Category: Sports

The Coffee County Red Raider baseball team displayed an aggressive offensive attack and solid pitching under new head coach Brad Weir over the week-end, with a 3^rd place finish in the 10^th Annual Crethan Hansert Memorial Tournament. The Raiders finished 1^st in their pool during pool play with a 3 and 1 record. Coffee County got wins over Warren County, Grundy County and Central Magnet after dropping their first tournament game to Franklin County.
The Raiders got a 4 to 0 win over Grundy County in the 1^st game on Saturday scoring 4 runs on only 3 hits courtesy of 3 Yellow Jacket errors and a solo home run off the bat of Deandre Wakefield. In the nightcap, Trace Friedlein pitched a complete game shutout in a 10 to 0 win over Central Magnet in a 6 inning game.
In the semifinals on Sunday afternoon, Marshall County strung 3 hits together in the 4^th inning to stop the Raiders by a final of 2 to 1.  Coffee County opened the scoring in the bottom of the first as Deandre Wakefield got on base thanks to an error and scored on a Trace Friedlein fielder’s choice. Zac Holmes went 2 for 3 on the day to lead the Red Raider hitting attack.
Marshall County went on to defeat Stewarts Creek in the tournament championship game11 to 7.
The Raiders will travel to Murfreesboro this weekend to participate in a summer tournament being hosted by Blackman to close out their summer schedule.

First Annual 7 Person Co-Ed Flag Football Tournament

June 28th  1:00 pm

Old Franklin County High School

Entry Fee Is

$100.00 Per team

Teams may consist of up to 12 players, with a 7 player minimum

Teams must only have 7 players on field at a time

Teams can be made up of both Men and Women

Must be 16 years of age or older.

Registration Info Contact

Benji Smith 931-308-1359

Kenny Shutlz 931-607-7367

The regular season wrapped up recently for the inaugural season on the Manchester Youth Baseball League and 3 champions were crowned last week. In the Coach Pitch division (ages 7 & 8), Interstate Auto finished the regular season with only one loss to be crowned the league champion. In the 9 & 10 year old division, John Roberts Toyota earned the regular season title. While in the 11 & 12 year old division, the crown was decided on the last pitch of the last game as Coffee County Bank got a walk off home run from Jake Hollandsworth in the bottom of the 6th inning to defeat Jiffy Burger 4 to 3 and earn the league title.
The post season tournament is set to begin on Monday night in the 7 & 8 and 9 & 10 year old divisions, while the 11 & 12 year old will begin on Tuesday night.
In the Coach Pitch Division, KOA will take on Lewis Motor Company at 5 PM Monday night while Cooper Sports will take on the Hillsboro Masonic Lodge at 7 PM. Both those games will be held on the T-Ball Field. Tuesday night’s schedule for Coach Pitch has Hullett’s taking on Traders Bank at 5 PM on the National League Field while Star Physical Therapy and Coffee County Mini Storage lock horns at 5 PM on the T-Ball Field.
In the 9 & 10 year old division, 4 games will take place on Monday night as Hullett’s will take on Mark Lemons Construction at 5 PM and Rose Hill tangling with John Roberts Toyota at 7 PM on the National League Field while Coffee Financial plays All Creatures at 5 PM and First National Bank and American City Bank will play at 7 PM on the American League Field. The 4 winners from Monday night will play Thursday.
The 11 & 12 year old division will get underway on Tuesday night at 5 PM on the American League Field as Al White tangles with Bush Insurance followed by Jiffy Burger taking on Powers at 7 PM. Shelter Insurance will take on Peoples Bank at 7 PM on the National League Field to complete the first round action. Those winners will join Coffee County Bank in the second round on Friday night.
All 3 age divisions will hold their post season tournament championship games on Monday, June 23rd at 6 PM. Following the conclusion of the championships, the All Star team selections will be announced.

Recent Coffee County Central High School graduate Tyler Cavender signed a baseball scholarship with Tennessee Temple University on Wednesday afternoon.  Cavender, who was outstanding the last 2 years for Coffee County as a catcher, will join teammate John Reese Gilmer at the Chattanooga school.  Cavender was named the District 8AAA Co-Offensive Player of the Year for the 2014 season as he led the Raiders in batting average, home runs and slugging percent.  Tennessee Temple, located in Chattanooga, competes in the Mid-East Region of the National Christian College Athletic Association and is coached by Greg Bartley.
Cavender’s signing makes 5 Red Raider baseball players who have received scholarships to play college baseball out of the class of 2014.  In addition to Cavender and Gilmer at Tennessee Temple, Tyler Bradshaw signed with Bryan College and Peyton Meeker and Kyle Douglas signed with Freed-Hardeman University.

