Jacob Langham

Jacob Langham hit a pair of doubles, scored the winning run and got the win on the mound Friday night as the Coffee County baseball team opened play in the Warrior Spring Classic with a 5 to 4 win over Henry County. Coffee County, which had tied the game at 4 in the bottom of the 5th, scored the winning run after Henry County committed 3 errors in the final inning. The Raiders jumped out to a 2 to nothing lead in the 2nd inning with a 2 out rally as Cade Giles drew a walk and was knocked in by Nathanial Tate’s RBI double. Langham drove in Tate with an RBI double of his own to give the Raiders a lead they would enjoy until the 4th inning. Langham, who came on in relief in the 4th inning, shut down a Henry County rally which had scored 4 runs off of Coffee County starter Bradley King. Langham had 5 strikeouts in 3 and 1/3 innings of work to earn the win. Tate finished the night with a 2 for 3 performance, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.

The Raiders dropped the final 2 games of the tournament on Saturday at Oakland. In the first game, the Raiders built an 8 to 0 lead in the first 4 innings before Middle Tennessee Christian roared back against the Coffee County bullpen to beat the Raiders 9 to 8. Gavin Husted led the Raider hitting attach as he was 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and 3 RBI. In the second game, Clarksville held Coffee County to 3 hits as they dropped Coffee County 13 to 1. Deandre Wakefield had an RBI double to plate Zach Wise for the Raiders only run of the game. Coffee County returns to district action on Monday when they lay host to Franklin County at 5:30 PM at Powers Field.

Diana Davis

Diana Davis set a new personal record in the pole vault and Karson Young won the long jump and 100M hurdles to highlight a strong meet performance by the Coffee County Lady Raider Track team on Saturday at the Robert James Warrior Invitational at Riverdale. Sarah Pearson won the high jump, finished 2nd in the 300M hurdles and 3rd in the 100M hurdles as well. Young also finished 2nd in the triple jump, Carly Barnes nabbed a 2nd place finish in the Shot Put while Faith Floyd had a 2nd place throw in the Discus to highlight the day for Coffee County. Andrew Godwin had the high finish for the Red Raiders as he finished in 6th place in the 1600M Run. Here are the full results :
Time/Distance Name Place
100 METER DASH
13.61 – Javan Vurge – 5th
14.42 – Abbi Hancock – 12th
15.75 – Daisy Munoz – 23rd
22.68 – Thanatcha Boonpichetwant – 26th
200 METER DASH
28.85 – Javan Vurge – 4th
33.64 – Daisy Munoz – 24th
100 METER HURDLES
16.71 – Karson Young – 1st
17.56 – Sarah Pearson – 3rd
19.18 – Diana Davis – 5th
300 METER HURDLES
52.41 – Sarah Pearson – 2nd
56.21 – Chloe Haggard – 3rd
58.07 – Abbi Hancock – 5th
1:07.82 – Kelsea Selvage – 10th
4X100 METER RELAY
58.45 – Relay Team – 5th
HIGH JUMP
4-8 – Sarah Pearson – 1st
4-4 – Diana Davis – 3rd
4-4 – Bailey Nester – 5th
4-4 – Karson Young – 6th
LONG JUMP
14-9 – Karson Young – 1st
13-4 – Sarah Pearson – 5th
13-2 – Diana Davis – 8th
TRIPLE JUMP
30-11 – Karson Young – 2nd
POLE VAULT
10-0 – Diana Davis – 1st
DISCUS
81-4 – Faith Floyd – 2nd
70-3 – Svietlanna Miadzvedzeva – 5th
59-5 – Keishel Norton – 9th
SHOT PUT
30-1.5 – Carly Barnes – 2nd
27-7 – Keishel Norton – 5th
24-6 – Faith Floyd – 11th
22-11.5 – Svietlanna Miadzvedzeva – 14th

BOYS
100 METER DASH
12.72 – Michael Lockhart – 18th
13.27 – Zach Morgan – 22nd
14.21 – Elii Deford – 25th
200 METER DASH
26.38 – Michael Lockhart – 20th
27.31 – Zach Morgan – 22nd
27.99 – Elii Deford – 23rd
800 METER RUN
2:20.43 – Andrew Godwin – 9th
2:29.80 – Andrew Rosson – 14th
2:34.84 – Chandler Poe – 16th
2:38.47 – Neil Slone – 17th
1,600 METER RUN
5:06.99 – Andrew Godwin – 6th
5:28.19 – Andy Rosson – 10th
6:03.21 – Neil Slone – 18th
6:26.59 – Reuben Chaput – 21st
LONG JUMP
15-5 – Zach Morgan – 15th
11-11 – Elii Deford – 17th
DISCUS
61-7 – Chase Davis – 14th
SHOT PUT
23-10 – Chase Davis – 15th

Westwood’s Andres Cavalie (File Photo)

A goal by the Tullahoma Middle School soccer team in the final minute ended the 60 minute battle with Westwood in a draw at 3 on Friday night at Dyer-Bouldin Field. The Wildcats scored a pair of goals just before the halftime horn and the final horn including the deciding odd man rush in the 60th minute. In the first half, the Wildcats got on the board first on a corner kick in the 17th minute. Leo Suarez leveled the score in the 27th minute and Felix Salinas add a goal one minute later on a feed from Leo Basurto. It appeared that the Rockets would take that 2 to 1 lead into the half, but a handball call against Westwood gave Tullahoma a penalty kick in the 30th minute. In the 2nd half, Andres Cavalie scored on a pass from Salinas in the 37th minute in what was believed to be the game winner before the late Wildcats score. The draw is the first blemish on the Rockets record as they now stand at 8 wins, no losses and a tie. The Rockets, who are 5 and 0 in conference play, return to the pitch on Friday when they open play in the Coffee County Tournament. The Rockets take on Whitworth Buchanan at 5 PM at the Raider Academy and follow that up with a 7:30 PM contest against Mt. Juliet.

