The Coffee County Lady Raider soccer season came to a close on Tuesday night in the semifinal round of the Region 4AAA Tournament.  Taking on District 7AAA champion Siegel on their home pitch, Coffee County neutralized strong scoring attack of the Lady Stars for 50 minutes before falling by a final score of 3 to 0.

Siegel got on the board first in the 14^th minute as they converted a penalty kick that was awarded due to a handball in the box on the Lady Raiders.  That score by Emily Sanchez was the only tally in the first half as Coffee County trailed 1 nil at intermission.  In the second half, Sanchez got free on a run through the weak side of the Lady Raider defensive formation and beat a phenomenal effort from Lady Raider keeper Lucy Riddle to make the score 2 to 0.  Kendra Baptiste added the 3^rd goal in the 58^th minute to put the decision on ice.

Coffee County was out shot 11 to 9 in the match.  Maddy Jones led Coffee County in shots with 3.  Katie Cotten and Jenna Garretson each added 2 shots.  Riddle finished the match with 8 saves.  .  The Lady Raiders will finish the season with a regular season district title and a final record of 11-5-2. 

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

The Westwood Middle School basketball season tipped off on Tuesday in the Morrison Ruritan Preseason Tournament.  Entering a new conference this season, the Rockets and Lady Rockets were getting their first look at their new rivals from the Warren County Grammar School League.  The Lady Rockets opened the season with a win over Irving College.  The Rockets held off a late rally to edge Morrison.

In the girls’ game, Westwood held Irving College scoreless in the 3^rd quarter as they rolled to a 35 to 10 win.  The Lady Rockets pushed their 16 to 5 halftime lead to 24 points entering the 4^th quarter as Westwood only surrendered two baskets from the field in the game.  Seven different Lady Rockets scored led by Princess Penaloza and Keena Sievers who each had 8 points.  Allie Sullivan added 7 points. 

In the boys’ game, the young Rockets opened the season with a 21 to 18 victory in a game that came down to the final horn.  Westwood held an 11 to 5 lead at intermission in a tight defensive struggle.  Morrison was able to cut the deficit to one possession in the 2^nd half but the Rockets hit their layups and free throws to grab the win.  Jayden Carter led Westwood in scoring with 16 points.  Skylar Stinson added 4 points. 

The Lady Rockets will return to Morrison on Thursday for a 5 PM game against Centertown.  The Rockets will take on the Centertown boys beginning at 7 PM.  Both games will be held at Morrison Elementary. 

The Coffee County Middle School 6^th grade basketball teams traveled to Tullahoma on Tuesday to take on West Middle School.  The Lady Raiders routed the Lady Bobcats 41 to 4.  The Red Raiders fell in the closing second to West 28 to 25.

The 6^th grade basketball teams will travel to Winchester on Thursday night for a pair of games at with North Franklin.  That doubleheader will take place at Franklin County High School.  The girls’ game will tip off at 6 PM. 

The Coffee County Youth Basketball League was in action on Tuesday night for a pair of doubleheaders.  In girls’ action, Westwood drilled North Coffee 25 to 9 and Hillsboro doubled up Hickerson 20 to 10.  In boys’ play, North Coffee edged Westwood in overtime 43 to 40 and Hillsboro dropped Hickerson 25 to 6.

The elementary league will be back in action on Saturday with a full slate of action.  Play begins at 9 AM with a doubleheader between Hickerson and East Coffee.  At 11 AM, New Union takes on North Coffee.  At 1 PM it is a doubleheader between Westwood and Hillsboro and at 3 PM, Deerfield squares off against College Street.  Each matchup will feature a doubleheader with a girls’ game first, followed by the boys’ contest.  

Updated standings(through October 22^nd)

The NHL’s top offense was at it again.

Six different Predators found the back of the net – and Pekka Rinne made 26 saves – as Nashville defeated the Anaheim Ducks by a 6-1 final on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result snaps Nashville’s two-game winless skid and gives them their seventh-straight victory over the Ducks on home ice.

