The Coffee County CHS wrestling team welcomed region foe Shelbyville to the Coffee County Raider Academy on Tuesday night.  Originally scheduled for a tri-match, Lawrence County pulled out of the competition at the last minute.  The crowd that was on hand saw a tight back and forth matchup won by the Red Raiders 48 to 36.

With the Raiders leading by 6 points and one match remaining, Gavin Prater(wrestling at 145 pounds) got a pinfall win in under 90 seconds to clinch the win for Coffee County.  Also grabbing pinfall wins for Coffee County were Zach Speagle(170), Russell Ralph(182), Chris Speagle(220), Jeremiah Wardell(106), and Gabe Westbrook(120).  The Raiders gained forfeit wins from Dalton Long(126) and Hunter Massey(132). 

In exhibition matches, the Raiders got wins from Connor Smith and Jeremiah Wardell via the pin.  In the only girls’ match of the night, Lyra Leftrich won her match for the Lady Raiders with a pinfall win. 

The Raider grapplers are back at home on Thursday night as they join forces with the Coffee County Youth wrestlers to welcome Cascade and the Cascade Youth wrestlers to the Raider Academy.   Action will take place on 2 mats simultaneously.  Opening matches are set to get underway at 6 PM. 

The Westwood Middle School 6^th grade basketball teams traveled to southern Warren County on Tuesday night for a doubleheader against Irving College.   The 6^th grade teams faced a hostile crowd but fought their way to a pair of wins.  The Lady Rockets rolled to a 36 to 5 triumph.  The Rockets got a come from behind 36 to 24 win. 

In the girls’ game, the Lady Rockets held the Lady Tigers scoreless in 3 of the 4 quarters to grab the win.  Irving College got all 5 of their points in the 2^nd quarter after Westwood led 12 to 0 entering the stanza.  All 6 Westwood players that dressed out scored on the night led by Maddie Meacham who had 12 points.  Audri Patton added 10 points and Maggie Brei chipped in 6 points. 

In the boys’ game, the Rockets fell behind early to the home standing Tigers.  Trailing 19 to 13 at the half, Westwood exploded for 14 points in the 3^rd quarter while holding Irving College to 3 points.  Matt Moore led the Rockets in scoring as he had 18 points, 15 of those coming in the 2^nd half rally.  Kylan Jones added 8 points and Blake Cummins chipped in 6 points.

The 6^th grade teams will play their final 6^th grade game of the year on Tuesday, January 14^th when they travel to Morrison.  The girls’ game tips off at 6.

The varsity Rockets and Lady Rockets return to the court on Thursday night when they host Irving College at the Joel Vinson Gym.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast as part of the 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  The girls’ game tips off at 6 PM, our pregame coverage begins at 5:50. 

The Temple Baptist Christian School basketball teams welcomed Victory Baptist to the E.C. Bailey Gym on Tuesday night.  Taking on the rival Patriots from Shelbyville, the Eagles had no answers for the talented visitors.  The JV(middle school ages) team lost 35 to 18.  The varsity(high school) Eagles fell to Victory 58 to 18. 

In the JV game, the Eagles got off to a slow start as they were held to 2 points in the 1^st quarter and fell behind 15 to 2.  The Eagles were able to match scores with the Patriots in the 2^nd half but could not overcome the first half deficit.  David Tran led the Eagles in scoring as he had 8 points.  Sam Floyd added 4 points.

In the varsity game, Victory exploded for 41 first half points to coast to the big win.  Temple was held to single digits in each quarter but did rally for 9 points in the 4^th quarter.  Isaac Stewart and Alex Gloden led Temple in scoring with 5 points each.  Mich Gloden added 4 points. 

Temple will now be off 3 weeks for the Christmas holidays.  The Eagles will return to the court on Friday, January 10^th when they host Faith Christian of Jamestown.  Both varsity and junior varsity teams will be in action.  The JV game will tip off at 5 PM at Temple. 

The Predators rolled out a snowman on the scoreboard on Tuesday night.

Seven unanswered goals turned a 3-1 deficit in the second period into an 8-3 victory for the Preds over the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. It’s the second-highest goal total in a single game in franchise history, just the seventh time Nashville has tallied at least eight.

The comeback win bestows four of four available points to the Predators’ visit to New York; up next, their four-game trip will take them north of the border to Ottawa.

