The Coffee County Middle School basketball teams opened up play in the Rockvale Tournament on Tuesday night.  Each team had a first round matchup with Siegel Middle.  The Lady Raiders won their matchup 35 to 20.  The Red Raiders fell by a score of 25 to 20.

The Lady Raiders continued their defensive dominance as they held Siegel to a single field goal in each of the 2^nd and 3^rd quarters.  After a tight 1^st quarter, Coffee Middle used a 9 point 2^nd quarter and an 11 point 3^rd quarter to pull away for the win.  The Lady Raiders were led in scoring by Taylor Anthony who had 11 points.  Olivia Vinson added 10 points and Channah Gannon scored 7 points. 

Tied going into the 4^th quarter the Red Raiders saw Siegel put up 10 points in the final quarter to take the win.  Coffee County missed several opportunities to seize control of the game as they missed layups and free throws and forced some shots down the stretch.  Cooper Reed was the leading scorer for the Red Raiders as he netted 12 points.  Jackson Shemwell and Ethan Hargrove each added 3 points.

Coffee County will continue play in the Rockvale Tournament on Thursday.  The Red Raiders will take on the loser of Tuesday’s game between Rockvale and Satterfield beginning at 5 PM.  The Lady Raiders will take on the winner of Tuesday’s game between Rockvale and Satterfield at 6:15.  All the games are being held at Rockvale Middle School in Murfreesboro. 

The Coffee County Claybusters opened the 2019-2020 season on Saturday in an AIM team shoot at Big Springs in Christiana.  Four Claybuster squads competed on the day and 2 of those team captured titles in their respective classes.  In individual competition, the Claybusters grabbed 3 individual championships and 4 runner-up finishes.

Team #1 won the Junior Division, Class A with a team score of 464 out of 500.  Team #1 was led by Hayden Jacobs who shot a 96(out of a possible 100); Landon Meadows shot a 94; Tucker Carlton shot a 93, Victoria Majors had a 92 and Logan Meadows finished with an 89. 

Team #4 won the Sub Junior Division, Class B with a team score of 454.  Garrett Taylor was the leading shooter as he dropped 96 clays(out of a possible 100).  Jonah Wyatt shattered 94; Riley Bellomy and Dylan Hickerson shot 89 and Jacob Anderson busted 86. 

In Individual competition,  Garret Taylor won the Sub Junior championship and the handicap championship.  Hayden Jacobs was the Junior runner up and doubles champion.  Jonah Wyatt was the Sub Junior runner up and handicap runner up. And Logan Meadows was the runner up in doubles.

The Titans have re-signed cornerback Tye Smith to the team’s roster for Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Also on Tuesday, the Titans placed cornerback Malcolm Butler on Injured Reserve. Butler suffered a wrist injury in Sunday’s loss to the Panthers after landing on the arm after defending a pass.

Smith has played in four games this season, and he was on the roster up until Saturday, when he was waived to make room for defensive back Joshua Kalu.

Smith has played in 23 career games, including two playoff contests. In additions to his time with the Titans, Smith has also spent time with the Seahawks and Redskins. He initially joined the Titans in January 2017, and he played in 15 games during the 2017 season. Smith spent the 2018 season on IR after suffering an injury in training camp.

Butler was having a really solid seasons for the Titans. In nine games, Butler was credited with 30 tackles, 10 passes defensed and two interceptions, including one he returned for a touchdown.

In addition to Smith, the Titans have cornerbacks Logan Ryan and Adoree’ Jackson on the roster, along with LeShaun Sims and Chris Milton. Kalu is a defensive back who can play cornerback and safety.

Also on Tuesday, the Titans signed receiver Rashard Davis to the team’s practice squad while waiving lineman Daniel Munyer. The 5-foot-9, 175-pound Davis has spent time with the Eagles, Raiders and Chiefs after being signed as an undrafted free agent by the Eagles in 2017.

As a college player at James Madison, Davis totaled 114 receptions for 1,549 yards and 11 touchdowns in 50 career games. As a senior, he earned CAA Special Teams Player of the Year after posting 426 punt return yards on 15 returns.

The Titans face the Chiefs on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.

The Westwood basketball teams traveled to Irving College on Monday for a conference doubleheader with the Tigers of Irving College.  The Lady Rockets fought off foul trouble to get a 32 to 15 win.  The Rockets’ offense exploded for a 53 to 36 win.

The Lady Rockets defense held the Lady Tigers scoreless in the 1^st quarter before getting a little separation from the Irving College squad to carry a 17 to 4 lead into the half.  In the second half, Westwood get the clamps on the Tigers offense to grab their 6^th straight win.  Kailee Rossman led the Lady Rockets in scoring as she finished with 8 points.  Bryleigh Gray added 7 points and Allie Sullivan chipped in 5. 

