The Coffee County CHS Lady Raider wrestling team traveled to Nolensville for the West Regional Individual Tournament on Friday and Saturday.   Four Lady Raiders were in action and 2 of the 4 qualified for the TSSAA State Tournament.  In the team standings, the Lady Raiders placed 9^th out of 53 teams.  At the end of the day, Mary Wolfrum and Alanna Coker punched their ticket to represent the Lady Raider wrestling team at the state tournament for the 3^rd straight season. 

Coker ran through the 112 bracket with a pair of byes and a pair of 3^rd round pinfalls on Friday.  In the semifinals on Saturday morning, Coker lost in an 11 to 5 decision.  Coker bounced back in the consolation bracket to grab a 9 to 4 decision to advance to the 3^rd place match.  In the medal match, Coker grabbed a pinfall in the 2^nd round to claim 3^rd place and insure her spot in the state meet.

Mary Wolfrum got a pair of byes on Friday before being pinned in a round 1 match-up against the eventual tournament champion from Rossview.  In the consolation bracket, Wolfrum got a pair of pinfalls and a 6 to 0 decision win before advancing to the consolation semifinals via an injury win.  Another forfeit win advanced her to the medal round where she won a 9 to 6 decision to finish in 3^rd place.  That finish earned her a spot in the state tournament.

Lyra Leftwich received a 1^st round bye before winning her 2^nd match via a pinfall.  Leftwich won her next 2 matches in the consolation bracket by pinfall, including a pin in 16 seconds, to advance to the semifinals.  Leftwich fell via a pinfall one win short of qualifying for the state meet.   

Mary Anne Walker’s Friday started the same as Mary Wolfrum as she got a pair of byes before falling via a pin to the eventual tournament champion from Rossview.   In the consolation bracket,  Walker got a pinfall win before losing a 4 to 0 decision in the quarterfinal round.

The Lady Raider grapplers will compete in the TSSAA state tournament beginning on February 20^th at the Williamson County Expo Center in Franklin.  The Red Raiders will return to action on February 14^th and 15^th in the region individual tournament attempting to punch their ticket to the boys’ state tournament.

The Coffee County Central High School basketball teams traveled to Shelbyville on Friday night for a district doubleheader.  Looking to strengthen their hold on the top spots in the district, Coffee County came home with 2 wins in a pair of games you heard here on Thunder Radio.  The Lady Raiders clobbered the Eaglettes 75 to 44.  The Red Raiders clipped the Eagles 56 to 34.

The Lady Raiders rode the red hot shooting of Bella Vinson in the 1^st half to stay in front of the Eaglettes.  After Coffee County built a 6 point lead in the 1^st quarter, Shelbyville kept the game close until the final 3 minutes of the 1^st half.  Coffee County opened the 2^nd half on a 16 to 3 run to build a 22 point lead and Shelbyville could never get the margin before 20 the rest of the game.  Vinson scored 15 points in the 1^st quarter and 23 in the 1^st half behind five 3 point baskets.  Vinson finished with eight 3 pointers and 32 points for the game earning the Stone Fort Mortgage player of the game award.  Chloe Gannon added 12 points and Jalie Ruehling netted 6. 

The Red Raiders had their hands full with the Eagles in the first half.  In a game that saw neither team take a lead of more than 3 points for the first 12 minutes, Coffee County closed out the half on an 11 to 0 run to take a 10 point lead into halftime.  The Raiders held Shelbyville to 15 points in the 2^nd half as they rolled to their 17^th win of the year and improved to 8 and 1 in district play.  Connor Shemwell was the leading scorer for Coffee County as he had 15 points earning the Stone Fort Mortgage player of the game honor.  Jaylon Wooten netted 13 points and Jaxon Vaughn finished the night with 9. 

Coffee County is off on Tuesday and will return to the court on Friday, February 7^th at home against Lawrence County.  The girls’ game will tip off at 6 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast beginning with the Powers Storage Pregame Show at 5:50.