“We’re all really happy,” Preds forward Nick Bonino said. “It was a great start. I think they controlled the last bit of the first and early second, and we’ve had trouble battling back from leads. I thought our response when we went down 3-1 was awesome… It’s something we’ve been searching for a lot of this year, and to get that result tonight on the second game of the back to back, we’re very pleased.”

The first frame only featured one goal, and it came off the stick of Craig Smith less than five minutes into the contest to give Nashville the game’s first lead. And then both clubs went wild in the second stanza.

The Preds and Isles combined for seven goals over the next 20 minutes, and the first three belonged to the home team. Brock Nelson, Derek Brassard and Casey Cizikas all tallied for the Islanders, with the Cizikas tally coming shorthanded. Considering they entered the game allowing the NHL’s second-lowest goals against per game at 2.3, scoring three goals is usually all the Islanders need to win. But not on Tuesday.

Twenty-seven seconds after giving up a shorthanded goal, Filip Forsberg started the rally on the very same power play. The winger cut the New York lead to 3-2, and then less than two minutes after that, Smith roofed his second of the night to tie the game.

“It feels good,” Smith said of his two-goal outing. “With that being said, a lot of games I’m right there, we’re in the right spots and I haven’t changed much. I’m just trying to get into those pockets and find in a lane to be able to shoot, but I was able to get a good look.”

The Predators weren’t done yet, and Mattias Ekholm’s point shot deflected off of Bonino and into the twine at 18:24 of the second. Less than a minute after that, Rocco Grimaldi went top shelf for his second goal in as many nights to give the Predators a 5-3 lead after 40 minutes.

“It’s a huge win for us,” Grimaldi said. “It was a great response at the end of the second there, and then we just stuck to our game plan. I know, in the past, we’ve kind of sat back on our heels, and sometimes they start coming at us, but I thought today we just kept going.”

The string of goals kept rolling into the third period as well, as Calle Jarnkrok netted his 12th, Roman Josi notched the team’s second man-advantage marker of the night and Ryan Johansen capped off the scoring with the visitor’s eighth goal of the evening.

The need to play well and collect points on this trip was emphasized by those in the Nashville locker room, especially after a 4-1 loss to Dallas at home last Saturday. Now, the Preds have four points in two nights to start the four-game excursion.

“We need points right now,” Grimaldi said. “That’s what we were talking about before coming on this road trip. That it was a four-game road trip against four good teams. We knew that to have a good road trip, you’ve got to start with the first one, and then after the first one, you’ve got to start the second… We can’t control what other teams do, whether they’re winning or losing or going on streaks. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. You can only control what we can control, and I think we can keep putting together good efforts like tonight and we’re going to start climbing back up the standings.”

The win is arguably the Predators’ most significant victory of the month, and on Thursday they’ll attempt to stretch their winning streak to three for the first time since October. The Predators will face the Senators in the third stop of their trip.

“We talked about this as a big week, a season-defining week, maybe,” Bonino said. “We’d love to get all four, but just to start with two is big. It’s tough not to look at the standings right now. We’ve got some games in hand, so these back-to-backs are always huge, and now we’ll go to Ottawa.”

Notes:

Tonight’s game was just the third time in franchise history the Predators had at least eight different players with at least two points in a single game.

Mikael Granlund (lower-body, day-to-day) and Yannick Weber did not play for the Preds on Tuesday.

With two goals and an assist, Craig Smith recorded his first three-point outing since December of 2017.

The eight goals allowed by the Islanders was the highest total allowed under head coach Barry Trotz.

The four-game trip now halfway complete, the Predators will travel to Ottawa to prepare to face the Senators on Thursday night (at 6:30 p.m. CT) before finishing up on Saturday in Boston.

The Coffee County CHS basketball teams hosted their first district home games of the season on Monday night as they welcomed Columbia to the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  In a pair of games you heard here on Thunder Radio, Coffee County fought to an exciting sweep over the visiting Lions.  The Lady Raiders raced to a 69 to 34 win while the Red Raiders held off a talented Columbia team 48 to 45. 

In the girls’ game, the Lady Raiders jumped out to a 13 to 1 advantage in the 1^st quarter and the Lady Lions could never get the lead back under 10 points the rest of the night.  Coffee County forced 17 turnovers, including 7 in the 3^rd period to grab their 11^th win on the season.  Marley Perry came off the bench to lead the Lady Raiders in scoring with 13 points as she was named the Stone Fort Mortgage player of the game.  Bella Vinson added 12 points and Jalie Ruehling finished with 10 points.

