Cole Pippenger of CCMS football
After a pair of blowout wins at home, the Coffee County Middle School football team was looking for their first road win of the season on Tuesday night. That task was made more difficult for the Red Raiders as they were in Winchester taking on the Gators of North Franklin. Trailing entering the 4th quarter, Coffee County got 3 touchdowns from Cole Pippenger to power to a 33 to 22 win.
Coffee County got off to a rough start as they fumbled the opening kickoff giving the Gators a short field which they used to score an opening possession touchdown and 2 point conversion. The Raiders got on the board late in the 1st quarter after an Ethan Hargrove interception gave Coffee Middle the ball at the 30 yard line. Jackson Shemwell scored on a bruising 26 yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 8 to 6 entering the 2nd quarter. In the 2nd quarter, Shemwell connected with Hargrove on a 30 yard slant route on 4th down for the touchdown and after Hargrove added the PAT, the Raiders led 13 to 8 at the half.
In the 3rd quarter, North retook the lead on a 47 yard touchdown pass to lead 16 to 13 going into the 4th quarter. Pippenger got his 1st touchdown with 7:53 to go in the game as he scored from 5 yards out on a sweep. Hargrove’s extra point kick gave Coffee Middle the lead for good at 19 to 16. Pippenger scored again with 3:30 on a run from 8 yards out and the extra point made the score 26 to 16. North would not give up scoring on a 71 yard touchdown pass, but Pippenger added a 3 yard touchdown run with Hargrove nailing the point after kick to give Coffee County the huge conference win.
The win improves Coffee Middle to 3 and 3 on the season but 3 and 1 in conference play. The Red Raiders return home on Tuesday for their final home game of the season. Coffee Middle will take on Warren County and Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all the action as part of the 1st National Bank Hometown Sports Series. Kickoff is set for 6:30 PM, we begin live coverage with the pregame show at 6:20.
