Cole Pippenger of CCMS football
The Coffee County Middle School football team kicked off their season on Tuesday night in Watertown. In a game you heard here on Thunder Radio, a furious 4th quarter comeback came up short for Coffee Middle. The Red Raiders fell by a final score of 16 to 14.
Watertown used a pair of Red Raider penalties to march 69 yards in 8 plays to take an early 8 to 0 lead over Coffee County with 7:50 left in the half. Coffee County answered with their own 8 play drive covering 59 yards capped off by a 12 yard touchdown run by Cole Pippenger. The 2 point conversion attempt was no good and Watertown led 8 to 6 at the half.
In the 2nd half, a bad snap resulted in a 20 yard touchdown run for the Purple Tigers after the fumble recovery to make the score 16 to 6 with a little more than 11 minutes left in the game. After a 2nd turnover by Coffee Middle, it looked like Watertown had seized control of the game. But the Raiders capitalized on a bad snap on a punt attempt to start their next drive at the 21 yard line of Watertown. Pippenger ran for his 2nd touchdown on an 11 yard scamper to cut the deficit to 16 to 12. The Raider defense stopped Watertown twice in the 4th quarter, including a safety by Jacob Barlow, to give them one final possession with 28 seconds remaining. Watertown’s defense held to escape with the win.
Pippenger finished the game with 110 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. Quarterback Jackson Shemwell was 3 of 7 passing for 33 yards and Ethan Hargrove caught 2 of those tosses to finish with 23 yards receiving.
The Red Raiders will return to the gridiron on Monday when they travel to Tullahoma. That game will kick off at 6:30 PM at Wilkins Stadium at Tullahoma High School.
Download the broadcast at: https://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/
