Showing off their ribbons from Thursday are the top 3 male & female archers for College Street with Coach Bill Bratner. Archers pictured are: Chayna Wright, Rylee Clark, Kirby Vandenbossche, Bill Bratner(rear) Ryder Alford, Colter Neel and Gabe Sanders

Hoping to improve their overall team score from this time last year, the College Street Cougar Archery team visited Tullahoma on Thursday afternoon for an elementary target archery friendly with East Lincoln Elementary.  “I thought we could get 2,800 points but we almost reached 2,900” said College Street coach Bill Bratner.  Combining the top 12 individual scores, the Cougars scored 2,898 points in the match in the 2^nd year of the program.  The Cougars are building up to the state competition to be held in Murfreesboro on March 30^th and 31^st at the Miller Coliseum.

Coach Bratner brought archery to College Street last year as part of the National Archery in the Schools Program(NASP).  The program is managed by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and is in it’s 3^rd year at East Lincoln under Jeff Hale.  Thursday’s friendly saw 16 College Street archers compete against 16 archers from East Lincoln at a range of 10 meters.   Each shooter fired 30 arrows at a target 10 meters down range.  Targets are marked with 10 evenly spaced concentric rings, which have score values from 1 through 10 assigned to them.  The smallest ring, or “bull’s eye”, is worth 10 points.

Colter Neel of College Street takes aim at East Lincoln on Thursday

Leading the way for the Cougars was Colter Neel on Thursday as he fired a 275.   That score was the top overall boys score and placed him in a 3^rd place tie overall for individual honors.  Rounding out the top 3 shooters for College Street were Kirby Vandenbossche(score of 261) and Rylee Clark(257).  The top 3 male shooters for College Street were: Neel(275), Gabe Sanders(255) and Ryder Alford(229).  The top 3 female shooters for College Street were  Kirby Vandenbossche(261), Rylee Clark(257) and Chayna Wright(250).

Filip Forsberg

Fans of the Nashville Predators keep losing their lids.

Filip Forsberg tallied a hat trick for the second consecutive game, as the Predators completed the season sweep and topped the Colorado Avalanche by a 4-2 final on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. The victory gives Nashville 29 wins on the season – five of which came against the Avalanche – and 67 points overall, good for a tie with St. Louis for third in the Central Division.

And as for Forsberg? Just another night at the office.

“He’s definitely a gifted player,” Preds center Ryan Johansen said of Forsberg. “Every night is a privilege to play with those guys. He keeps impressing me, and I’m sure everyone else watching. He’s really an elite player, and he’s a huge part of this organization and this hockey club if we’re going to be successful.”

Viktor Arvidsson opened the scoring when he deposited a feed from Craig Smith for his 19th goal of the season, tying him with Filip Forsberg for the team lead. Colorado evened it up at 1-1 before the period was out off a tip in front by Jarome Iginla.

Colorado took a 2-1 lead early in the second, but then for the second consecutive game, Forsberg took over, tallying twice in the middle frame for his 20th and 21st markers of the season and a 3-2 Preds lead after 40 minutes.

After the Avalanche pushed to tie it in the third, Forsberg found an empty net from his own end at the 19:23 mark for his sixth goal in his last two games.

“I’ve just tried to [shoot from different angles] since I was a little kid,” Forsberg said. “I obviously love scoring goals. I watch a lot of video and just try to pick up as much as I can from other players.”

“I don’t know if he can sense an actual goal-scoring run, but visibly being in the building or behind the bench where I stand, you can sense when somebody is on their game,” Nashville Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “I believe that players like Filip that have the ability to get the puck off their stick, can release it quickly and are good at what they do. It’s just a matter of time before they’re on top of their game.”

Hats Off to Fil:

What did Filip Forsberg do for an encore presentation 48 hours after recording his third career hat trick? Tally his fourth, of course.

Forsberg scored three of Nashville’s four goals on Thursday night against the Avalanche, completing his second hat trick in as many games. He’s the first player to record hat tricks in back-to-back games in more than seven years – Alexandre Burrows was the last to do it in January of 2010.

His teammates have almost run out of adjectives to describe the Swede, who now leads the team with 22 goals on the season, the first on the club to his the 20-goal mark in 2016-17.

