Category: Sports

Caitlyn Moore (#28) punches her first goal past the Franklin County keeper on Saturday night( Photo by John St.Clair – JohnStClairPhoto.com)

A pair of goals by Caitlyn Moore lifted the Coffee County Lady Raider soccer team to a 2 to 1 win over Franklin County on Saturday night in the first round of the District 8AAA tournament.  A layoff of 16 days only seemed to help Coffee County as the Lady Raiders opened the match with incredible offensive pressure.  Coffee County got their first goal in the 4^th minute after forcing Franklin County to surrender a corner kick.  Allie Amado’s corner kick was punched back to her feet, allowing her to feed a beautiful pass to the front of the net.  There she found Moore who drilled it past the Franklin County keeper.  The Lady Raiders dominated ball possession in the first half as they carried the 1 to 0 lead into the half.

Coffee County continued the aggressive offensive attack to begin the second half.  The Lady Raiders pushed a long through pass up the middle of the field.  As Moore and the Franklin County keeper converged on the ball, the keeper came out of the 18 yard box and was unable to clear it.  Moore deftly dribbled around her to fire her 2^nd goal into the empty net at the 42^nd minute.  From there, the Rebelettes turned up the offensive pressure, eventually scoring on an odd man rush in the 60^th minute.  Coffee County was able to recover from that defensive miscue and finished strong against a Rebelette squad that appeared to run out of gas in the last 10 minutes.  For the match, Franklin County outshot Coffee County 15 to 14, but the Rebelettes were only able to put 7 shots on frame.  Coffee County keeper Ali Shelton finished the match with 6 saves with most of those coming in the 2^nd half.

With the win, Coffee County improves to 9-7-2 on the season and advances to the District 8AAA semifinals on Tuesday.  Coffee County will travel to Fayetteville to take on Lincoln County on Tuesday night in a match that will begin at 7 PM.   Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of that match beginning at 6:50.

A podcast of Saturday’s match is available at the Thunder Radio website at: http://www.WMSRradio.com/downloads/

Hayden Skipper (#2) carries for a big gain against Harris on Saturday

A 4^th quarter comeback came up just short on Saturday as the Coffee County Middle School football team fell to Harris 26 to 22 in the CTC Conference semifinals.   A pair of first half turnovers, along with a controversial offensive pass interference call, put the Raiders in a 24 to 6 halftime hole.   A 3^rd quarter sack of Blanton Brown in the end zone gave Harris a safety and a 26 to 6 lead as the teams entered the 4^th quarter.  From there, Coffee County owned the 4^th quarter scoring 2 touchdowns, the first on a 6 yard run from Tanner Hulvey and the second on a 19 yard touchdown pass from Brown to Trevor Horne.  Hulvey converted both 2 point conversions to make it 26 to 22 and Hayden Skipper recovered an onside kick to give the Raiders some life with 3:46 left in the game, but an interception gave the ball back to Harris with 1:19 and the Coffee County defense, alone with 3 timeouts to give the Raiders a last shot with 47 seconds left.  But a sack and an incomplete pass ended the Raiders season.

Tanner Hulvey (#27) turns the ball upfield against Harris on Saturday

Coffee County was led in rushing by Hulvey who finished with 67 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown.  Skipper finished with 13 carries for 56 yards rushing and a pair of pass receptions for 43 yards.  Brown completed 3 passes for 62 yards and rushed for a touchdown.   After finishing the season in a 3 way tie with Harris and North, North won the tie-breaker to advance to Tuesday night’s championship game with Harris.  That game will be played at 6:30 PM at North.

CHS Lady Raider Volleyball team celebrates they District 8 Runner up finish

The Coffee County Lady Raider volleyball team earned their 4th straight region tournament appearance, and the 5th in 10 years, on Thursday night in the District 8AAA volleyball tournament held in Winchester. After winning the first 2 sets against Lincoln County 15 and 18 in the semifinals, the Lady Falcons stormed back to tie the match as they won the next 2 sets 18 and 16 to set up a decisive 5th set. The Lady Raiders raced out to an early lead in the 15 point 5th set and claimed a 15 to 12 set win to advance to the district finals against Columbia.
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The combination of a hot gym and an exhausting semifinal win slowed down Coffee County against the district’s regular season champion Lady Lions as Columbia swept Coffee County in 3 sets, 22, 13 and 24.