Story by: Dennis Weaver
The TSSAA Board of Control, meeting this week in Murfreesboro, passed new regulations regarding prep football practices that will go in effect with the opening of fall practice in July. The measures, aimed at programs who use “two-a-day” practices, sets new guidelines in regards to the frequency of these sessions and the overall time spent in practice.
The measure, which passed by a 7 to 2 vote, will limit schools from having 2 practices a day on consecutive days. Additionally, if a team has multiple practices in pads on a single day, the total time in pads cannot exceed 5 hours. Coaches must also insure that the two practices are separated by at least 3 hours of rest in cool conditions for the players. Any athlete that practices twice in one day, would be limited to 1 practice on the following day. The new practice policy also dictates that any practice session in pads may not exceed 3 hours in a single practice.
Also on the docket, the TSSAA staff presented 3 new classification strategies for Division 1 football. The TSSAA staff proposed three ideas for the Board of Control to consider for Tennessee high school football for 2015: keep the current six-class system, return to five classes (last used in 2008) or adopt their recommended hybrid six-class plan. Board members were advised to take the proposals back to their coaches from comments and discussion. The earliest this plan could be voted on would be the August Board of Control meeting. No classification changes would take effect until 2015.
The new approach recommended by the TSSAA staff would place the 32 high schools in Tennessee with the highest enrollment in Class 6A, with the remainder of the 273 schools divided into 5 classifications. Class 6A would compete in 4 regions with each team advancing to the playoffs. The other 5 classifications would be divided into 8 regions with the top 4 teams in each region advancing to the playoffs.
This hybrid plan, based on CURRENT enrollment, would place Coffee County in Class 5A in a “projected” Region 5-5A with Cane Ridge,, Columbia Central, Franklin County, Glencliff, Lincoln County, Shelbyville Central and Stewarts Creek. Tullahoma would be placed in Class 4A with a projected Region 4-4A of Hillsboro, Lawrence County, Lipscomb, Spring Hill and Summit.

Monday night was the annual softball banquet for the Coffee County Lady Raiders. Many awards were given out during the event held at the Fraternal Order of Police building in Manchester.
The Thunder Radio/Gateway Tire and Service Center MVP was awarded to Brianna Jones and the Gateway Horizon award winner was Anna Spellings. Jones set school records for strikeouts in a game, 21, in a season, 372 and best ever ERA of 0.48. Jones was 4^th best in strikeouts in the nation. Spellings overcame injuries received in a horrible car accident to start in RF her senior year.
Coach Terry Floyd announced the players that received All-District 8-AAA honors this season. Brianna Jones was named pitcher of the year. Others named all-district were Bethany Baker, Shelby Giles, Taylor Barnes, Brittany Williams and Anna Spellings. Coach Floyd handed out numerous other awards.

After helping lead the Motlow Bucks to their most successful baseball season in a decade, three members of the 2014 squad will continue their student-athlete careers at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn.

Ben Holland, Luke Toms and Chris Adams all played two years at Motlow and helped guide the Bucks to a 40-24 record during the past season and 67 wins over the past two years. Motlow finished runner-up in the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association (TCCAA) tournament and advanced to the East Central District Tournament in Covington, Ga. last season.
Motlow had not advanced to the East Central tournament since 2000, when they won it and advanced to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) World Series.

Lee completed a 37-19 season last year and advanced to the NCCAA World Series in Mason, Ohio. After losing their tournament opener, the Flames fought through the elimination bracket to reach the national championship game, where they fell to Fresno Pacific University from California 5-1.
The Flames moved into the NCCAA and up to Division II after previous seasons as an NAIA school, where they won over 50 games for seven straight seasons and advanced to the NAIA World Series each of those seasons. Now part of the Gulf South Conference, the Flames play bigger schools and a much tougher schedule.
Lee University has consistently had players drafted in the major league baseball draft, including five following the 2012 season and five more after the 2013 campaign.

Recent Coffee County graduates Kelsey Munn and Lauren Brown signed basketball scholarship papers with Motlow State on Friday at a ceremony at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gymnasium. Brown and Munn each played pivotal roles this past season for the Lady Raiders as Munn led the team in blocked shots while Brown was the leading scorer. Both ladies returned for their senior season of basketball after sitting out their sophomore and junior seasons. Each expressed the family atmosphere they felt at Motlow as well as the opportunity to play close to home as deciding factors. Brown said she will miss the memories of playing with the close friends she made in high school ball while Munn looks forward to the challenge of elevating her game to the college level. Motlow is currently accepting applications for a new women’s basketball coach and Athletic Director Tori Raby-Gentry oversaw the recruitment and signing of the 2 Lady Raiders. Raby-Gentry stated that the Lady Bucks hope to have a new coach in place by the middle of June to a team that returns a majority of their roster.

Motlow Bucks head basketball coach Matt Sligh and his staff will host a basketball skills camp on June 16 and 17 inside Nisbett Center on the Motlow College Moore County campus. The deadline for registration is June 9. The camp will feature two separate sessions. The first is for kindergarten through sixth-grade students and will begin at 9 a.m. and end at noon both days. The second session is for seventh through 12th graders and will begin at 1 p.m. and end at 4 p.m. both days. The cost of the camp is $60 per person. There is a $5 discount per player for two or more campers from the same family. Team groups of eight or more players will receive a $10 discount per player. Late registration is $65. Campers will receive a Motlow Bucks basketball camp T-shirt and will have the option to purchase additional Bucks basketball gear. Food and drink items will be available for purchase throughout the camp. Attendees are encouraged to reserve their spot at the camp by visiting MotlowSports.com. Please fill out the form and return it to the address on it along with payment.

Former Tullahoma Wildcat pitcher Justus Sheffield became the first player in the history of Tullahoma High School to be named the Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year in a special ceremony held in the school’s auditorium.
This year celebrates the program’s 29th anniversary. In that time, Gatorade has honored more than 13,000 State Players of the Year and 260 National Players of the Year, including many of today’s top professional athletes, such as Peyton Manning, Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, Kerri Walsh, Derek Jeter, and Emmitt Smith.
Sheffield compiled a 10-0 record with a 0.34 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 61.2 innings this past season, leading the Wildcats (24-15) to the sectional round of the Class AAA state tournament. He batted .405 with three home runs, 13 doubles, 16 RBI and 22 runs scored. Justus was named a 1st Team All-American by Perfect Game USA.