Katie Cotten(on left in pink) & Emma Rhoton(on right in pink) work in the midfield on against DeKalb County in scrimmage action from August.

Hosting South Franklin on Friday afternoon in a makeup game, the Coffee County Middle School soccer team closed out their regular season.  The Lady Raiders got goals from Katie Cotton and Emma Rhoton as they fought to a 2 to 2 draw.  The Lady Raiders will take on North Franklin on Wednesday in Winchester for a conference tournament play-in game.  That match will kick off at 5 PM.

Hitting the road to take on their arch-rival Minutemen of Franklin Road Christian School, the Temple Baptist Christian School volleyball team visited Murfreesboro on Saturday.  The Lady Eagles got off to a fast start as they won the first 2 sets.  Franklin Road rallied back to sweep the last 3 sets and grab the 3 to 2 victory.  Temple fell by set scores of 25-21, 25-17, 22-25, 13-25 and 11-15.

After consistently stringing together points in the first 2 sets, the Lady Eagles opened the 3^rd set with 5 straight side outs.  Temple could never get on a point rally of more than 4 points in the final 3 sets.  The JV Lady Eagles(grades 7 thru 9) fell in straight sets 20-25 and 19-25.

Temple will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Tunnel Hill, Georgia for a doubleheader.  The Lady Eagles will take on host Dogwood Christian at 4:30 PM followed by a match with Rhea County Academy at 5:30 PM.

Traveling to Winchester on Saturday, the Coffee County Youth Football League played a triple header at Franklin County.  The Raider teams came away with 2 wins in their 3 games on the day.

The Division 1 Raiders were shut out in a 53 to 0 loss.  The Division 2 Raiders came home with a 27 to 13 victory.  The Division 3 team came out on top in a close game 27 to 21.

The Raiders will return to the gridiron on Saturday when they travel to McMinnville to take on Warren County.  The tripleheader begins at 10 AM with the Division 1 game.  The Raiders will close out the regular season at Carden-Jarrell Field on Saturday, October 6^th when they play host to Marshall County for Homecoming.  The homecoming triple header gets underway at 2 PM.

Marcus Mariota [Photo by Getty Images]

The Titans beat the Jaguars 9-6 on Sunday on a day when Mariota stepped in, and the defense rose to the occasion.

The Titans took a 9-6 lead with 4:06 left on a 28-yard field goal by kicker Ryan Succop, which capped off a 12-play, 65-yard drive engineered by Mariota.

The defense played huge for the Titans.

Blaine Gabbert once again started at quarterback for the Titans, but Mariota came in to replace him.

Gabbert was knocked out of the game after a hit in the first quarter. Mariota, sidelined since Week One and limited in practices because of an elbow injury, stepped in and finished the contest.

Gabbert headed to the locker room with the team’s medical staff, where he was immediately evaluated for a concussion. Gabbert was injured after being slung down by Jaguars defensive lineman Calais Campbell, when his helmet slammed into the turf. He was eventually downgraded to out, and did not return.

Enter Mariota, wearing a glove with two fingers exposed. Mariota stepped in and finished off a drive that ended with a field goal by Succop that gave the Titans an early 3-0 lead with 4:59 in the first quarter.

The Titans didn’t help out Mariota early, as receivers Rishard Matthews, Tajae Sharpe and Corey Davis all let catchable passes go off their hands.

But the Titans were stingy on defense. The team got a few big stops early, including one on a fake punt by the Jaguars that was sniffed out by a number of Titans.

Later, defensive lineman Austin Johnson and linebacker Wesley Woodyard stepped up for a big stop on 3rd and 1. It was a slugfest in the sunshine, with neither team able to muster up much on offense.

The Titans and Jaguars went to the half tied 3-3 after a missed field goal by Succop at the halftime horn.

The Titans put together a nice drive on their first possession of the second half, and capped it off with a 36-yard field goal by Succop to take a 6-3 lead with 10:01 left in the third quarter. Mariota connected with Davis, Darius Jennings and Taylor on the drive as receivers began to make catches, and plays.

The Titans led 6-3 after three quarters, but the Jaguars tied it 6-6 with 10:48 remaining on a 38-yard field goal by kicker Josh Lambo.

The Titans face the Eagles next Sunday at Nissan Stadium.

Ryan Ellis tied the game late in the second period, but Tampa Bay broke through in the third to ultimately top the Nashville Predators, 5-2, on Saturday night in preseason action at Amalie Arena.

Two empty-net tallies for the home team make the score look worse than it was, however. It was a game the Predators felt could have gone either way, and they say there was still plenty to like, all things considered.

“The guys played hard tonight, and the result was unfortunate,” Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We fight back to 2-2, and we give up that 4-on-4 goal, that was tough… But we brought a lot of young guys in the lineup and different players, and I thought they played hard tonight.”

“For having to get off the plane and come play a game, I thought this group came out and worked really hard,” Ellis said. “There’s not much more you can ask for than working hard… I thought we played a very good game for the most part, and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.”

It took just over three minutes into the contest for Viktor Arvidsson to lift a pass to Calle Jarnkrok on a 2-on-1 break, and Jarnkrok directed the puck out of the atmosphere and into the net for a 1-0 Nashville lead after 20 minutes.

