The 100th year of Coffee County football kicked off on Friday night at Carden-Jarrell Field. Franklin County brought their speedy offense to Manchester to take on the Raiders.
After a 3 and out on Coffee County’s first drive the Rebels went to work. CJ Seals hit Kai Baker with a 20-yard TD pass to give Franklin County the early lead with 6:43 remaining in the 1st quarter.
Coffee County got its offense rolling to tie the game after a Konnor Heaton 13 yard run with 11:04 to go in the 2nd.
Manny Gonzales would pooch kick the ball and the Rebels were unable to recover the kickoff and the Raider offense was back on the field. QB Cole Pippenger led his team to take the lead when he hit Travis Martin from 24 yards and after a missed extra point Coffee County led 13-7 with 7:45 remaining. That score would for the halftime break.
NaShawn Holman would give Franklin County the lead back after a quick 1:25 drive to begin the 3rd quarter, Holman carried the ball into the endzone from 7 yards out and the extra-point gave the Rebels a 14-13 lead. No other scores took place in the 3rd.
In the 4th Franklin County would up their lead to 17-13 on Dylan Whitmire’s 28-yard field-goal with 10:35 to go in the game.
The Red Raiders were not going away quietly as they put together a nice drive and finished it after Heaton’s second TD on the night from 6 yards away. Jahlin Osbourne’s 39-yard catch was the key play in the drive. Coffee County took the lead 20-17 with the run and 6:51 remaining.
The Rebels were up to the task as they drove the ball against a tough Raider defense that saw Jayden Carter active all night. Franklin County made the choice to kick another field-goal to tie game at 20 as Whitmire was good from 20 yards out with 1:54 left.
The Raiders had to punt with just over one minute to go in regulation. Freshman Caiden Martin stepped into the punter position after Ian Welden had gone out of the game with an injury. Martin boomed a 50 yarder to pin Franklin County at its 15.
The Rebels decided they were not settling for overtime as CJ Seals hit Eric Jones with a pass in front of the Franklin County sideline and took it 68 yards for the score and 27-20 with :06 seconds.
Martin returned the kickoff to mid-field and after a Rebel penalty the Raiders would have an untimed play from the Franklin County 37. Pippenger would do a great job scrambling, but his pass would be knocked down and the Rebels would pick up the non-region win.
For his outstanding work on defense, Jayden Carter was named the Rooster 101.5 Player of the Game.
Heaton had 97 yards rushing on the night and 2 scores. Travis Martin finished with catches for 63 yards and Pippenger completed 7 of 12 passes for 105 yars.
Manny Scott rushed for 134 yards for the Rebels and CJ Seals was 13-20 for 201 yards passing and two touchdowns.
Coffee County will stay out of region as they take on rival Tullahoma in the 97th Coffee Pot game at Wilkins Stadium, which again will be part of the Great American football rivalry. You can hear the action on Coffee County’s #1 rated radio station Rooster 101.5. Franklin County will be at home against Chattanooga Central.
Photo by Shannon Smiles
