Chris Speagle of Coffee County CHS wrestling

Coffee County CHS wrestling team traveled to Wartrace on Friday night for a non-region duals match with Cascade.  The Red Raiders swept the 6 highest weight classifications to capture the 67 to 18 win.

Coffee County got pinfall wins from Cardin Stump(at 285), Christopher Speagle(220), Rey Reyes(182), Jacob Phillips(170), Dakota Chalker(160), Jesse Smith(145), Gavin Prater(138) and Brett Francis(120).  The Raiders also got forfeit wins by Hunter Massey(113), Hunter Waring(132) and Zachary Galy(195).  Nick Martinez also won a pair of exhibition matches by pinfall fighting at 220 pounds

The Raider grapplers return to action on Saturday as they travel to Sewanee for the Mountain Top Invitational at St. Andrews-Sewanee.  Weigh-in is set at 9 AM.

Jackson Shemwell of CCMS basketball

The Coffee County Middle School basketball teams closed out the regular season on the road on Thursday night.  Traveling to Shelbyville to take on Harris, the Raiders and Lady Raiders roared to a pair of lopsided wins over the Eagles.  The Lady Raiders won 31 to 8 while the Red Raiders scored a 37 to 12 victory.

In the girls’ game, the Lady Radiers dominated from start to finish.  Coffee Middle held the overmatched Eaglettes to 2 points in the second half to close the season with a record of 13 and 6.  Alivia Reel led the Lady Raiders in scoring with 15 points, including a trio of 3 point baskets.  Chloe Gannon added 8 points in the win.

The Red Raiders held Harris to 2 points in the first half in the dominant win.  The win gives the Red Raiders a final conference record of 8 and 6.  Jackson Shemwell and Hayden Garr each had 8 points in the win to pace the Raider scoring attack.  Jacob Holder chipped in 6 points.

Next up for Coffee Middle teams will be the CTC basketball tournament which is set to begin on Monday in Tullahoma.  The tournament schedule is set to be released on Friday and Thunder Radio will keep you apprised of game times and opponents.  Jonathan Oliver, Red Raiders head coach will be a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to talk about the regular season and will preview the upcoming conference tournament.  The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast live each Saturday morning at 10 AM from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln.  The Coffee Coaches Show is heard exclusively on Thunder Radio.

Dakota Chalker of Coffee County CHS wrestling

The Coffee County CHS wrestling team continued their busy week in Shelbyville on Thursday night.   Tangling with the Eagles in a head to head match, the Red Raiders captured a 42 to 36 win.

Coffee County got pinfall wins from Christopher Speagle(at 220 pounds), Cardin Stump(285), Brett Francis(120), Gavin Prater(138), Dakota Chalker(160) and Rey Reyes(182).  The Raiders also grabbed a forfeit win at 132 pounds by Hunter Waring.

The Raider grapplers return to action on Friday as they travel to Wartrace for a special match with Cascade.  The high school wrestlers and the Coffee County Youth wrestlers will both be in action.  Weigh-in is set at 5 PM, the first match is scheduled for 6 PM.

In a test between the top two teams in the Central Division, it was the visitors who passed.

The Nashville Predators fell to the Winnipeg Jets by a 5-1 final on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena, their first loss in two games against the Jets this season.

In a game that presented a potential postseason matchup between two of the behemoths in the Western Conference, it was Winnipeg who prevailed by playing quicker than the Preds and capitalizing on their chances.

“It was a big game for us,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “They’re right in front of us. They’re obviously a great team in our division. We’re not happy with the result, but we have to learn from it.”

“They’re a good hockey team,” Preds defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “We know that. They know that. I thought we competed for the most part. Our battle level, especially in the first, it was there, it was back and forth. You get frustrated as the game goes on, but, all in all, I think they just executed more than we did.”

Brendan Lemieux gave the Jets a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, and it could have been two if Nashville Video Coaches Lawrence Feloney and Andrew Meloche didn’t step in and call for an offside review. As is typical, the duo got it right, keeping the deficit at one.

Less than four minutes into the second, however, Mason Appleton made it 2-0 Winnipeg. Midway through the period, the Preds got on the board thanks to, who else, but Viktor Arvidsson, who slid home a loose puck for his 18th of the season and fourth in two games.

But, with less than a minute to play in the second stanza, Bryan Little put the visitors back up by two, and the Jets added two more in the third to pull away and clinch their victory.

“They were better than us tonight,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “They were quicker. I thought they capitalized. I thought they did a better job of generating quality chances. It seemed when we got in the offensive zone our shots didn’t go through, we didn’t do a good job of taking his (Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck’s) eyes, we didn’t generate the chances from the areas that we need to generate them from. For me, they capitalized on their chances and I thought that we needed to do a better job generating our chances.”

The Predators don’t view the loss as an indicator that the Jets are a better team than they are – it’s just one game – but on this occasion, it was Winnipeg who found a way and jumped out to a four-point lead in the division.

“They’re tough games every time we play them,” Josi said. “They’re a great team, and right now they’re in front of us. It’s such a long season, though. We have to learn from that game. There’s a lot of things we can do a lot better, but it’s one game. We have to focus on the next game.”

“They’re the team we’re chasing right now,” Ellis said. “It’s a bit of a test for us, and tonight, we failed. But, hopefully the next one we won’t.”

Notes:

With an assist on Viktor Arvidsson’s goal, Filip Forsberg extended his point streak against Winnipeg to four games.

Nashville’s three-game homestand concludes on Saturday night when they host the Florida Panthers before embarking on a two-game trip to Colorado and Las Vegas prior to 2019 All-Star Weekend.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report