Category: Sports

The ability to slow down the East Hamilton Hurricanes high tempo attack and a huge second half comeback lifted Coffee County to the tournament title of the Red Raider Invitational on Wednesday night.  Trailing by 7 points entering the 4^th quarter, the Red Raiders played nearly flawless basketball in the 4^th quarter to rally for the 66 to 59 win before an electric crowd at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.

Coffee County was a perfect 9 for 9 at the free throw line in the 4^th quarter as they outscored the favored Hurricanes 26 to 12 in the final 8 minutes.  Coffee County was led in scoring by Grant Sadler who finished with 18 points.  Garrett Eldridge and Stephen Sullivan each finished with 13 points as the trio were named to the All-Tournament team.  DeAaron Rozier and Tyrese McGee each added 8 points for Coffee County as the Raiders improved to 10 and 2 overall.

When asked about the halftime adjustments, Coach Williams had this to say

In  Wednesday’s other tournament results Franklin County defeated Grundy County 46 to 37 for 7^th place.  Beech dumped Community 57 to 33 for 5^th place and Middle Tennessee Christian raced past Red Bank for 3^rd place by a score of 61 to 46

Coffee County will be back in action on Tuesday as they begin play in the King of the Smokies Tournament in Pigeon Forge.  Coffee County will take on Grainger at 12:30 PM(EST) at Pigeon Forge Middle School.  The tournament will run through Thursday, December 29^th at Pigeon Forge High School and Pigeon Forge Middle School.  Thunder Radio will keep you updated on results.

The Lady Raider basketball team begins play in the Whitwell Tournament on Wednesday, December 28^th as they take on Lenoir City.  That tournament will run through Friday, December 30^th.  After the cancellation of the Hixson Tournament this past weekend, the Lady Raiders have scheduled a pair of games with Baylor.  Coffee County will travel to Baylor on Saturday, January 7^th for a JV/varsity doubleheader.  The JV game will tip off at 4:30 PM EST with the varsity game to follow.  Baylor will come  to Coffee County on Monday, February 6^th for another JV/Varsity doubleheader.  The JV game will tip off at 4:30 PM CST with the varsity game to follow.

Both CHS basketball coaches will be guests on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to give fans an update on their seasons thus far.  The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast LIVE each Saturday morning(including Christmas Eve and News Year Eve) at 10 AM from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln.  The Coffee Coaches is also broadcast live and heard here exclusively on Thunder Radio.

The Coffee County Swim team gained another state qualifier on Thursday night as they closed out the team competition portion of their season at LaVergne. Kaylee Williams posted a state qualifying time in the 500M freestyle. In the team competitions, both the Red Raiders and Lady Raiders finished in 3rd place for the meet behind LaVergne and Stewarts Creek. The Raiders and Lady Raiders finish the team portion of the season with identical 4 and 7 records and the combined team finished at 4 and 7 as well.
In the girls’ team relays, the 200M Medley relay team of Lindsey Cauble, Anna O’Connor, Kaylee Williams and Lacey West of Coffee County finished in 4th place. The same quartet raced in 200M freestyle relay and captured 2nd place. The 400M freestyle relay team of Maria Pascual-Garcia, Alessandra Marlow, Allyson Talley and E’Mellia Walker finished in 4th place in their race.
Top individual finishers for the Lady Raiders were:
Kaylee Williams – 1st place, 200M freestyle; 1st place, 400M freestyle;
Anna O’Connor – 1st place, 200M IM; 2nd place, 100M backstroke;
Maria Pascual-Garcia – 5th place, 50M freestyle;

In the boys’ team relays, the team of Andres Cavalie-Chapaneix, Ryan Farless, Nick Smith and Jack Beachboard captured the 200M Medley title. The team of Andres Cavalie-Chapaneix, Ryan Farless, Donald Ridner and Jack Beachboard also captured the title in the 200M freestyle.
Top individual finishers for the Red Raiders were:
Ryan Farless – 1st place, 200M freestyle; 1st place, 100M butterfly;
Jack Beachboard – 1st place, 200M IM; 1st place, 100M breaststroke;
Nick Smith – 3rd place, 50M freestyle;
Donald Ridner – 4th place, 100M backstroke;

The Coffee County swimmers will be back in action on Thursday January 12th with the first of 2 time trial events. The meet on the 12th will be held at LaVergne and will provide swimmers the opportunity to qualify for the region and state championships, or improve their seeding by posting a better time. The 1st race will get underway at 6 PM.

