Category: Sports

The Coffee County Central junior varsity baseball team was in action and pounded out 36 runs in just 7 innings for a pair of wins Thursday night.

The Raiders dropped Warren County 20-10 behind three hits from Cole Bryce and three runs scored by Dayne Crosslin and Mays Snipes. Bryce picked up 4 RBIs on the evening. Crosslin launched a home run.

The Raiders turned around to wax Warren County 16-0. Brendan Sheppard, Crosslin and Snipes all picked up doubles. The Raiders totaled 13 hits to pick up the 16 runs, led by three from Sheppard and two apiece by Bryce, Jack Anderson and Aiden Robertson.

The JV Raiders will host Pope John Paul II at 3 p.m. Friday, March 19

Varisty raiders

The varsity Red Raiders (2-0) will host Pope John Paul II in a non-district tilt at 5:30 p.m. Friday afternoon in Manchester. This game will be broadcast live on Thunder Radio with the pregame beginning at approximately 5:20.

Listen at 107.9 FM, 1320 AM, 106.7 FM, Manchester Go app and thunder1320.com

Calle Jarnkrok tallied twice, and Juuse Saros was nearly perfect in his return, as the Nashville Predators defeated the Florida Panthers by a 2-1 final on Thursday night at BB&T Center. The result gives the Preds a pair of victories in the second half of their franchise-record eight-game road trip and their second win over the Panthers in five tries this season.

Jarnkrok’s two-goal performance came after a four-point outing in Monday’s win over Tampa Bay, and Saros was back in the net after missing seven games due to an upper-body injury. Those two will get plenty of credit, but once again, the Preds were able to grind out another road win against one of the top teams in the NHL standings. 

This game was broadcast live on Thunder Radio – your exclusive home for the Nashville Predators in Coffee County.

It’s hard to find a freshman in high school who knows what she wants.

Mature beyond her years, Bella Vinson walked into Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gymnasium at Central High School four years ago and knew then exactly what she wanted: to win.

At that point it was a certainty to most that the tall, gangly freshman had a promising high school career in front of her. But unbeknownst to everyone, even Bella herself, was that for four years Coffee County fans would get to witness the development of who would become the best player to ever set foot on the floor at Central High School.

Bella leaves Coffee County Central with career numbers that will not be matched anytime soon:  862 rebounds, 314 assists, 222 steals and 142 blocks. Her 2,113 career points are the most all time at CHS – for a boy or a girl.  

“Those (career) numbers, that was just never the intention at all,” explained Bella, who shyly pushes back when discussing her stats. “I wanted to be a winner.”

She certainly accomplished winning, too. As a starter, Bella’s teams amassed 106 wins to just 16 losses (86.9 winning percentage) over four years. That is the most wins for any four-year starter in Central High School history – boys or girls. However, the state tournament remained elusive for Coffee County during Bella’s tenure, a painful thought for the senior. The 2020-2021 Lady Raider season featured 28 wins – only 2 more were needed to reach the state tournament.

“Coming into this as a freshman, you look at the program and I knew where I wanted to go, where I wanted it to be,” explained Bella, “and I knew that I’m a winner. That’s what I was focused on. I was going to do whatever I could to get wins for us.

“Now I think back and numbers like that were never my main focus. That’s just what happened as a result of winning games.”

All-star selection

Bella will get an opportunity to play at the high school level one more time. She has been selected to play in the Basketball Coaches Association of Tennessee (BCAT) Girls All Star Game with the elite players of Tennessee on Saturday, March 27 at Blackman High School.

There will be four teams – Memphis, West, Middle and East.

“I’m excited to get out there with them and play with the best players in Tennessee,” said Bella.

Vinson was also named to the TN Report All-State team – a selection that is based on team success, individual success and character. Bella was the only player from District 8-AAA to receive the honor and the only to be invited to the BCAT All-Star Game, which are separate honors.

Blackman, who went on to win the AAA state championship and was one of Coffee County’s two losses, had three players selected to the honorary all-state team.

“There is just so much really good talent in Tennessee. I don’t think people realize, it’s ridiculous just how much talent is out there in this state. It is an honor just to be listed with these girls.”

What’s next

Scholarship in hand, Bella will ship up to Lipscomb University after graduating from Coffee County this May to begin her collegiate workouts.

But until then, you can still find her in the gym at CHS working on her game and working with other Lady Raider players. Still trying to help Coffee County win, albeit now without her red and white no. 23 jersey,

“I still play with the girls every afternoon. I really hope that someone beats those [records] someday,” Bella said. “I want this program to win. And if someone works hard and beats (those numbers) then that means Coffee County is doing big things.

“That’s what I want.”

Manchester Youth Football League is hosting a UT Alumni Football workshop for interested players in the third through 9^th grades.

Players will get a chance to work with Tennessee Volunteer alum such as Josh Smith, Todd Kelly Jr., Malik Foreman and Devaun Swafford.

