Coffee County put together a solid drive to start the second half and pulled to within four points of Shelbyville Friday.
But that is as close as they would get.
The Golden Eagles cooked Coffee County with big plays and eventually pulled away for a 38-17 win Friday night in Shelbyville.
“A total meltdown, a breakdown,” said Coffee County head coach Roger Haynes after the game. “This is my fault. We got to get back to the drawing board.”
For a moment it looked like the Raiders might hang with the high-powered Golden Eagles. Coffee County put together a 9 play, 80 yard drive to start the seocnd half that was capped with a 5-yard run by Jayden Carter to pull to within 21-17.
But the Eagles answered, getting a 41 yard pitch and catch from Nathan Delaughter to Micah Threatt down to the Raider 5 yeard line. That came 1 play after the Raider defense jumped offsides on third-and-five to give the Eagles a first down. Raydon Crenshaw scored one play later from the 5.
Threatt caught 3 passes for the Ealges for 123 yards – including a 37 yard touchdown earlier in the game.
Meanwhile, Coffee County struggled to get its offense in gear again despite some early short fields thanks to poor punting by the Eagles. CHS had 192 total yards of offense. John Massnegill accounted for 85 through the air in his first start at quarterback, going 8-of-16. He had one pass intercepted.
Caiden Martin had 65 yards on 18 rushes, including a 15 yard score after a bad snap on a Shelbyville punt. The Eagles set the Raiders up with good field position twice after bad punt snaps.
Deontae Short had 45 yards on 9 totes.
Coffee County falls to 1-2 overall with the loss. The Raiders open region play next Friday, Sept. 8 at Siegel.
NEWS AND NOTES
– The 38 points allowed by the Raiders is the most in nearly two years. CHS allowed 38 to Page on Sept 10, 2021. Page went on to lose in the state championship that season.
-Coffee County was penalized 9 times for 65 yards, including offsides calls on 4th and 5 and 3rd and 5 near midfield.
-This was the first start for junior quarterback John Massengill and sophomore center Damien Thomas. The Raiders will be without junior quarterback Cole Pippenger for the rest of the year with a shoulder injury.
-Manny Gonzales was 1-for-2 on field goals for the Raiders.
-Blayne Myers and AJ Schuster each recovered fumbles for the Raiders.
-Shelbyville only had one penalty in the entire game (15 yards).
-The Golden Eagles racked up 341 yards of total offense.
(PHOTOS BELOW BY HOLLY PETERSON, THUNDER RADIO WMSR AM 1320, 107.9 FM