Statistically, Coffee County was led in kills by Aerial Williams who had 18 kills on the night, including 15 against Lincoln County. Peyton Nicoll had 14 kills and Diana Davis finished with 13. Davis also had 5 aces and 28 digs to lead Coffee County. Grace Spellings led the team in blocks with 6 while Maddie Taylor finished with 36 assists.

(L to R) Maddie Taylor, Diana Davis and Peyton Nicoll were named to the 2015 All-District 8AAA team

After the match, 3 Lady Raiders were honored for their season performances by being named to the District 8AAA All-District teams. Peyton Nicoll was named to the 2nd team all-district, Maddie Taylor was named to the 1st team all-district team and Diana Davis was named the District 8AAA Most Valuable Player. Coffee County advances in the postseason having won 14 of their last 18 matches heading into the Region 4AAA tournament on Tuesday at Siegel. A win in the region semifinals Tuesday would advance the Lady Raiders to the region championship later that evening and secure them their first ever sectional berth.

Westwood football players Jacob Floyd #24 and Collin Ward #74 were awarded DRVC all conference players (Photo provided)

A pair of Westwood Rocket football players were named to the All-Conference team for 2015 in the Duck River Valley Conference following Thursday night’s conference finals match up between Forrest and Liberty.  8th graders Jacob Floyd and Collin Ward represented Westwood on the All-Conference team.  Forrest beat Liberty 24-14 to win the DRVC championship.

The Nashville Predators were happy with their first 20 minutes of the new season. Luckily, they have goalie Pekka Rinne to cover any slack when they ease up a bit too much.

Craig Smith had a power-play goal as the Predators scored twice in the first period Thursday night and held off the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 in the season opener for both.

“We played great hockey in the first, but we let off the gas for sure, and we knew they weren’t going to give up,” said Nashville defenseman Seth Jones. “We let off the gas, and Pek made some huge saves for us and we got some timely bounces.”

Viktor Arvidsson scored the first goal of his NHL career, and Jones had two assists. Nashville improved to 4-1-1 in its last six season openers.

Rinne, the three-time Vezina Trophy finalist, missed his first shutout of Carolina when Eric Staal scored with 1:40 left. Rinne made 25 saves for the win.

Defenseman Noah Hanifin, the fifth overall pick by Carolina in June, made his NHL debut and played 18:06. The Hurricanes lost defenseman James Wisniewski, one of their offseason additions, early to a lower-body injury, and he did not return.

“We had a little bit of adversity,” Carolina coach Bill Price said. “I thought we handled it well though, but all three penalties for us were in the O-zone. That can’t be something we do . get that cleaned up, and we will be fine.”

The Predators opened the night with their traditional gold carpet walk into the arena and their 13th consecutive sellout. Then they kicked off Peter Laviolette’s second season as coach by jumping all over the team he coached to the 2006 Stanley Cup, taking 11 of the first 13 shots.

“We were strong in the first, I mean … we were ready to play,” Laviolette said. “We just have to do that for 60 minutes.”

Carolina forward Kris Versteeg said the Predators play really well in their building.

“I thought once we settled in, we played a lot better,” Versteeg said.

They nearly blew it with the Hurricanes finishing with a flurry of shots at Rinne, and Staal scored just after Carolina goalie Cam Ward reached the bench.

Smith tipped in a shot by Ryan Ellis for a 1-0 lead off Nashville’s first power play to take advantage of Jordan Staal’s penalty for high-sticking. Smith signed a five-year deal worth $21.2 million in July. Arvidsson tipped in a shot redirected by Calle Jarnkrok off a blast from Jones at 17:03 for the 2-0 lead.

The Swede celebrated his first career goal in his seventh NHL game with a triple fist pump on the bench.

Carolina came in having won its final four preseason games. The Hurricanes just couldn’t get anything going against the Predators, who still aren’t happy at being ousted in the first round of the playoffs last spring after finishing third in the Western Conference.

The Hurricanes outshot Nashville 21-11 in the final two periods and failed to convert on two power plays in the third. Except for Staal’s tip-in, their flurry of shots in the final minute just couldn’t squeeze past Rinne, who finished second to Montreal goalie Carey Price in Vezina voting.