Players will get a chance to work on agility, ball skills and gain valued mentorship from the former volunteers.

The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 10 at Raider Academy. Cost is $100 and participation is limited to the first 100 players.

All proceeds will go toward new equipment for Manchester Youth Football League.

Signups will soon be available at www.myflraiders.com. The link is expected to be available later this week.

For more information, email Jimmy VanWinkle at vanwinklejd@gmail.com.

Event organizer Jimmy VanWinkle will join the Coffee Coaches Show on Saturday, March 20 to discuss the event. You can listen from 10-11 a.m. on Thunder Radio.

The Titans have informed cornerback Adoree Jackson and tackle Dennis Kelly they’re being released.

Jackson, a first-round pick of the Titans in 2017, played in 46 games for the Titans over the past four seasons, with 41 starts. Jackson played in three games for the Titans in 2020.

Kelly, acquired in a trade with the Eagles in 2016, played in 74 games for the Titans over the past five seasons. He started all 16 games at right tackle in 2020.

With Jackson’s release, the Titans have now parted ways with three of four starters in the secondary from a year ago. In addition to Jackson, cornerback Malcolm Butler and safety Kenny Vaccaro were released earlier this month by the team.

Thunder Radio is your exclusive home for the Tennessee Titans in Coffee County.

Senior pitcher Keri Munn allowed just two hits over four shutout innings and the Lady Raider offense went off, including a grand slam from Kaitlyn Davis in a 15-0 blowout win over visiting Columbia Tuesday night.

CHS scored in every inning to enact the mercy rule in the bottom of the fourth. The Lady Raiders pushed a run across in the first, six in the second, five in the 3rd and three in the fourth. The win improves CHS to 2-0 on the year, 1-0 in District 8-AAA play.

The biggest frame of the night was the second inning when CHS plated 6 runs – all coming with two outs. Davis capped the inning with a two-out grand-slam over the centerfield fence to put CHS up 7-0.

Munn and Jada Bowen each had multiple hits for CHS. Munn drove home a run and also walked. She had a double to go along with a double from Olivia Evans. Justus Turner, Chesnie Cox, Emily Schuster and Haidyn Campbell all had an RBI apiece for CHS.

Munn picked up the win in the circle to move to 2-0 on the season. She worked four innings and struck out seven Lady Lions. She allowed two hits and walked two.

The Lady Raiders are scheduled to play at Brentwood at 5 p.m. Wednesday, weather permitting.

Senior right-hander Griffin Meeker struck out 11 Columbia batters and the Central High School Red Raiders got runs when they needed them in a 4-2 win in Tuesday afternoon at Powers Field in Manchester.

The win completes the season sweep for the Raiders over the Lions after a 6-0 win Monday afternoon in Columbia.

Trailing 2-1 in the third, the Raiders tied the game on a two-out solo home run to left field by senior Lane Spry.

The Raiders added two in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead and that score held. Hayden Hullett singled and Brady Nugent reached on an error in the fourth. Hullett motored around to score on an RBI double by Griffin Meeker and Nugent later scored on a passed ball. Meeker finished 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Carter McKenzie and Jacob Holder collected one hit apiece for the Raiders.

The Raiders did strand 7 runners on base.

Defensively, CHS was solid behind Meeker, committing just one error in the field – coming in the seventh inning. Columbia managed to get the tying run to first and the go ahead run at the plate in the top of the seventh, but Meeker punched out his 11th Lion batter to end the game.

The Raiders will be back at home on Friday when they host Pope John Paul II. That game will be broadcast live on Thunder Radio. The Raiders return to district play next week for a two-game series with cross-county rival Tullahoma.

Coffee Middle School’s Red Raider soccer team improved to 3-0 on the season with a 9-0 shutout win over White County Tuesday night.

For the Raiders, Emmanuel Rodriguez had three goals and three assists to lead the offensive onslaught. Manny Gonzalez had a goal and an assist, Kameron Pobanz added two goals and Samuel Medina added two goals.

Ethan Sloan had two assists and Luke Campbell added a goal for the Raiders.

The Raiders kept the ball on the offensive end so much, Liam Brown wasn’t very busy in goal – the Raider keeper picked up one save.

The Raiders are scheduled to play at North on Friday.

The Westwood Rockets scored 6 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to pull away from visiting Cascade in an 8-2 win Tuesday night.

Cayden Trail and Blake Hillis each picked up a pair of hits for the Rockets. Meanwhile, Westwood’s Owen Whitsett finished the night at the plate with 4 RBIs.

Trevor Jesse struck out four Champion batters and worked six innings to pick up the win on the mound for the Rockets.

Westwood (2-3) is scheduled to be at Liberty on March 18.

Below is the area prep sports schedule for Tuesday, March 16

**Denotes Thunder Radio game broadcast! Listen live at 107.9 FM, 1320 AM, Manchester Go app or at thunder1320.com.