As 2016 draws to a close, Thunder Radio Sports looks back at some of the highlights of the calendar year for each of the 12 prep sports. Today we look back at a highlight from the Coffee County swim teams. One of the biggest meets of the year for the Raider swimmers took place on January 29th and 30th as the high school and middle school swimmers competed in region meets at Nashville.

Thunder Radio reported on their success with the following story we published on Monday, February 1st.

The Coffee County Middle School and High School swim teams traveled to Nashville this weekend for the Middle Tennessee High School Swimming Association region championship meet. On Friday night, the high school swimmers hit the water in the high school region meet.  Jack Beachboard had the best finish of the night with an 11^th place finish in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 2:11.99.  Beachboard also posted a new personal best in the 500 free.  Ryan Farless eclipsed his personal best time in the 100 butterfly by a phenomenal 7 seconds.  Emma Allen recorded a new personal best in the 50 free.  Anna O’Conner recorded new personal best times in the 100 butterfly as well as the 500 free.  Emily Warner cut 2.5 seconds off her personal best in the 100 free and the Lady Raider 200 freestyle relay team of Emily Warner, Anna O’Conner, Emma Allen and Svetlana Miadzvedzeva trimmed 5 seconds off their previous best time.

The Coffee County Middle School swim team had a strong showing at the region meet on Saturday in Nashville.  8^th grader Kaylee Williams led the charge for Coffee County as she finished in 7^th place in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:17.65.  That finals appearance marked the first finals appearance by a middle school swimmer in a MTHSSA regional meet.  In the preliminary rounds, Amber Ingleburger and William Tobitt both scored new personal bests in the 50 and 100 freestyle.

Next up for the swim team is the Tennessee Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association state meet which will be held on February 12th and 13th at the Centennial SportsPlex in Nashville. Jack Beachbord has qualified for the state meet in the 500M freestyle.  Beachboard’s appearance in the state meet marks the 5^th year in a row that a Coffee County swimmer has competed at the state meet.  Coffee County swimming is coached by Lana Ray and she is assisted by Mike Ray.

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We continue our year in review on Friday as we will look back at prep cross country and prep tennis

A late run midway through the 2^nd half lifted the Red Raider basketball team to a 53 to 40 win over Red Bank on Tuesday night in Day #2 of the Red Raider Invitational.  Coffee County outscored the Lions 22 to 2 during an 8 and a half minute span to turn a 3 point deficit into a 17 point lead.  The win advances Coffee County to Wednesday night’s championship game against East Hamilton.

In other games on Tuesday, Beech defeated Franklin County 67 to 59.  Community held off Grundy County 56 to 51 and East Hamilton raced past Middle Tennessee Christian 74 to 46.

Tied at 23 at the half, the Raiders held Red Bank to single digits in both the 3^rd and 4^th quarters to advance to the title game.  Coffee County was led in scoring by Garrett Eldridge who finished with 15 points.  Tyrese McGee added 13 points, including 11 in the second half.  Grant Sadler chipped in 10 points and Stephen Sullivan finished with 7 points including a pair of “and 1” plays in the 3^rd quarter.

Coffee County will be back in action on Wednesday as they play for the tournament title at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  That title game is set to tip at 7:30 PM.  Wednesday’s schedule is as follows: 3 PM – Grundy County vs. Franklin County; 4:30 PM – Community vs. Beech; 6 PM – Middle Tennessee Christian vs. Red Bank ; 7:30 PM – East Hamilton vs. Coffee County

A pair of Westwood Middle School basketball players were named to the Duck River Valley All Conference team last week.  The all-conference teams for 2016 were announced at the conclusion of the DRVC Tournament on Saturday at Cascade.    Eighth graders Cruz Pitsinos for the Rockets and Valarie Barger for the Lady Rockets were selected for their season’s performance for Westwood.