The Predators return to the ice on Saturday night as they play host to Edmonton in a 6 PM contest at the Bridgestone Arena.  Thunder Radio is once again the exclusive home for the Nashville Predators in Southern Middle Tennessee and will bring you that broadcast on Saturday night.

The Coffee County Middle School football team will travel to Shelbyville on Saturday for a CTC semifinal matchup against the Harris Middle School Eagles. The game will kick off at 1 PM and will be played at Shelbyville Central High. The winner will advance to Tuesday night’s CTC championship game with North Franklin in Winchester.
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The Coffee County CHS soccer team will open district tournament play on Saturday as they play host to Franklin County. The match is one of 3 quarterfinal matches scheduled for Saturday. The winner of the Coffee County/ Franklin County match will take on Lincoln County on Tuesday night in a 7 PM match in Fayetteville. Saturday night’s match will kick off at 6 PM at the Raider Soccer Field behind the Raider Academy.
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The Coffee County Red Raider football team will enjoy a bye on Friday night but Thunder Radio will STILL bring you lots of football action. The Friday Night Thunder crew will host their regular pregame show beginning at 6:00 PM. Recent Vanderbilt commitment Alontae Taylor will be a guest on the show as hosts Dennis Weaver and Josh Peterson will get the chance to interview him live on the air for the Thunder Radio listening audience. After Friday Night Thunder, Doug Matthews and Phil Fulmer will be on with “Coach to Coach” followed by the Nick Saban Show. At 9:15, the Friday Night Thunder scoreboard show returns as they will wrap up all the high school football action from Friday night. The scoreboard show runs until 11 PM.

Makayla Morgan of CHS volleyball

The Coffee County Lady Raider volleyball team extended their season on Tuesday night with a straight set sweep on Shelbyville in the first round of the District 8AAA volleyball tournament. The win improves Coffee County’s record to 20 and 15 for the season.

The Lady Raiders struggled in the early going trailing 17 to 15 in the first set before a side out and a tremendous serving performance from Makayla Morgan captured the last 10 points of the set to win the 1^st set 25 to 17.  Morgan served 6 aces during that 9 serve run to give Coffee County the momentum that carried them in win in the next 2 sets, at 7 and 13, to claim the win.

The Lady Raiders dominated play at the net as they scored 30 kills on the night led by Diana Davis and Peyton Nicoll who each had 6 kills.  Aerial Williams, Grace Spellings and Kaylee Skipper all added 4 kills.  David, Williams and Spellings all had a block while Maddie Taylor had 10 assists.  In addition to her 6 aces, Morgan led the team in digs with 3 while Tyana Fenton had 7 aces to lead Coffee County

Coffee County will advance to the tournament semifinals on Thursday night in Franklin County.  The tournament semifinals and finals will take place at North Franklin Middle School in Decherd.  The Lady Raiders will take on Lincoln County in a match that will begin around 6:15.  A win in the semifinals will set up a finals appearance set to begin at around 7:30 PM.  Thunder Radio will bring you coverage of all of Coffee County’s action on Thursday night.

With the regular season completed for high school soccer and volleyball, the Lady Raider volleyball and soccer teams prepare to begin District 8AAA action this week.  As is the case in baseball and softball, the top 2 finishers in the District tournament will advance to the Region 4AAA Tournament.

The Lady Raider volleyball team opens District tournament play on Tuesday night at home as they play host to Shelbyville in a 6 PM match.  A win there will advance the Lady Raiders to district semifinals and finals set to begin at 5 PM on Thursday night at North Franklin Middle School in Decherd.  The region tournament will be held in Murfreesboro on Tuesday, October 13^th.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of Tuesday night’s match versus Shelbyville as part of the Hometown Tuesday series.  The pregame show will begin at 5:50 PM.

The Lady Raider soccer team begins District 8AAA Tournament play at home on Saturday night with a 6 PM match against Franklin County.  A win in Saturday’s match will advance the Lady Raiders to the semifinals on Tuesday night at Lincoln County.  The Lady Raider soccer team plays their home matches at the Raider Soccer Field behind the Raider Academy.