Natalie Elzeer of CHS tennis[Photo courtesy of Janice Talley]

In boys’ play, the Red Raiders captured singles wins from Benedict Edinger(8 to 0), Jaden Talley(8-1), Jonah Rollman(8-0), Johnathon Welch(8-0) and Landon Booth(8-0).  In doubles play, the teams of Edinger/Talley and Rollman/Welch each rolled to 8 to 0 wins.

In girls’ play, the Lady Raiders got their 5 singles wins from Lauren Perry(8-1), Natalie Elzeer(8-1), Wren Lawson(8-3), Emma Fulks(8-1) and Kylie Millaway(8-1).  In doubles play, the teams of Elzeer/Lawson and Perry/Fulks each rolled to 8 to 4 wins.

Next up for the Raider netters will be the team and individual district tournaments.  The individual district tournament will be held on Friday and Saturday at the University of the South in Sewanee.

Javier Rodriquez of CCMS Soccer

Hitting the road for their final regular season match of the year, the Coffee County Middle School soccer team visited Winchester on Monday night.  Taking on North Franklin in a game moved from last Friday, the Raiders used 3 second half goals to capture a 4 to 1 win.

Mani Gonzalez put the Red Raiders on the board in the first half as he converted on a penalty kick to stake Coffee Middle to a 1 nil halftime advantage.  In the second half, Javier Rodriquez notched a pair of goals and Samuel Medina added a goal as the Raiders pulled away for the 4 to 1 win.  Joseph Galindo added an assist on one of Rodriquez’ goals.

Coffee Middle will open postseason play at home on Wednesday when they host a first round conference tournament game.  The Red Raiders will host a rematch with North Franklin at CCMS.   Opening kick is set for 4:45 PM.

Jonathan Nelson of Westwood baseball

Facing elimination from the postseason tournament, the Westwood baseball team traveled to Wartrace on Monday.  Taking on Cascade in the Duck River Valley Conference Tournament play-in game, the Rockets saw their season come to a close.  Westwood fell by a final score of 13 to 3.

In the top of the first inning, Jayden Carter got a single and advanced to 3^rd base but was stranded there.  Cascade seized the momentum as they sent 16 batters to the plate in the bottom of the 1^st inning scoring 11 times.  Four Westwood errors and 5 walks gave the Champions all the help they needed in that disastrous first frame as they jumped on the Rockets.  Not to be deterred, Westwood allowed only 2 hits the rest of the way as the defense did not commit as error after the tough first frame.

Westwood got their 3 runs in the top of the 5^th.  Caiden Warren got a 1 out single and Cayden Trail reached on an error before a walk by Carter loaded the bases.  Timothy Henderson was hit by a pitch to drive in 1 runs before Jonathan Nelson hit a 2 RBI single.  Westwood finished the game with 3 hits.

Kira Jarrell of CCMS Golf

The Coffee County Middle School golf team played host to Harris on Monday at Willowbrook.  The Raider golfers captured 11 of the 12 flags possible as they rolled to an 11 to 1 win.

The team of Avery Hill and Kolby McCormick won all 3 of their flags as did the team of Kira Jarrell and Liza Freeze.  The team of Maggie Crouch, Cadie Prater and Madison Winn won their match by forfeit 3 to 0 while the team of Zach Tidwell and Austin Dockery captured a pair of flags.

Coffee Middle is on the road on Tuesday as they travel to take on Tullahoma.  That match will start at 3:30 PM at Lakewood Country Club.

The Westwood Middle School golf team played host to Liberty on Monday at Willowbrook.  The short-handed Rockets were shut by the Patriots as they failed to capture a flag.  Liberty won by a final score of 12 to 0.

The Rocket golfers are on the road on Tuesday as they travel to Fayetteville to take on the Fayetteville Tigers.  That shotgun start will get underway at 3:30 PM at Pebble Creek Golf Club.

The Nashville Predators gave it all they had on Monday night in Dallas – it just wasn’t meant to be.

John Klingberg scored at 17:02 of the first overtime to send the Stars to the second round with a 2-1 victory and a 4-2 series win.

The result sees Nashville’s postseason run come to an end, a truth that came sooner than anyone had hoped.

“We didn’t get it done, and it’s tough right now,” Predators Captain Roman Josi said. “It’s disappointing. We had a chance to win a Game 6 here and go back into our building. It’s disappointing we didn’t get the job done.”

“It’s tough. It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Preds defenseman P.K. Subban said. “We came in here obviously wanting to take the series back to Nashville, and I felt we gave ourselves a good opportunity to do that. They battled hard all series, they definitely played really, really well, and it’s just a tough pill to swallow right now.”

The opening period saw the Predators take a 1-0 lead when Austin Watson deposited a rebound at the 5:47 mark. Nashville registered 19 shots in the first frame, their highest total of any period in the 2019 playoffs.

The score was evened up by the time the second intermission arrived as Dallas converted on a 3-on-1 that was finished off by Blake Comeau.

From there, the goaltending duel between Pekka Rinne and Ben Bishop began anew, with the Stars ultimately outshooting the Preds by a 51-48 margin when it was all over. Rinne’s 49 saves set a postseason career high for the netminder.

“He was excellent,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said of Rinne. “He played a really strong game, and he gave us a chance to win. Tonight was was one of those tight games, and I thought Peks played really strong. There was a lot of big saves that he made throughout the course of the game, and it’s unfortunate it ended this way.”

The two clubs traded chances throughout the third and in overtime, but Klingberg’s shot found its way through traffic to ultimately bring about the handshake line.

“It’s tough,” Rinne said. “I mean, the game just ended and your season is done with. At the same time, I want to congratulate the Dallas Stars. They played well throughout the series, and it was a good series. For us, we’ve got to look back on it, learn from it and move forward.”

From here, the Predators will return home to Nashville, clean out their lockers and say their final goodbyes for the summer over the coming days.

It’s even tougher when those goodbyes come in late April, signifying the unaccomplished goal the group had set for themselves back in the fall.

All that’s left to do is think of what might have been – and dream of what’s still to come.

“Around this room, you’re going to have nothing but love for every single guy in here, and a full belief in what we’re capable of,” Watson said. “We play a really hard sport, and no matter how things are set up in a series, one team advances and one team doesn’t… I love everybody in here, and that’s I think the sentiment that you would hear from every single guy.”

“I love this team, love my teammates,” Rinne said. “I feel like we have a really strong group… and I love this group. I feel like we have potential, we just have to put it out there and show it to the people.”