Pitsinos, who transferred in to Westwood this past summer, was a guard and forward for the Rockets this season.  Cruz averaged 8 points a game for the Rockets this season while dishing out an average of 4 assists per game and pulling down 4 rebounds.  “Cruz did a lot of things to help his team(this season)” said Westwood coach Will Pannell.  “I am very proud of the season he put in and the effort since joining the Westwood team at the beginning of the year.”  Pannell went on the say that Pitsinos was the most physical and well rounded player he coached this season and that he showed great natural leadership.

Barger, a 2 year starter for Westwood, was a post player for the Lady Rockets this season.  Barger led the Lady Rockets in rebounds averaging 7 boards per contest and was the 3^rd leading scorer for Westwood.  Barger exhibited several clutch performances as she was a team leader in free throw percentage and 4^th quarter points.  Lady Rockets head coach Angela Houck had great praise for Valarie calling her “the hardest working girl on the team.”  She went on to compliment Barger for her leadership calling her “the most positive player on the team.  She was very coachable” added Houck.

James Neal scored twice in the first period, Juuse Saros stopped 27 shots and the Nashville Predators beat the New Jersey Devils 5-1 Tuesday night.

Ryan Johansen and Mattias Ekholm each had a goal and an assist, Filip Forsberg also scored and Viktor Arvidsson had three assists for the Predators.

Sergey Kalinin spoiled Saros’ bid for his first NHL shutout with 4:49 remaining, and Cory Schneider finished with 32 saves for the Devils, who have lost seven straight.

Arvidsson found Neal across the ice on a 2-on-1 and Neal beat Scheider glove-side 5:43 into the game. Neal scored again at 7:15 as he fired a shot from the right circle to beat Schneider on the far post.

Ekholm went top shelf, firing a shot from the blue line at 5:55 of the second period to put Nashville up 3-0.

Forsberg scored on a power play at 8:12 in the third period to push the lead to four with the Devils’ Nick Lappin serving a two-minute penalty for slashing Kevin Fiala.

Johansen scored a short-handed goal on Arvdisson’s third assist with 6:20 left to give Nashville a 5-0 lead.

NOTES: Jacob Josefson, Luke Gazdic and Devante Smith-Pelly were scratches for New Jersey. Reid Boucher, Petter Granberg and P.K. Subban were scratched by Nashville. … Missing his second consecutive game, Subban didn’t make the trip and is day-to-day. … Boucher was returning to New Jersey, which drafted him in the fourth round of the 2011 NHL draft, for the first time since he was picked up off waivers by the Predators on Dec. 3.

The Predators return to Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night to host the LA Kings.  Faceoff is set for 7 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network.

The Coffee County Red Raiders opened the Red Raider Invitational with a dominating 65 to 37 win over Community on Monday night.  Fourteen different Red Raiders scored as everyone that dressed for Coffee County got playing time.  The Raiders will advance to Tuesday’s semifinal round as they will take on Red Bank.

In Monday’s other games, East Hamilton defeated Beech in overtime, 57 to 54.  Middle Tennessee Christian stopped Franklin County 47 to 43 and Red Bank outlasted Grundy County 53 to 43.

After a back and forth 1^st quarter, Coffee County led by 1 going into the 2^nd quarter.  A 7 to 0 run to open the 2^nd quarter lifted the Red Raiders to a 9 point lead at the half before Coffee County put the game on ice in the 3^rd quarter.  The Raiders outscored Community 42 to 18 in the 2^nd half to improve to 8 and 2 on the year.  Garrett Eldridge led Coffee County in scoring with 14 points as he was named the Crazy Daisies Player of the Game.  Stephen Sullivan added 11 points and DeAaron Rozier came off the bench to net 8.

