The Coffee County Youth Bass Club was in action on Saturday at Normandy Lake in the South Central Tennessee Region BASS Nation High School Tournament.  Fighting cold, rainy and windy conditions, five boats of Raider anglers braved the elements to compete in the high school division.  In the junior division, the boat of Kylan Mantooth and Lance Marcom were in action.

In the high school tournament, 3 Raider boats finished in the top 10.  The team of Colby Thurmond and Jacob Garms were the top finisher for Coffee County as they a 5 fish stringer weighing 5.74 pounds to finish in 5^th place.  Branson and Dawson Wells came in 8^th place with 3 fish totaling 5.15 pounds.  Curtis Tudor and Sawyer Banks caught 2 fish for a total of 4.78 pounds to finish 10^th.  Isaiah Owens and Garrett Davis finished in 19^th place with 1 finish tipping the scales at 2.67 pounds.  The boat of Adam Petty and Jayden Yates came home in 29^th place.

For the high school region standings, Coffee County remains in the hunt for a 2^nd straight region title.  The Raider anglers have 3 boats in the Top 8 led by Dawson and Branson Wells in 4^th place.  Defending region champs Isaiah Owens and Garrett David are close behind in 7^th place while Colby Thurmond and Jacob Garms sit in 8^th place.

In the junior division on Saturday, the boat of Kylan Mantooth and Lance Marcom landed one fish weighing 1.11 pounds.  In the horrible conditions, that was good enough for a 3^rd place finish.  Mantooth and Marcom enter the holiday break in 2^nd place in the region in the junior division just 1 point behind the region leader.

The Bass Club will now be off February when they return to action in a tournament at Percy Priest.

Konor Heaton of Westwood basketball

The Westwood Rockets basketball season came to a close on Saturday night in the opening round of the Duck River Valley Conference Tournament.  Taking on the Rockets of Forrest, the Westwood Rockets came up short by a final score of 46 to 26.

Trailing by 7 at the half, Westwood’s offense stalled in the 2^nd half in the season-ending loss.  Konor Heaton was the leading scorer for the Rockets as he finished with 8 points.

The Westwood Lady Rockets will open Duck River Valley Conference tournament play on Monday night.  The Lady Rockets will square off against Middle Tennessee Christian at 5:30 PM.  That game will be played at Eagleville.

In his first start since Nov. 23, Juuse Saros gave the Predators a chance to win in Calgary, but a perfect redirection in the third period led the Flames to score the game’s final three goals on their way to a 5-2 victory.

Craig Smith wired a wrister that eluded Flames’ netminder Mike Smith to tie the game, 2-2, early in the final frame, but Calgary answered, and answered quickly, with Garnet Hathaway scoring at 6:03, Alan Quine finding twine at 12:12 and Elias Lindholm adding the empty-netter at 17:00.

The result makes injury-riddled Nashville winless in their last six road (0-5-1) outings and sees their season series against the Flames finish at 1-2-0.

“They wanted it more,” Preds defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “At times, we played well and at times they outplayed us, so it’s just about getting back to basics. We’ve obviously been hit with the injury bug, and when that happens, you have to simplify your game and play very predictable for your teammates.”

With the top spot in the Western Conference on the line, a Predators’ team – missing four of its star players – fought deep into the third period in a tie game, but saw the Flames’ speed force several turnovers, which were then converted for goals. Nashville now cedes the top spot in the West for the first time in several days.

It took defenseman Oliver Kylington less than two minutes into the contest to pot his first career goal and give the Flames a 1-0 lead, but with 53 seconds to play in the opening period, Roman Josi fed Colton Sissons, and the Preds forward directed a shot past Smith for his second tally in as many games.

In the middle frame, Sean Monahan beat Saros and scored his team-leading 18th of the season to give Calgary a one-goal lead after 40 minutes.

The Predators evened it up once more just 54 seconds into the third period when Smith potted his eighth of the season, but Hathaway’s redirection less than five minutes later gave Calgary their third and final lead of the night.

