Category: Sports

CCMS volleyball player Keelie Hillis

Six service aces powered the Coffee County Middle School to a straight set sweep of Harris on Thursday night in middle school volleyball action. After blitzing the Eagles 25 to 10 in the first set, the Lady Raiders fought and clawed their way to a 25 to 23 second set win for the sweep. Keelie Hillis led the Lady Raiders in aces with 3 and kills with 2. Abigail Parker added a pair of kills and Amanda Mukai had 3 assists. Mukai, Sarah West and Elizabeth Proffitt all were credited with an ace. The Lady Raiders hit the road again with a trip to Fayetteville on Friday and Saturday for the Lincoln County Tournament. Their schedule will be posted on the Coffee Coaches Show Facebook page on Friday

Brianna Jones accepts the Gateway Tire and Service Center/Thunder Radio MVP Award from Lucky Knott as he presented the award on behalf of Jeff Cox from Gateway Tire and Service Center

Saying good-bye to senior athletes never is an easy task. Monday night was no different as the Coffee County CHS softball team said good-bye to senior graduates Brianna Jones, Brittney Williams, Shelby Giles and Taylor Barnes at their annual softball banquet. Making the evening’s festivities more poignant was the retirement of 12 year head coach Terry Floyd. Floyd guided the Lady Raider program to two state tournament appearances and watched graduating senior Brianna Jones eclipse many of the Lady Raider softball pitching records in her 4 year career. Jones, who was honored as this season’s District 8AAA Pitcher of the Year, was previously named to the TSCA All-State team as well as being named Miss Softball in Middle Tennessee.

Tori Bell accepts the Gateway Tire and Service Center Horizon Award from Lucky Knott as he presented the award on behalf of Jeff Cox from Gateway Tire and Service Center

Jones was honored by the team by having her jersey retired in a ceremony at the banquet. Shelby Giles, Brittany Williams, Tori Bell, Taylor Barnes joined Jones as being named to the All-District 8AAA Team. For team awards, Claire Spellings was named the Lady Raider Award winner; Meagan Phillips was honored with the Perseverance Award and Brittany Williams received the Leadership Award. Gateway Tire and Service Center, in conjunction with Thunder Radio, presented a pair of awards. Tori Bell was named the Horizon Award winner while Brianna Jones was named the Most Valuable Player.

After receiving inquiries from several middle school parents, the Coffee County Middle School has agreed to add Cross Country to their sports offerings this fall. Students at CCMS who wish to participate in Cross Country will be coached by CHS Cross Country coaches Robert Harper and Nathan Wanuch. The team will train alongside the high school team but compete against other middle school teams at the same meets attended by the high school. CCMS athletic director Kyle Harris was pleased to add the sport which will directly benefit the CCMS Track team in the spring along with the high teams in future years. “We strive to prepare our students for high school not only academically, but also athletically” said Harris. The CCMS runners will begin competing on Thursday, along the high school cross country team on Thursday in the Cookeville at the Cookeville XC Jamboree. This event is untimed and unscored. The Middle School races will be 2 miles while the High School races are 5K. The Middle School girls and boys will run at 4:30 and 5:00 PM respectively while the High School girls begin at 5:30 PM and the boys follow at 6:00.

The Coffee County CHS Volleyball team will extend signups thru Saturday for the Youth Volleyball League. Girls in grades 4th thru 6h can sign up this Saturday from 9 AM to Noon at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym. The league will play its games on Saturdays this fall and will be coached by the CHS volleyball coaches and players. For more information, contact Coach Andrew Taylor via email at: taylora@k12coffee.net
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There will be a softball skills camp for outfielders held this Sunday at Terry Floyd Field at Coffee County Central High School. The camp, which will run from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, is open to girls in middle school and high school. Among the camp instructors will be Jeff Breeden, the head softball coach at Middle Tennessee State University. Cost for the camp is $10 and campers are encouraged to bring their own water. All proceeds will go to the Lady Raider Softball Booster Club.