Coffee County will be back in action on Tuesday as they will take on Red Bank at 7:30 PM.   Other games on Tuesday are Beech vs Franklin County at 3 PM. Grundy County will play Community at 4:30 and East Hamilton will take on Middle Tennessee Christian at 6 PM.

Filip Forsberg got the tying goal midway through the third period and Ryan Ellis had the only score in the shootout, helping the Nashville Predators give the Philadelphia Flyers their second straight loss, 2-1 on Monday night.
The Flyers had won 10 straight before losing to the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
Nashville got its first win in extra time and Ellis his first successful shootout conversion this season. The Predators were 0-5 in overtime and shootouts.
Nashville’s Pekka Rinne stopped 31 shots, plus all three in the shootout. Steve Mason had 30 saves for Philadelphia.
Defenseman Andrew MacDonald scored for the Flyers midway through the first period.
After trailing 1-0 entering the third, the Predators tied it with 8:14 remaining when Forsberg planted himself in front of Mason and redirected a point shot by Matt Irwin for his fourth goal of the season.
Forsberg’s goal came on the Predators’ 22nd shot and ruined Mason’s bid for his first shutout since March 5.
Rinne, meanwhile, entered the game needing 11 saves to get to 12,000 in his career and he got there quickly, stopping 15 of 16 shots in the opening period.
MacDonald got his second goal of the season. Right wing Jakub Voracek threaded a backhand pass through two Predators to MacDonald at the right point. His shot appeared to hit Ellis in the arm, changed direction and bounced past Rinne.
The Flyers outshot the Predators 16-8 in the opening period and had a chance to double their lead early in the second when Predators defensemen Adam Pardy and Roman Josi took penalties 36 seconds apart. Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere rang a shot off the post and Mike Fisher blocked two shots to keep the Predators’ lead at 1-0.
Nashville had a chance to tie it midway through the second period when Claude Giroux clipped Craig Smith in the chin for a high-sticking double minor. The Flyers stopped all four shots during the power play to improve to 15 for 15 killing penalties in their last five games.
NOTES: Predators D P.K. Subban did not make the team’s trip to Philadelphia and sat out his second straight game with an upper-body injury. Veteran D Adam Pardy, recalled from AHL Milwaukee earlier in the day, took Subban’s spot in the lineup. Subban is doubtful for Tuesday night’s game against the Devils.
The Predators visit the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.  Face off is set for 6 PM CST and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of the Nashville Predators Radio Network.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

The Motlow State Community College softball team compiled an outstanding grade point average (GPA) of 3.11 during the Fall 2016 semester, placing it first among the College’s four athletic programs.

While softball had the highest team GPA, it was baseball that racked up the most individual honors. Twelve baseball student-athletes were named to either the honor roll or the dean’s list, which is 44 percent of the team. The baseball team’s total GPA was 3.04.

Softball was not far behind in total individual honors with nine players named to either the honor roll or dean’s list, which is 60 percent of the squad. Women’s basketball had a team GPA of 2.58 with five members receiving honors, while the men’s basketball team GPA was 2.50 with two on the honor roll.

Baseball
Dean’s List – Luke Allison, D’Marcus Guillory, Kenneth Hartigan, Drew Jarrett, Darin Keller and Sam Patton.
Honor Roll – Seth Deyong, Zach Ehrhart, Chandler Hardiman, RJ Moore, Matt Westberry and Tyler Zak.

Softball
Dean’s List – Caroline Abernethy, Cailey Alverson, Breanna Owens, Ashton Watkins and Sarah Beth Wilson.
Honor Roll – Miranda Cooksey, Ciera Dobbins, Riley O’Neal and Kathleen Sledge.

Women’s Basketball
Dean’s List – Miranda Boutwell, Sydney Floyd, Sepe Moore and Sara Vujacic.
Honor Roll – Shalyn Washington.

Men’s Basketball
Honor Roll – Javel Gillespie and Javion Hamlet.