The Coffee Red Raiders traveled to Cookeville to do something they had not done since 2010, win a title. Coffee County won the District 6 3-A championship that season by defeating Cookeville 12-7 in regular season finally. The 2022 version of the Red Raiders are your Region 3 6-A champions after defeating the Cavaliers 26-7 on Friday night. The first ever region title in school history.
Cookeville gave Coffee County all they could handle as the Raiders led by 3-0 score at the end of the first half. Manny Gonzales kicked 30-yard field-goal with 2:43 remaining in the 1 quarter for the only score.
After receiving second-half kickoff Coffee County zipped down the field, led by Konor Heaton’s 2 big runs as he finished off the quick :46 drive on a 43-yard run to up the lead to 10-0.
The Raiders would score again with 6:50 to go in the 3rd as Cole Pippenger rushed into the end zone on an 11-yard run to make it 17-0.
Cookeville answered back with their only touchdown of the game on Blake Owen 1-yard run with 1:53 left in the 3rd quarter.
After stopping Coffee County from scoring the Cavaliers had the ball on their own 2-yard line and the Raider defense brought the heat. LB Jayden Carter blasted Cookeville Quarterback Mace Thomsen in the end zone for a safety to give Coffee County a 19-7 lead with 6:04 to go in the game.
The Raiders finished off the scoring when Pippenger danced his way through the Cav defense on a 35-yard run with 2:24 left to make the final 26-7.
The game was marred by penalties with 29 flags with 27 accepted. Two Cookeville coaches were ejected from the game. The Cavaliers received 3 unsportsman like penalties on one play after what they thought was a Coffee County fumble. This resulted in a 45-yard mark off and the ejection of the head coach. The next time it was 2 unsportsman like penalties resulting in a 30-yard penalty and an assistant coach being tossed.
Heaton rushed 21 times for 121 yards and Pippenger ran 6 times for 61 yards and he was also 12-20 passing for 120 yards. Jahlin Osbourne had 4 catches for 38 yards, Travis Martin 3 for 34 and Heaton 3 for 25.
The Red Raider defense was outstanding as they held Cookeville to only 188 yards of offense. Tyler Martin and Caiden Warren had interceptions, plus Tyler Smith had a blocked a field-goal.
Because this was Coffee County first region championship, the entire Coffee County team and coaches were name the Rooster 101.5 players of the game.
The 6-2 Red Raiders will travel again on Friday as they take on the 4-4 Rockvale Rockets. Hear the game on Rooster 101.5, rooster1015.com or the Rooster 101.5 app.