 
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The Coffee County Fastpitch Association will host a softball skills camp on Saturday, August 22nd from 9 AM to 1 PM at Terry Floyd Field. Campers can register at the door for $60 per player. The camp will be taught by Chattanooga State head softball coach Beth Keylon and will feature instruction in fielding, hitting, pitching and catching. For questions, contact Ashley Harrell Jernigan at 931-273-1597.

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The Coffee County CHS JV soccer team will be holding a 3 team play day on Saturday at the Raider Soccer Field behind the Raider Academy. The Lady Raiders will take on Wilson Central at 9:00 AM and Lawrence County at 11:40 AM. Lawrence County will face Wilson Central at 10:20. The CHS soccer team opens their regular season on Monday at Riverdale in a 7:00 PM contest. There will be no JV contest on Monday.

Hayden Skipper(#2) of CCMS takes the handoff from QB Blanton Brown(#1) around right end for huge yardage on Tuesday night while Layne Booth(#88) looks downfield for a block. (Photo by John St.Clair – JohnStClairPhoto.com)

Three touchdowns in the first 7 offensive plays, and a punt return for a touchdown on their next possession gave the Coffee County Middle School Raider football team a 30 to 0 lead after 1 quarter as they opened their season on Tuesday night with a 38 to 8 win over Whitwell. In a game broadcast on Thunder Radio, the Raiders rolled up 113 yards of offense in the first half. The Red and Black defense forced a turnover and held Whitwell to 4 yards of offense in the first half in the convincing win. Hayden Skipper scored the first of his 2 first quarter touchdowns from 21 yards out on the 2nd play of the game and Blanton Brown scampered 9 yards on a quarterback keeper in the 2nd possession to give the Raiders all the points they would need.

Brandon Jernigan of CCCMS picks up yardage on Whitwell in Tuesday night’s game as Trevor Horne(#84) tries to set up a block. (Photo by John St.Clair – JohnStClairPhoto.com)

Brandon Jernigan had a pair of 2 point conversions to make it 16 to 0 with 3:25 left in the first quarter. Both Brown and Skipper added touchdowns as Skipper got a 30 TD run while Brown returned a punt 43 yards to put the game on ice after 8 minutes. JT Bush added a 2nd half touchdown run from 14 yards out and Tanner Hulvey and Adam Petty added 2 point conversions on the night for the Red Raiders.
Whitwell’s lone score came on an 81 yard run by Cole Burns in the 3rd quarter. Even with the 81 yard run, the Raider defense held Whitwell to 99 yards of total offense on the evening. Coffee County finished the night with 233 yards of offense and committed no turnovers. The Raiders were also whistled for only 3 penalties on the night as Coach Brock Freeze was able to rest a lot of starters in the second half.
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For their outstanding play, Skipper and Brown were named the Thunder Radio Co-Players of the Game. With the win, Coffee County opens the season with a record of 1 and 0. The Red Raiders will take off next Tuesday before returning to the gridiron on Tuesday, August 25th as they open conference play at Tullahoma. The battle of rivals will take place at Wilkins Stadium with kickoff set for 6:30 PM.

The Westwood Lady Rockets soccer team celebrates their 10-0 win over Liberty on Tuesday night. Photo by Rob Clutter

Five 1st half goals by the Westwood Lady Rocket soccer team powered the ladies in blue to a season opening win at Liberty on Tuesday night.   The Lady Rockets got goals from 6 different players as Westwood got the 10 to 0 win over their conference rivals from Shelbyville.  Beatris Barrera, Faith Willoughby, Jimelda PenaLoza, Clarrisa Barrera, Reyna Flores and Nayeli Ramirez all found the back of the net for Westwood.   Westwood will play their first home match of the season on Thursday, August 20th as they welcome Cascade to Dyer-Boulding Field for a conference match.  Kick off is scheduled for 5:30 PM.

CCMS volleyball coach Lora Selvog instructs her team during a timeout in Saturday’s play day.