“We just gave them too many [chances],” Smith said of Nashville’s play. “[Saros] is a good goalie, but we give them too much like we did, and I thought they capitalized on a lot of quick turnovers. We’re going to have to go back and look at the tape and make some adjustments again and correct it.”

Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette liked his team’s compete level more than what he saw in Vancouver two nights ago in a 5-3 loss to the Canucks, but the bench boss pointed to Calgary’s third goal as a turning point on the night.

“Especially in the first period, I thought we came out really strong defensively, and it’s a 2-1 game going into the third period,” Laviolette said. “We tied it up, so that was a big goal at that point, but they get that redirection goal…and we couldn’t catch it from there.”

From here, the Predators will head back to home for a three-game set back in their own building, a chance to correct what went wrong in Western Canada.

“This team is good at staying within the day,” Smith said. “We’ve done a great job of not looking in the rearview mirror… But the results in the last couple of games, especially our road games, is not where we want it. We’ll take ownership of it and make the right corrections.”

Notes:

Zac Rinaldo and Anthony Bitetto re-entered the Nashville lineup on Saturday, while Eeli Tolvanen and Matt Irwin were healthy scratches.

The Preds will now return to Tennessee for their final homestand before the Christmas break, beginning on Tuesday night with the Ottawa Senators in town.

Kiya Ferrell of Coffee County CHS basketball

Putting their perfect records on the line on, the Coffee County CHS basketball teams traveled to Columbia on Friday night.  The Lady Raiders raced out to a huge lead and coasted home with an 85 to 19 win.  The Red Raiders could not keep pace with the hot outside shooting of Columbia as they fell 79 to 65.

In the girls’ game, Coffee County forced 18 first half turnovers and scored the first 22 points of the game as they cruised to their 10^th straight win.  All 13 players that dressed for Coffee County scored in the game as the subs got more minutes than the starters.  Jacey Vaughn led Coffee County in scoring with 13 points while Kiya Ferrell added 12.  Ferrell and Vaughn were named the Crazy Daisies co-players of the game.  Abby Morgan also finished with 13 points and Bella Vinson added 10 points as Coffee County improved to 10 and 0 on the year and 2 and 0 in district play.

Shawn Anderson of Coffee County CHS basketball

In the boys’ game, Columbia hit ten 3 point baskets and used their quickness to neutralize the Raiders height advantage.  Shawn Anderson came off the bench for Coffee County to score 17 points to lead the Raider attack.  For his efforts, Anderson was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  Darius Rozier led Coffee County in rebounding and added 15 points.  Jaxon Vaughn chipped in 11 for Coffee County as the Raiders record falls to 5 and 1 overall and 1 and 1 in district play.

The Raiders and Lady Raiders return to the hardwood on Saturday night when they welcome non-district foe Cookeville to “The Patch.”  The girls’ game will tip off at 6 PM, Thunder Radio will begin live coverage with the Powers Storage Pregame Show at 5:50.

Download the broadcast at: http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/

Fighting windy and raw weather conditions, the Coffee County Claybusters were in action at Big Springs on Saturday, December 1^st.  In their final shoot prior to the Christmas holidays, the Claybusters captured the lion’s share of top finishes.

The Claybusters #1 team won the Junior Division, A&B Class with a score of 439(out of a possible 500) and earned the high overall team score in the division.  The Claybusters #2 team also grabbed high overall honors as they shot a 405 in the Sub-Junior Division A&B Class.  The Claybusters Team #4 won the Sub-Junior C & D Class with a score of 379.

Individually, Cheyenne Martin was the overall B Class champion as she broke 89 clays.  Tucker Carlton was runner-up(after a tiebreaker) in the Junior division with a score of 94.  Hayden Jacobs finished in 3^rd place with a score of 92.  The Claybusters swept the medal stand in the Su-Junior Division as Landon Meadows finished 1^st(with 88 clays), Dylan Hickerson was 2^nd(86) and Aubrey Payne was 3^rd(83).  Emma Matthews won the Lady Championship as she shot down 92 clays.

The Claybusters will return to action in January when they visit the Highland Rim Shooters Club in Tullahoma for an individual shoot.