In the boys’ game, the Red Raiders led at the end of each quarter and only trailed for 27 seconds of the 2^nd quarter to earn the huge district win.  Coffee County built a 9 point lead in the 3^rd quarter only to see cut it  to 4 points with 40 seconds to go.  Hayden Hullett fed Roderic Brinkley on a lob to give the senior an ally-opp dunk which cooled the Columbia momentum.  Hullett also forced a Columbia turnover in the final minute of the game as he was named the Stone Fort Mortgage player of the game.  Kyle Farless led Coffee County in scoring with 12 points, including a big three-pointer in the 4^th quarter.  Jaylen Wooten added 9 points and Jaxon Vaughn finished with 7 on the night.  The win raises Coffee County’s record to 8 and 4. 

The Lady Raiders will be off until after Christmas when they will play 3 games in 3 days beginning on December 26^th at Riverdale.  The Red Raiders will hit the court again on Thursday night as they will host Knowledge Academy of Nashville on the opening night of the Red Raider Christmas Tournament.  Tip-off is set for 6:30 PM at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  The 3 day tournament concludes on Saturday. 

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

The Coffee County Middle School basketball team welcomed Harris to the CCMS gym on Monday night.  The girls’ grabbed a revenge win by a final score of 25 to 19.  The boys’ completed the season sweep of the Eagles with a 60 to 27 win.

In the girls’ game, Addi Sartain hit a big basket in the 4^th quarter to stall a Harris rally and lead the Lady Raiders to the win.  Taylor Anthony led the Lady Raiders in scoring with 11 points.  Ava McIntosh added 6 points for Coffee Middle.

In the boys’ game, the Red Raiders raced out to a 31 to 9 lead at halftime as they cruised to the easy conference win.  Cooper Reed led the Raiders in scoring with 19 points.  Evan Kirby and Ethan Hargrove each finished with 12 points. 

The Raiders return to the court on Thursday night when they welcome White County to the CCMS Gym.  The girls’ game will tip off at 6 PM.   

The Westwood basketball teams welcomed Eastside to the Joel Vinson Gym on Monday night.  The Lady Rockets rolled past the visitors from Rock Island 50 to 14.  The Rockets made it a sweep with a 33 to 24 victory.

In the girls’ game, the Lady Rockets jumped out to a 16 to 3 lead in the 1^st quarter and pushed the margin to 20 points entering the 2^nd half.  Princess Penaloza was the leading scorer for Westwood as she tallied 16 points.  Remi Benjamin and Leonor Moreno each added 7. 

In the boys’ game, the Rockets trailed entering the 2^nd half, but held Eastside scoreless in the 3^rd period to seize control of the game.  Cayden Trail played well on both ends of the floor as he led the team in steals and got a team high 12 points.  Jayden Carter added 9 points for the Rockets. 

The Rockets return to the court on Thursday night when they host Irving College at the Joel Vinson Gym.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast as part of the 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  The girls’ game tips off at 6 PM; our pregame coverage begins at 5:50. 

Roman Josi had three points, Juuse Saros made 39 saves and the Nashville Predators defeated the New York Rangers 5-2 at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

Josi had two goals and an assist, giving the Predators captain 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in his past 19 games.

Rocco Grimaldi, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis also scored for the Predators (15-12-5), who were outshot 41-24 but won for the first time in three games and are 6-3-2 in 11 games since Nov. 23.

Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin scored, Mika Zibanejad had two assists, and Alexandar Georgiev made 19 saves for the Rangers (16-13-4), who were 0-for-4 on the power play. Panarin has scored in five straight games.

New York has lost its past two games, including a 4-3 shootout loss at the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.

Grimaldi gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 10:36 of the first period, scoring off the rush with a shot from the left circle that hit off Brady Skjei’s ankle.

Kreider scored 34 seconds later on a 2-on-0 with Mika Zibanejad to tie it at 1-1.

The Rangers thought they took the lead at 2:20 of the second period, but the puck off Panarin’s shot went off Ekholm, the left post and the back of Saros’ left leg before stopping on the goal line. The play was reviewed, determining the puck didn’t cross the line.

Nashville regained the lead 2-1 on Josi’s wrist shot from the right circle at 11:16 of the second.

Ekholm made it 3-1 with a breakaway goal at 15:23 of the second, 12 seconds after he exited the penalty box.

Panarin scored his 20th goal of the season to make it 3-2 with 2:42 remaining in the third period, but Josi scored a length-of-the-ice empty net goal with 1:49 left to make it 4-2. Ellis scored another empty-net goal with 4.9 seconds left for the 5-2 final.