Forsberg’s line, which also includes Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson, has been dominant at times since they’ve been together, with Arvidsson scoring Nashville’s first goal of the night and Johansen collected two helpers to give him points in six straight against Colorado.

“It’s probably why he has two hat tricks in the last two games – you just try to get him the puck as much as you can,” Johansen said. “The way he’s shooting it – he’s shooting it hard and quick. That faceoff where I had it behind me, he is on his opposite side, not even his strong side, and he’s able to corral it and get it off in half a second. It’s been a heck of a couple games for that kid. It’s been a lot of fun.”

“They deserve all the credit I can give them,” Forsberg said. “They’re truly tremendous players. Arvidsson has been unreal for us all year with his speed. And I don’t know if there’s any better passer than Johansen. I just try to get open.”

But it was Forsberg who stole the show once more. And the month of “Filbruary” isn’t over quite yet.

“Everyone wants to contribute and help the team win,” Forsberg said. “I can’t expect myself to score a hat trick every game, but I just try to work hard. And if I can score, I’ll take that as well.”

Notes:

Forward Harry Zolnierczyk entered the Nashville lineup on Thursday night in place of Colton Sisson who was a healthy scratch.

The Preds have won six consecutive games against the Avalanche and are 11-3-1 in their last 15 home games against Colorado. Nashville has scored three or more goals in 15 of those contests and have never been shut out at home by Colorado in 36 meetings.

Nashville concludes their four-game home stand this weekend with a back-to-back set as they host Washington on Saturday and Edmonton on Sunday. Both games begin at 4 p.m. CT.

Pete Weber’s Post Game Report

The Motlow Bucks are scheduled to play nine baseball games over a 10-day span beginning this Friday as they make final preparations for their Tennessee Community College Athletic Association (TCCAA) opener, scheduled for March 3, at the Driver Baseball Complex on Motlow’s Moore County campus.

TCCAA play opens the following weekend, with Chattanooga State the visitor for a three-game series. Friday, March 3, the two teams will meet at 1 p.m. for a nine-inning contest, then get back together on Saturday at noon for a pair of seven-inning games.

The Bucks faced stiff competition in Florida, falling to Northwest Florida State 7-3 on Friday, Feb. 17, before turning around and beating Andrew College 7-5 later that afternoon. The following day Motlow faced the same two teams, dropping a 13-3 decision to NWFS before falling 4-3 to Andrew College.

Bryan Rosario (1-2) took the mound in Friday’s opener and went the distance, allowing only four hits and five earned runs with six strikeouts and six walks. Jacob Freeland had two hits for Motlow and C.J. Brown drove in a pair of runs.

The Bucks got a home run and three RBI from Marlon Nava, and solid pitching from Jake Fossick and Matt Westberry, to get the win late Friday afternoon. Motlow scored twice in the bottom of the first inning but Andrew scored the same to tie the score in the top of the second.

The Bucks came back with two in the third before Andrew closed the gap to 4-3 with a run in the fourth. Motlow extended its lead to 7-3 with three runs in the fifth inning, and Andrew fought back with two in the seventh before Westberry closed the door.

Fossick (2-0) went five innings and allowed only two hits and one earned run with five walks and four strikeouts. Westberry pitched the final two innings to get his first save of the season, allowing four hits and two earned runs with a pair of strikeouts. In addition to Nava’s first homer of the season, the Bucks got RBI from Colin Guscoff, Brown, Kirby Smith and D’Marcus Guillory.

Northwest Florida came out swinging their bats on Saturday, scoring nine runs in the bottom of the second inning and three more in the third. Motlow managed only two hits, one by Nava and one by Brown. Tyler Zak (0-2) took the loss on the mound, pitching two innings and allowing eight hits and four earned runs. Chandler Hardiman pitched the final 2.1 innings, giving up five hits and one earned run.

In Saturday’s finale, Andrew College jumped on Motlow starter Jase Carvell for three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Motlow tied the score with a run in the third and two more in the fourth inning before Andrew broke the tie and scored the winning run in the bottom of the fourth.

Luke Allison had a pair of hits and drove in one of Motlow’s runs, with RBI also coming from Lane Whitesell and Smith. Carvell pitched two innings and allowed three runs before Camron Harper (0-4) came on to pitch the final four innings and took the loss, despite pitching very well by allowing only four hits and one run with seven strikeouts.