Paco Barrera hits a shot in warmups prior to Wednesday’s match with Shelbyville
Four 1st half goals staked the Coffee County CHS soccer team to a 4 to 1 halftime lead and a furious 2nd half Shelbyville rally fell short as the Red Raiders defeated the Eagles by a final score of 5 to 3 on Wednesday night. Coffee County got off to a fast start getting 4 shots on goal in the first 3 minutes before Paco Barrera redirected a deflected free kick past the keeper at the 7 minute mark to get Coffee County on the board first. His brother Abelene Barrera tallied a goal a minute later and Breyer Taylor added a 3rd goal at 15 to put the Raiders in the driver’s seat early. Shelbyville tightened up their defense but could not mount an attack against Coffee County. Breyer Taylor notched his second goal at the 27 minute mark on a beautiful fake to get around the keeper and it looked like the rout was on. But Shelbyville responded with a goal in the 36th minute and then opened up the second half with goals at the 54th and 56th minute to put the home standing Raider fans on edge. A huge save by keeper Lafredo Ramirez in the 60th minute seemed to change the momentum and Paco Barrera nailed his second goal of the night in the 68th minute to put the game out of reach. With the win, Coffee County will play for a district title on Friday night in Columbia. The district title match will kick off at 7:00 PM. The win also guarantees the Raiders a berth on the Region 4AAA Tournament which begins next Monday.
