63 to grab a 56th place finish.
Red Raider swimmer Will Tobitt shaved .54 seconds off his personal best in the 50 yard freestyle as he captured 26th place with a time of 27.89. Tobitt barely missed the finals in the 100 yard free as he finished in 22nd place with a time on 1:02.79. To see full results for the middle school meet, you can check out the results online at: http://results.teamunify.com/senac/NAC/
The Coffee County freshman Red Raider basketball team welcomed the Ninth Grade Academy of Lincoln County to the Raider Academy on Monday night. The Red Raiders struggled to keep the Falcons off the boards on the night and struggled with turnovers at critical times as they fell 55 to 24.
Coffee County trailed by 2 at the end of a balanced 1st quarter before falling behind by 10 at the half. The Falcons opened the 2nd half on a 14 to 0 run to put the game out of reach. Shawn Anderson led the Raiders in scoring with 12 points. Rod Brinkley and Larson Meltzer each added 4 points.
The freshmen teams travel to McMinnville to take on Warren County next Monday, February 6th. The girls’ game will get underway at 6 PM at Warren County High School.
Lady Raider members of the 2017 CTC All-Conference Team. Left to Right Marley Perry, Kiya Ferrell, Kylie Phillips and Bella Vinson.
A three point basket by Blackman with 2 seconds remaining in the 5th overtime period brought the Coffee County Middle School Lady Raider basketball team’s season to a stunning finish on Sunday afternoon. Blackman hit five 3 pointers in the five overtime thriller but the final one gave the visitors a 46 to 43 win in the TMSAA Sub-Sectional game at CCMS. The Sunday loss came in the Lady Raiders 3rd game in 3 days.
The CCMS Lady Raiders with their CTC runner-up trophy.
The Lady Raiders needed a three pointer at the end of the 4th overtime from Bella Vinson to force a 5th overtime. Vinson finished with 28 points. Marley Perry finished with 7 points before fouling with 3 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter. Kiya Ferrell finished 6 points on 2 crucial 3 pointers. The first came in the 2nd quarter to tie the game and the 2nd one came gave Coffee County the lead with 1:17 left in the 4th quarter. The loss ended the season for Coffee County with a record of 16 and 6 and a runner-up finish in the CTC conference. The Lady Raiders fell in the CTC conference final on Saturday.
In Saturday’s CTC conference final, the Lady Raiders took the heavily favored White County Wariorettes to the wire before falling 42 to 36. Six turnovers in the 3rd quarter turned a 6 point lead for Coffee County into a 3 point deficit entering the 4th quarter. The Lady Raiders cut the deficit to 2 points with 19 seconds remaining, but White County got a basket and a turnover to gain the championship.
Red Raider members of the 2017 CTC All-Conference Team. Left to Right: Hayden Hullett and Jaxon Vaughn
Bella Vinson led the Lady Raiders in scoring with 25 points. Kaylee Smartt added 5 points with all of those points coming in the 4th quarter. The Lady Raiders advanced to Saturday’s final with a semifinal win over North Franklin. Following the conference finals, 4 Lady Raiders and 2 Red Raiders were named to the CTC All-Conference teams. Bella Vinson, Marley Perry, Kiya Ferrell and Kylie Phillips were named to the CTC girls’ all-conference team. Hayden Hullett and Jaxon Vaughn were named to the CTC boys’ all-conference team.
Looking toward their 3rd consecutive CTC title, the Lady Raiders advanced to Saturday’s finals with a 47 to 34 win over North Franklin on Friday night. The win sets up a finals matchup with the regular season conference champion Warriorettes of White County. That matchup will take place at 5 PM on Saturday at Tullahoma High School.
Bella Vinson of CCMS
The Lady Raiders jumped on North early with a 14 point outburst in the 1st quarter to take a 14 to 2 lead they would never relinquish. The Lady Gators fought back to cut the deficit to 6 points at the half, but Coffee County only allowed North to get to the free throw 3 times in the 2nd half to keep the clock moving.
Bella Vinson led Coffee County in scoring with 29 points. Kylie Phillips finished with 8 points including a pair of 3 pointers. Kaylee Smartt added 6 points as the Lady Raiders improved to 16 and 4 on the season.
The Lady Raiders will be guests on an upcoming Coffee Coaches Show to review their season. The Coffee Coaches Show airs at 10 AM each Saturday and is broadcast live from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln.
