Friday night was big play or bust for the Central High School Red Raider football team. In the end – the Raiders scraped together enough big plays to beat Rockvale 20-14. Unofficially, Coffee County only managed 222 yards of offense on the night. But defense, special teams and a pair of big plays proved to be the difference. Sophomore tailback Konor Heaton, who was filling in for an injured Marshall Haney, put the game away with 2:32 to play when he broke loose on a fourth-and-1 run and rumbled 37 yards for a touchdown score to put the Raiders...

Coffee County Central’s Lady Raider soccer team bombarded Lincoln County with shots on Thursday night, eventually breaking through with four in the second half to cruise to a 5-0 win in a match you heard live on Thunder Radio as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series. Five different Lady Raiders scored on the night. Maddy Jones got the scoring started in the 18th minute, but Coffee County wasn’t able to score again and only led 1-0 at the break before the floodgates opened in the second half. Katie Cotten scored in the 43rd minute, quickly followed...

Westwood’s Rocket football team put the finishing touches on a perfect regular season with a 30-0 shutout win over Cascade in Wartrace Thursday night. Rocket quarterback Jayden Carter crossed the 1,000 yard rushing mark on the season during the game. Westwood will host Fayetteville in the DRVC championship game on Thursday, Oct. 8. That game will be broadcast live on Thunder...

The Coffee County Central High School Red Raider football team (2-3 overall / 1-2 Region 3-6A) travels to Rockvale Friday to take on the Rockets (1-5) and look to get back to .500 on the season. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be heard live on Thunder Radio. Pregame coverage with the Friday Night Thunder pregame show begins at 6 p.m. You can listen to the game on  107.9 FM, 106.7 FM, 1320 AM, Manchester Go app and thunder1320.com. Anyone wishing to travel to the game must purchase tickets digitally at www.gofan.co. No tickets will...

 Ian Anderson might not be old enough to fully grasp the significance of the Braves once again tasting postseason success. But the young hurler already appears capable of giving Atlanta fans a chance to regularly celebrate in October. Anderson drew comparisons to Tom Glavine and Steve Avery after dazzling in his postseason debut. His six innings extended a historic scoreless run for the Braves, who swept the Reds in the National League Wild Card Series with a 5-0 win on Thursday afternoon at Truist Park. With a pair of shutout wins in this best-of-three series, the Braves became the first...

Coffee County Middle School’s Red Raider football team is set to host the CTC championship on Saturday – but the opponent isn’t who was expected. Tullahoma Middle School upset Harris Middle School on Tuesday to earn the #2 seed, meaning the Wildcats will travel over to Manchester for the 6:30 p.m kickoff on Saturday. This sets up a rematch of last year’s CTC title game, which Tullahoma won. Coffee County enters Saturday 6-0, having beat Tullahoma 34-12 way back on Aug....

Not long after delivering the walk-off single that gave the Braves a 1-0, 13-inning win over the Reds in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series on Wednesday afternoon, Freddie Freeman explained the wave emotions felt in this historical nail-biter. “It was a very stressful 4 1/2 hours,” Freeman said. “Whatever emotions you feel, you just try to ride that wave. When it gets to the sixth, seventh and eighth innings with it still 0-0, I think everybody is on pins and needles. That’s just how it is, especially in a playoff game.” Being on pins and...

Thursday is a busy night of prep sports. At 6 p.m., the CMS sixth grade basketball teams will be at North, while the WMS sixth grade basketball girls team will be at South Middle. Also at 6 p.m., the CHS Lady Raider Volleyball team will wrap up their regular season at Oakland. At 6:30 p.m., Westwood Middle School will wrap up its regular season at Cascade Middle. Also at 6:30, the CHS Lady Raider soccer team will be at home, hosting Lincoln County for senior night. That game will be broadcast live on Thunder Radio as part of the...