Despite a valiant effort, the Coffee County Middle School soccer team fell to Tullahoma on Monday night 3 to 1.  Reuben Alvarez had the lone goal for the Raiders late in the 2^nd half to prevent the shutout.

The Raiders played toe to toe with the favored Wildcats in the first half as they trailed 1 nil at the intermission.  The more experienced Tullahoma 11 added a pair of goals to stretch that lead to 3 nil in the 2^nd half.  Alvarez prevented the clean sheet for the Wildcats with his goal in the closing minutes.

The Red Raiders will return to the pitch next week when they begin play in the CTC tournament.  The date, time and opponent will be announced later this week.

Fighting frigidly cold temperatures, the Coffee County CHS tennis team ran into a red hot Lincoln County squad in Fayetteville.  The Raiders and Lady Raiders each fell behind 4 to 1 in singles play nullifying the need to contest the doubles matches.

The Lady Raiders got their lone win from Wren Lawson who fought to a 9 to 7 win in the tiebreaker.  The Lady Raiders are now 3 and 4 in district play and 5 and 4 overall.

The Red Raiders captured their lone win from Jonah Rollman as he won his match 8 to 2.  The Red Raiders are now 4 and 3 in the district and 6 and 3 overall.

The Raider netters return to the court on Thursday when they entertain Columbia at the Raider Academy courts.  First serve is set for 4 PM.

Nathan MacKinnon scored twice to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators in Game 3 of their Round One series on Monday night at the Pepsi Center. The result cuts Nashville’s series lead to a 2-1 margin and sees their 12-game overall win streak against the Avalanche come to an end.

Skating in their first playoff game at home in four seasons, the Avs jumped on the Preds early and rode the energy to a three-goal first period. Nashville’s effort eventually got better, and they put three past Jonathan Bernier before the end of the night, but the first 20 minutes was what did the visitors in as they suffered their first loss of these playoffs.

“We didn’t play well at all in the first period,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “They came out right away as the better team and got a couple goals. We deserve what we got. We didn’t really show up in the first period.”

It took the Avalanche less than two minutes into the contest to take a 1-0 lead as Blake Comeau steered a puck over the glove of Pekka Rinne. Goals from Gabriel Bourque and MacKinnon followed before the first frame was out, and MacKinnon’s second goal of the night at 4:25 of the second stanza chased Rinne in favor of Juuse Saros in the Preds’ net.

A 5-on-3 power-play opportunity led to Ryan Johansen getting the Predators on the board, and Colton Sissons cut the Colorado lead to 4-2 midway through the third period, but the push wasn’t enough to find an equalizer.

After the Avalanche received an automatic fifth goal with a delayed penalty call and an empty Nashville net, Austin Watson gave the Preds their third before the find horn sounded.

Saros made 18 saves in relief, with Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette stating he pulled Rinne in an attempt to change the momentum of the game, not because of the performance of his starter.

The Predators agreed they didn’t provide much help in front of Rinne, with a rough start deciding the game.

“It’s tough because it’s nothing that we haven’t talked about, but there’s a difference between talking about it and going out here and performing and being ready to battle right from the drop of the puck,” Watson said. “We got better as the game went on, but we weren’t ready to go right away.”

As JosI stated, the Predators will take Tuesday to review what went wrong, and then turn their attention to Game 4, which comes Wednesday night in Colorado. The effort from the visitors in the final 30 minutes of the contest could provide some room for optimism, and whether the Preds can use that effort for confidence or not, they know they simply have to be better from start to finish.

“There’s a tremendous hockey team across from us,” Johansen said. “If you’re not on your best, you’ll lose. So we just need to make sure we’re ready for Game 4 to bring our best and from all the men in this room. We do that, we believe we’ll be successful so that’s what it comes down to.”

Notes:

Nashville kept their same lineup they used in Games 1 and 2, with defenseman Yannick Weber (upper-body) and forward Calle Jarnkrok (upper-body) remaining out.

With an assist on Ryan Johansen’s goal, Filip Forsberg became Nashville’s all-time leader in Stanley Cup Playoff points with 29, passing Shea Weber and David Legwand for the mark.

The series continues on Wednesday night in Denver with Game 4 (at 9 p.m. CT) between the Preds and Avs, before things shift back to Nashville for Game 5, set for Friday night at Bridgestone Arena. A start time has not yet been announced for Game 5.

The Nashville Sounds walked off on the Omaha Storm Chasers with a 5-4 win when BJ Boyd scored from third on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth on Monday. The win gave the Sounds a 5-2 homestand at First Tennessee Park.
Boyd played a huge role in the comeback win Monday afternoon. With the Sounds trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, the left fielder cleared the bases with a three-run double to draw even at 4-4. Boyd finished 2-for-5 and drove in seven runs in the four-game series against Omaha.
The ninth began with reliever Bobby Wahl setting down the Storm Chasers. The bullpen tandem of Wahl and Chris Bassitt allowed one run over six innings after Frankie Montas started and went three.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Boyd reached on an infield single. He moved to second on a walk issued to Dustin Fowler, then went to third on a fielder’s choice. With Slade Heathcott batting, Omaha reliever Kevin Lenik uncorked the wild pitch on a 1-0 count to allow Boyd to score the winning run. It was the second walk-off win in as many games for the Sounds.
Omaha jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first and built their lead to 4-0 after five innings. Montas and Bassitt each allowed two runs, but only one was earned for both right-handers.
The Sounds travel to Des Moines, Iowa to begin a four-game series with the Iowa Cubs on Tuesday. Right-hander Trevor Cahill (0-1, 3.72) starts for Nashville against left-hander Michael Roth (0-0, 0.00) for Iowa. First pitch is scheduled for 6:38 p.m.
Post-Game Notes
• With today’s win, the Sounds improved their homestand to 5-2 at First Tennessee Park and are now 6-6 overall. They are .500 for the first time since losing in New Orleans on April 6 to fall to 1-1.
• Reliever Chris Bassitt continued his hot start to the season with five solid innings. In three games this year, Bassitt has covered 13.0 innings and has allowed just one earned run which came today.
• Slade Heathcott extended his on-base streak to eight games with a single in the seventh inning. He’s hitting .444 (12-for-27) during the eight-game streak.
• The bases-clearing double by BJ Boyd in the seventh inning was the 100th double in his career. Boyd’s three RBI today gave him a team-high nine on the season.

The 2018 season is the Sounds’ 41st in franchise history and fourth as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.