Maintaining their momentum from this past weekend, the Coffee County Middle School volleyball team opened the regular season with a straight sets win over Fayetteville on Tuesday night.  The JV Lady Raiders also won their matchup as each team starts the season with perfect marks.  The Lady Raiders will be back on the road on Thursday as they travel to Shelbyville to take on Harris.  First serve in that match is scheduled for 6:00 PM.  They follow that up with a trip to Fayetteville on Friday and Saturday for the Lincoln County Tournament.

Abby Morgan(#23) of Coffee County attacks the Ooltewah defense in scrimmage action on Tuesday (Photo by John St.Clair – JohnStClairPhoto.com)

An effective passing performance lifted the Coffee County Central High School Lady Raider soccer team to a 3 to 0 win over Ooltewah on Tuesday night in scrimmage action. The varsity Lady Raiders used their final scrimmage of the preseason to polish up their offense in the convincing win. Effective play on the back line kept the talented Lady Owls off the scoreboard for the night. The Lady Raiders are set to open the regular season on Monday at Riverdale in a 7:00 PM contest. The JV Lady Raiders will complete their preseason scrimmage action this weekend as they host a JV Play day behind the Raider Academy. Thunder Radio and the Coffee Coaches Show will keep you updated on that schedule later this week.

CHS golfer Sophie Vinson

The Raider and Lady Raider golfers hit the road on Monday to take part in the Early Bird Tournament in Cookeville. The Lady Raiders shot an impressive 150 as a team only to finish three strokes behind tournament winner Walker Valley. Sophie Vinson and Savannah Quick each fired a 75 to lead Coffee County to a 2nd place finish in the field of 9. The finish is the first tournament loss for the Lady Raiders this season.

CHS golfer John Parriger

The Red Raiders played their best round of the season with shooting a 296 to claim a 3rd place finish out of 16 boys teams. Freshman Austin Farris had his best round of his high school career with the 71 while junior John Parigger shot a 73. Senior Hayden Proffitt carded a 75 and sophomore Reid Lawrence came in at 77. Walker valley won the tournament with an impressive 281 and Cookeville finished second with a 284. The 296 score for Coffee County is the second lowest round in the school history.

Coffee County returns to the links later this week as the Red Raiders will travel to Sewanee to take on Grundy County on Thursday in a boys only match. That match will tee off at 4:00 PM. The Lady Raiders will be in action this weekend in Crossville at the Golf Capital Tournament. The Saturday/Sunday tournament tees off at 8:00 AM each day.

Nashville Sounds utilityman Ryan Roberts has been named the Pacific Coast League’s Player of the Week for the August 3-9 period.

The 34-year-old batted .360 (9-for-25) with four home runs, eight RBIs, and a league-best 24 total bases and .960 slugging percentage in six games during the past week to earn the honor.

Roberts’ best effort of the week came on August 4 at Omaha, when he went 3-for-5 with four RBIs and two home runs, including a go-ahead roundtripper in the top of the 12th inning to lead Nashville to an 8-6 victory.

The veteran has been swinging a hot bat for the past few weeks. Roberts has a hit in 18 of his last 22 games (.326, 28-for-86) and has mashed a league-leading five home runs and the second-most total bases (29) during the month of August. Additionally, the slugger has driven in 14 runs since July 29, tied for most in the league.

Since making his debut with Nashville on April 26, Roberts is tied for 4th among PCL hitters with 27 doubles and has batted .297 with nine homers and 47 RBIs in his 90 contests with the Sounds.

The versatile player has appeared at all four infield positions as well as left field and designated hitter for Nashville this season.

Roberts’ PCL award – the first weekly honor of his 13-year career — is the second accumulated by a Sounds player during the 2015 season. Barry Zito was honored as the circuit’s Pitcher of the Week for the May 25-31 period.

Roberts and the Sounds enjoy an off day today before beginning a four-game road trip in Iowa tomorrow. Baseball returns to First Tennessee Park on Saturday night, when Nashville hosts El Paso in the 6:35 p.m. opener of an eight-game homestand. Tickets are available at www.nashvillesounds.com or by calling 615-690-HITS.