The Rockets pulled away in the 2^nd and 3^rd quarters to grab their 4^th win in a row and improve to 5 and 1 on the season.  Westwood was 10 of 12 at the free throw in the game.  Jayden Carter finished with a game high 36 points.  Cayden Trail added 11 points and Skyler Stinson finished with 4 points. 

Westwood returns to action on Friday when they play host to Morrison in the home opener for the Rockets.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast as part of the 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  Tip-off is scheduled for 6 PM, we begin love coverage with the pregame show at 5:50. 

The Coffee County Middle School basketball teams played host to South Franklin on Monday night.  The Lady Raiders throttled the Lady Trojans 40 to 12.  The Red Raiders used a big 3^rd quarter to grab a 32 to 22 win. 

In the girls’ game, the Lady Raider defense held South to 1 field goal and 1 free throw in the 1^st half to take a 20 to 3 lead into the halftime break.  In the 2^nd half, Coach George Pearson emptied the bench as they cruised to their 3^rd straight conference win.  Olivia Vinson was the leading scorer as she tallied 14 points.  Taylor Anthony added 13 points and Addi Sartain finished with 6 points.

The Red Raiders exploded for 14 points coming out of the halftime break as they stretched a 3 point halftime lead to 14 going into the 4^th quarter.  Coffee Middle featured a balanced scoring attack led by Cooper Reed who had 10 points.  Jackson Shemwell and Brendon Sheppard chipped in 7 points each as Coffee Middle won its 2^nd straight game.

Coffee County will open up play in the Rockvale Tournament on Tuesday.  Both Raider teams are scheduled to take on Siegel.  The girls’ game is set to tip off at 4 PM with the boys to follow. 

Five goals in a single period usually does the trick.

Nashville’s offense exploded in the second stanza on Tuesday night in Detroit on their way to a 6-1 win over the Red Wings. The victory ends a two-game skid for the Predators, a perfect way to start their four-game road trip.

Two of those tallies came off the stick of Matt Duchene, and Nashville’s leading goal-scorer, Nick Bonino, started the onslaught in the second with his eighth of the season to give the Preds their first five-goal period since November of 2014.

“It was nice to get rewarded,” Duchene said. “This game is funny. It can be fickle at times, but has a funny way of coming back around if you stay with it, and I thought it was just a solid effort. Even in the first period, we only gave up [a few] shots, so I think top to bottom we played the way we need to play every night, and we’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

The Preds trailed 1-0 entering the middle frame, but it only took Bonino two minutes into the period to tip in a Dan Hamhuis shot to even the score. Then, the floodgates opened.

Kyle Turris gave the Predators their first lead of the night when he snapped a shot past Jimmy Howard for a 2-1 advantage, and just 62 seconds after that, Colton Sissons tallied his fifth of the season. Sixty-two more seconds after Sissons converted, Duchene’s first of the period caromed into the cage, spelling the end of Howard’s night in favor of Jonathan Bernier.

Duchene scored one more on the power play late in the second to tie a Nashville franchise record for goals in a single period on the road with five.

“There wasn’t a whole lot going on out there in the first period,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We’re down 1-0, and 5-on-5 we only gave up a couple chances, and we only generated a few chances. It was just tight, and so in the second period we were able to find more pucks going to the net, people going to the net, able to cash in, score some goals.”

Filip Forsberg added his own power-play goal in the third period, and Pekka Rinne made 23 saves on the night to improve his record to 8-0-2 – a 10-game point streak – to start the season.

“It feels good, and beating Detroit, we haven’t beat Detroit in a long time, and especially here,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “Winning here, it was definitely a good start for us, and it’s huge to start the road trip like that.”

It’s ninth time the Preds have scored four or more goals in 15 games this season and seventh time they’ve tallied five or more. When the offense is converting at rates like this, it’s not easy for the opposition to stop.

And if the Predators can continue to replicate efforts like this away from home, they’ll be in good shape by the time they get back to Nashville next week.

“When you’re on the road, especially when it’s [a long trip like this], you want to try to be successful,” Laviolette said. “To get the first one and and get going, now we get a few days out in Colorado before we play, so that’s a good thing. We’ll get a positive practice in and then get ready to play the Avs.”

“Starts of a road trip are huge because it sets the tone, gives you a flavor,” Duchene said. “Even if you lose that second game, you still know you’re 1-1. If you’re .500 on the road, or a bit better, you put yourself in a really good spot to be where you want to be down the stretch and at the end of the season… This is just a great start for us, and we want to keep going.”

Notes:

Pekka Rinne extend his own franchise record with a 10-game point streak to begin the season (8-0-2). He also collected an assist on Colton Sissons’s goal, his second helper of the season.

Yannick Weber re-entered the lineup on Monday night in favor of Matt Irwin. Miikka Salomaki was also scratched against the Red Wings.

Nashville’s four-game trip continues on Thursday night in Colorado (at 8 p.m. CT) when the Preds face the Avalanche for the first time this season. Then, it’s off to San Jose on Saturday and Vancouver on Tuesday before returning home next week.