Paco Barrera(file photo)

The Coffee County Central High School soccer opened play in the Gulf Shores Classic on Friday afternoon taking on Florence, Alabama in a game that saw all the scoring take place in the first 15 minutes. Florence used a pair of first half goals to drop the Raiders 2 to 1. After a quick Florence goal in the 2nd minute, the Raiders answered in the 9th minute when Paco Babrrera scored off an assist from Breyer Taylor. Florence added a goal off a corner kick at the 15th minute and kept the Raiders at bay on the sloppy pitch.

The Raiders finished up tournament action on Saturday as they dropped a pair of 1 goal games to strong Alabama teams. In the opener, the Raiders were shut out by Opelika 1 nil. In the final game of the day, Breyer Tayler scored off assists from Victor Ramirez and Leo Botello but the Raiders came up on the short end of a 2 to 1 score at the hands of Faith Academy out of Mobile. The Raiders had a chance to draw even in the final 10 minutes, but missed on a penalty kick. Coffee County returns home on Tuesday when they play host to Franklin County in a 7 PM district match at the Raider Academy.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Tomas Hertl scored twice in the third period as the San Jose Sharks rallied to beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result gives the Preds, who clinched a playoff spot on Friday night, 92 points overall on the season.

After scoring the game’s first two goals, Nashville squandered the lead in the third, ultimately leading to San Jose’s come-from-behind win.

“They’re a good team, and they played well,” center Ryan Johansen said. “Two tough bounces for us, but that’s the way it goes sometimes against good teams. We just have to be able to play a better third period.”

Nashville struck first when Mike Ribeiro dropped a pass back to Shea Weber who one-timed the puck past James Reimer and into the top corner of the cage for a 1-0 lead. The goal was Weber’s 19th of the season.

After Johansen had a goal called back due to the puck entering the net after time had expired in the first period, Calle Jarnkrok gave the Preds a 2-0 lead less than two minutes into the middle frame. Jarnkrok redirected a James Neal attempt from the slot past Reimer for his 15th of the season and a two-goal advantage.

It was Hertl who first scored for the Sharks at the 2:19 mark of the third period; later, he tipped a shot past Carter Hutton at 10:31 to even the score at 2-2. After the Preds killed off a San Jose power play in overtime, the Sharks won it in a shootout, thanks in part to Reimer turning away three Nashville shooters.

With a trio of games to go in the regular season, the Preds will look to improve their 0-3-1 mark in their last four games as they head into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“We have to play better than we did tonight,” Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We weren’t ready to work. We have to work from the start to the finish, and the results, I think, reflected that. The good thing is, this week coming up, we have some practices, and we can get back to working on some things, push the pace, and look to straighten things out.”

“Your mindset isn’t, ‘We want to lose four games in a row going into the playoffs,’” Weber said. “You want to be winning and winning makes you confident. Obviously you want to win, but I think the most important thing is playing good hockey because there are times when you’re not going to win games. You’re playing well, but the puck doesn’t bounce your way and we have to get to doing that.”

The Predators host the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday before Fan Appreciation Night on Thursday when the Arizona Coyotes visit Bridgestone Arena. The regular season concludes next Saturday night in Dallas.  Tuesday night’s game can be heard here on Thunder Radio with the faceoff set for 7 PM.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

The Nashville Predators weren’t able to keep pace and fell 5-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday evening at Consol Energy Center. The loss was Nashville’s third consecutive defeat, keeping them at 39 wins and 91 points on the season.

“Tonight, we had the effects of four games in six nights,” Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We didn’t have the jump and the pop that we needed in order to execute. Everything was a little bit slow; our puck movement, forecheck, faceoffs, everything was just off a bit.”

Phil Kessel gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 3:06 of the first, but with one minute remaining in the frame, Ryan Johansen took a James Neal feed at the right side of the cage and potted his 14th of the season to even the score, 1-1.

It was Kessel again, this time early in the second, who gave the Penguins the lead once more. Kris Letang scored on the power play for a 3-1 lead, but then Neal tallied against his former team when he blasted a shot in the slot past Marc-Andre Fleury for his 31st of the season.

But former Preds forward Patric Hornqvist deflected home a shot on the power play before the second period was out to give Pittsburgh a two-goal lead once more. Rinne’s night came to a close after the second period as Carter Hutton took over in net for the remainder of the contest.

Mike Fisher’s shot off the post in the third was as close as the Preds came for the rest of the night as Nick Bonino made it 5-2 before the end of the contest.

The Predators remarked on Pittsburgh’s team speed throughout the night, a main factor in the final result.

“We were just a step behind them all the time,” defenseman Roman Josi said. “They were quicker than us and a little faster, and they deserved to win.”

“Typically, when we’re on top of our game, our speed is racked up as well,” Laviolette said.

“Tonight, we weren’t where we needed to be speed-wise.”

The Preds were unable to clinch a spot in the postseason tonight, but they’ll be watching the Washington Capitals take on the Colorado Avalanche on Friday. With a Washington win in regulation, the Predators would earn their invitation to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“We’ve been doing this for 70-something games, and it’s all about getting there,” winger Filip Forsberg said. “It doesn’t really matter how you get there. It doesn’t matter if you win the last 40 or lose the last 40. As long as you’re in, anyone can win it.”