Long before Tuesday’s contest was in the books, the Preds already had their best offensive start in franchise history. Another five-plus goal outing, already their fifth of the season in just nine games, helped to give them their fifth win as well.

“Great win, especially at home,” Rinne said. “We were smart and we generated enough chances to score goals, and tonight was that type of game. We didn’t give that many looks, but we got enough goals. You take them anyway you can get them.”

“It was nice to play with a lead; we haven’t been able to do that much this year,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “Just to get on the board and just to chip away and score some goals and go out in the third and get that opportunity to play with the lead, I thought that was a really good job by our guys from start to finish offensively to go out and be able to produce.”

The Ducks got themselves into penalty trouble early in the game, and Preds Captain Roman Josi took advantage on a 5-on-3 power-play opportunity when he snapped home his fourth of the season for a 1-0 lead. Colton Sissons put his club up by two when he stepped right out of the penalty box, walked into the Anaheim zone and went top corner on John Gibson for a satisfying strike.

Rocco Grimaldi only waited 35 seconds into the second stanza to redirect a Nick Bonino feed for his first of the campaign, and just minutes later, Rinne stopped Anaheim’s Troy Terry on a penalty shot to keep the visitors scoreless.

Later in the period, Mattias Ekholm broke up a Ducks power play and came in on a shorthanded breakaway to beat Gibson and put the Preds up 4-0 through 40 minutes.

“Just the way we kill in the neutral zone, that happens every once in a while that they’re trying to chip it over me because I’m kind of going up a little bit,” Ekholm said of the play. “I didn’t think I did a whole lot, they just kind of floated it in the middle and I pinched on it. I got a lot of time to think about what I was going to do, but I was just trying to keep it simple and shoot the puck. It went in and it was nice. It was a big goal at the time and kind of put the game away.”

Ryan Getzlaf broke the shutout when he scored early in the third to get the Ducks on the board, but Viktor Arvidsson quickly squashed any hope of an Anaheim comeback, and Calle Jarnkrok gave Nashville’s their sixth and final marker of the night.

“It’s a real confidence boost for the team,” Rinne said of the goal-scoring prowess. “It’s early in the season, but we have already come back in a lot of games in the third period. It just gives you the confidence that you can do that. But at the same time, we don’t want to get too loose either.”

Even though they won by five goals, the Predators still relied on their goaltender to give them that cushion. Like always, Rinne was ready for the challenge and boosted his personal record to 5-0-1 in the process.

“There are a couple of reads that could still be better, there are still things that we definitely need to get better at defensively, but it was a good game and a good win for us,” Laviolette said. “We will go back and we will continue to try to tighten things down, so that we don’t have to rely on our goaltender for six huge saves. You need your goaltender to make some big saves, but we just want to try to limit that number if we can.”

A week ago tonight, the Predators felt they put forth their best effort of the season in a 5-2 victory in Las Vegas. A week later, they have another outing to compete in that category – a commanding win that showed exactly what the Preds are capable of when they’re at their best.

“Just the consistency in the game too, I didn’t think we had any big moments where we were just suffering through their offensive play,” Ekholm said. “Maybe in the second [period] a little bit [they were pressing], but other than that, in the third [period] we cleaned it off nicely. It was a good 60-minute effort from the team, and it’s good to see.”

Notes:

Filip Forsberg missed his third-consecutive game with a lower-body injury. Grimaldi re-entered the lineup after being scratched on Saturday.

Mattias Ekholm’s goal was his third-career shorthanded tally.

Kyle Turris extended his point streak to four games (2g-3a).

Ryan Ellis is now on a five-game point streak (9a).

Nashville’s three-game homestand concludes on Thursday night when the Minnesota Wild come to town (at 7 p.m. CT). The Preds will then head to Tampa Bay for a date with the Lightning on Saturday (at 6 p.m.).