Download the broadcast at: www.Thunder1320.com/Downloads

In an announcement released on Friday, Coffee County CHS Principal Paul Parsley and Athletic Director Rebecca Koger are “pleased” to announce the hiring of Brad Costello as the new Golf coach.  Costello takes over for Mike Ray who retired at the conclusion of the fall season.  Costello will begin his second term as Raiders coach beginning in July. 

Koger praised Costello in announcing the hiring.  “Coach Costello brings a wealth of experience to the position as a player and a coach.  Costello coached golf previously at CHS at Martin County High School in Stuart, Florida . He played in high school(at CHS) and college (at Freed Hardeman) and has continued to play since then.  Costello is an active member of Willowbrook. We are excited to welcome Coach Costello to the CHS coaching family and look forward to the extensive instruction he can provide our student-athletes.”

When contacted by Thunder Radio Sports on Friday afternoon, Costello expressed excitement at returning to the head coach’s position.  Costello was the coach at CHS from 2005 thru the 2007 season.  Costello said “I am looking forward to seeing (the golfers) improve.”  Costello has not made definitive plans regarding try-outs yet.  Costello will be a guest on the Coffee Coaches Show on Saturday, February 8^th to talk about his plans for the upcoming season. 

Pekka Rinne made 36 saves, but the Predators were unable to find the back of the net, as they fell to the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-0, on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result sees Nashville’s two-game win streak conclude, as they finish their season series against Vegas with a 1-1-1 record.

After an encouraging set of back-to-back victories on the road, the Predators returned home looking for another boost of confidence against a Vegas team on the second half of a back-to-back of their own.

Instead, the home team was left looking for answers.

“It’s not good enough from our side,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “They outplayed us for two periods, and they were the better team. They were faster than us and won more battles. It was still 1-0 [to start the third period], and we had a chance to win it, but we couldn’t get it done.”

“Disappointing,” Rinne said. “We talked before the game [and said] it’s our playoff time now. It’s disappointing. We’ve had a tough record at home, and [this is] another home loss… They had a back-to-back, and it looked like they were the [fresher] team. Just disappointed.”

The Predators were only able to register two shots on goal in the game’s opening period, and just six more followed in the middle frame. Rinne was stellar, however, stopping 28 Vegas shots through 40 minutes.

The only goal in those first two periods came off the stick of Chandler Stephenson, and Nicolas Roy beat Rinne in the third before Reilly Smith iced it into the empty net.

Entering the third period down by just one, the Predators knew they had a chance to come back once more, just as they had in those previous two road outings. But they weren’t able to muster much in the form of high quality chances against Marc-Andre Fleury and the Golden Knights, a fact that led to another disappointing result.

“We had a chance tonight,” Rinne said. “Half the second period, it was a 1-0 game and we still had a chance. I really liked that. I liked the fact that we’ve been able to come from behind [in the last two games]. It showed mental strength, so that’s obviously important at this point in the season. But at the same time, I guess I’m just so stuck with the results. It’s all about the results.”

The Predators will now embark on a four-game road trip through Western Canada, a crucial journey as the regular season reaches its final two full months of action.

“It’s certainly the challenge that our team is facing right now is trying to string some consistent games together, consistent results together, and that’s something that we’ve got to find,” Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. “We’ve got to find a way… We felt like we were playing some pretty good hockey, overcoming some adversity a little bit, high-scoring games. But then tonight, I just think when it came to the speed of the game, the mental engagement, the physical engagement of what it took to win this hockey game tonight, we just weren’t on the same level.”

Notes:

Calle Jarnkrok missed his second consecutive game due to illness. Yakov Trenin and Matt Irwin were also scratched for the Preds on Saturday night.

The Predators will now head back on the road, this time to Western Canada for a four-game swing. It starts Tuesday night in Winnipeg before making stops in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver over the next 10 days.