It appeared the Lightning would go into the second intermission up 2-1, but with 0.8 seconds remaining on the clock, Ellis blasted home a shot after Kyle Turris and Arvidsson teamed up on a set faceoff play executed to perfection.

But Tampa Bay took the lead with seven minutes to play in the third period, before they added two more into an empty net to end the night. Juuse Saros played the entire game, stopping 18 shots in total.

Just like that, the Predators now only have essentially a week to go in training camp with two more preseason contests to play. For those who will remain on the roster as the week goes along, the time has come to really begin to settle in and establish the standard of play that the Preds would like to see once the regular season begins.

“Just overall, getting back in our systems and really perfecting our system [will be key],” Ellis said. “At times throughout the preseason our systems have somewhat broken down, and we’ve fixed them on the fly, but more or less, just getting comfortable with everyone again and getting ready for two more big games – and then kickoff.”

Notes:

The Predators now have two preseason games remaining, both against the Carolina Hurricanes. The first comes Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena, before the final dress rehearsal prior to the regular season takes place in Carolina on Sept. 30.

Thunder Radio will once again be your source for Nashville Predators hockey in southern middle Tennessee.  Exclusive radio coverage from the Fifth-Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network is brought to you locally by the law offices of Burch and Lockhart.

Tucker Hume of Nashville SC

Wet conditions and sloppy turf impacted Saturday night’s 1-1 draw between Nashville SC and the Charleston Battery at First Tennessee Park. Needing a result, Nashville opened the scoring early as Tucker Hume scored a brilliant opener to give Nashville SC the lead. Charleston equalized in the 24^th minute in what would be the final goal of the evening.

Nashville SC earned its first-ever draw at First Tennessee Park against the Charleston Battery Saturday night. The 1-1 final score marked the eighth time Nashville SC has racked up points against one of the conference’s top four teams this season.

Despite constant rainfall, Nashville managed to maintain 63 percent of possession and connect 397 passes, 148 more than Charleston.

The team will now turn its attention to Wednesday’s road test against Atlanta United 2 with a USL Eastern Conference playoff spot within reach.

90 in a Nutshell

The team came out with urgency, knowing that a positive result was crucial tonight with a month remaining in the regular season. Nashville forward Tucker Hume stunned the visitors early with a 9’ minute bicycle kick from just outside the six-yard box. His shot, which was difficult to manage thanks to the rainy conditions, slipped by Charleston’s goalkeeper Odisnel Cooper to give Nashville the 1-0 advantage.

Charleston answered in the 24’ minute when a failed clearance by goalkeeper Matt Pickens found its way into the back of the net after ricocheting off of Charleston’s Tah Anunga.

With a tied score and slick field, tensions began to rise, leading to several scrums and an eventual red card for Charleston’s Patrick Okonkwo in the 60’. Nashville played with a man up for the remaining 30 minutes; however, the team was unable to find the go-ahead goal and ended the night splitting points with Charleston.

Goals

9’ NSH- Tucker Hume (assisted by Liam Doyle)

24’ CHS- Tah Anunga (unassisted)

Quotable

Nashville SC Head Coach Gary Smith

“I’m not sure I could have gotten many more attackers on the field to try and get the job done. However, the conditions in the end I think were instrumental in maybe some of the combination play and the ability to really work the team over and stretch them out because there was just nothing to be had on the left end side of the field. All in all, sorry, disappointed of course, but given the results, keeps destiny in our own hands, and with a game on Wednesday, we’d like to take advantage of that and put ourselves back in a very good spot.”

Key Stat

Three is a Magic Number – Tucker Hume has scored three goals in Nashville’s last three home games. After tonight’s tally, he’s now the team’s third highest goal scorer with six goals on the season.

Eastern Conference Update

With Saturday night’s draw, Nashville SC and the Tampa Bay Rowdies are now tied with 40 points in the USL Eastern Conference standings. However, Nashville sits below the Rowdies in the 11th spot, but with a game in hand. Just one point stands between Nashville SC and Ottawa Fury FC, who’s occupying the eighth playoff spot at the moment.

Up Next

Nashville SC travels for a midweek matchup against Atlanta United 2 on Wednesday, September 26, 2018. Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m. CT at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Ga.

Keri Munn of CHS volleyball

Continuing the longest stretch of road games of the season, the Lady Raider volleyball team visited Columbia on Thursday night.  After a slow start, Coffee County dropped their 6^th straight match in 4 sets.  The Lady Raiders lost by set scores of: 7-25, 17-25, 25-21 and 28-30

Coffee County was led in kills by Keri Munn who had 11.  Munn also added 2 blocks, a dig and an ace.  Keelie Hillis led in blocks with 3 while adding 7 kills, 9 assists and 6 digs.  Kiya Ferrell led the team in digs with 15 and aces with 3.  Ferrell added a block and 2 kills.  Amanda Mukai led the Lady Raiders in assists with 11 while adding 7 digs, 2 aces and 3 kills.

Coffee County will travel again on Saturday when they head to Smyrna for a tournament at Stewarts Creek.  The JV Lady Raiders will have games at 9 AM, 11 AM and 1 PM.   The varsity Lady Raiders will play at 10 AM, noon, 1 PM and 3 PM.