As 2017 has drawn to a close, Thunder Radio Sports looks back at some of the highlights of the calendar year for each of the 40 prep teams we follow and report on.  Today we look back at the year for the Coffee County Claybusters.  Fielding some of the most successful youth teams in this area this decade, the Claybusters added a pair of state titles, a national title and a pair of Top 3 national finishes to their long list of accomplishments in 2017.  Additionally, a pair of Claybusters were crowned national runners-up as individuals.

Thunder Radio reported on the Claybusters success at the AIM Grand Championships in a story we published on August 4^th.

2017 AIM/ATA Grand American A Class Sub Junior Champions(left to right) Hayden Jacobs, Logan Meadows, Tucker Carlson, Victoria Majors and Lexi Stacey [Photo by Scott Dickson]

The Sub Junior(ages 12 thru 14) team(Class A) of Hayden Jacobs, Logan Meadows, Tucker Carlton, Victoria Majors and Lexi Stacey capped off a Tennessee state AIM title with a national championship.  The team shot a 2 day total of 957 clays out of a possible 200.  Carlton led the way for the CCMS squad as he shot a 198 including his first “100” in Monday’s round.   Jacobs had a 2 day total of 197 including a round of 99 on Tuesday.  Majors broke 191 clays with a high round of 96 on Monday.  Meadows shot a 187 with a high round on Monday of 95 and Stacey brought down 184 targets with a high round of 94 on Tuesday.

2017 AIM/ATA Grand American Class D Junior runner up squad(left to right) Aubrey Payne, Kendall Seay, Neil Slone, Hope Richardson and Lindsey Dickson [Photo by Scott Dickson]

2017 AIM/ATA Grand American A Class Junior 3rd place team(left to right) Austin Schaller, Zach Bonee, Garrett Bradford, Coleton Tabor and Tanner Carlton [Photo by Scott Dickson]

For individual honors, Emma Mathews captured the Class C Sub Junior national runner-up trophy.  Mathews shot a 2 day total of 190 as she had a high day of 96 on Tuesday.   Tucker Carlton won the Class A Sub Junior national runner-up title with his 198. Carlton tied for the national title but settled for 2nd place after the tie-breaker.

As 2017 has drawn to a close, Thunder Radio Sports looks back at some of the highlights of the calendar year for each of the 40 prep teams we follow and report on.  Today we look back at the year for the Coffee County Youth Bass Club.  After completing their first full year as a club last spring, a pair of Raider anglers qualified for, and competed, in the national tournament held on Kentucky Lake.

Thunder Radio reported on the performance of brother tandem of Colby and Braeden Thurmond in a story we published on June 25^th.

Braeden(left) and Colby(right) Thurmond show off their scholarship winnings on April 13th at Kentucky Lake.

The Coffee County Youth Bass Club team of Braeden and Colby Thurmond battled 230 teams and some lousy weather in this weekend’s Costa Bassmaster High School National Championship on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes.  After a good start in Thursday’s opening round, the risk of severe weather on Friday forced the postponement of the 2nd round,  The full field competed on Saturday as the brother tandem captured a 134th place with a total of 8 fish weighing in at 17 pounds and 12 ounces.

On Thursday, the Thurmonds got off to a good start catching 4 fish that tipped the scales at an even 11 pounds.  That finish gave them a placement of 127th after the first day of competition.  After sitting out Friday’s weather delay, Braeden and Colby netted 4 more fish on Friday but they were weighed in at 6 pounds and 12 ounces.

Team Thurmond is the first Coffee County Youth Bass Club team to compete at the national tournament.  The Thurmonds qualified for the national championship by finishing the year in 21st place in the 2016-2017 TN Bass Nation Points Championship.  Braeden and Colby captured a 54th place finish in the Tennessee State Championship held in May on Tims Ford.

Christian Fischer scored in overtime as the Nashville Predators fell to the Arizona Coyotes by a 3-2 final on Thursday night at Gila River Arena. It’s the second loss in as many games for the Preds on their current road trip, giving Arizona just their 10th win of the season.

After owning a 2-1 lead late in regulation, the Preds let the Coyotes tie it on the power play with less than three minutes to play. Fischer’s OT goal – a play that was reviewed twice, once to see if the net was knocked off, the other for goaltender interference – was ultimately upheld.

“We put ourselves in a position where we took a penalty and then played a really poor overtime,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We didn’t think at all during the overtime, so the ending sticks out.”

“It doesn’t matter [who the opponent is], every team is good,” Nashville Captain Roman Josi said. “There are no easy games in this League, and it’s a point we lost. It doesn’t matter which team it is, we go out there to win every game and whenever you don’t do that, you’re disappointed.”

The Predators put 17 shots on net in the first period, but didn’t have anything to show for it on the scoreboard, and then in the middle frame, it was Anthony Duclair who drove to the net and beat Juuse Saros to give Arizona a 1-0 lead.

Compared to the opening stanza, Nashville had trouble generating much in the later portions of the second, but with just nine ticks remaining, Ryan Ellis potted his first of the season in just his second game of the campaign to even things at one.

Then, just eight seconds into the third period, Craig Smith stole the puck from Oliver Ekman-Larsson and snapped a shot over the shoulder of Antti Raanta to give the Preds their first lead of the night. But Smith’s 14th of the season was the last of the night for the Preds, as Arizona added two goals more to only give Nashville a single point in the standings.

Instead of forgetting about this one and moving on, the Preds say they’d like to use it as motivation as they conclude their road trip on Saturday night in Los Angeles against one of the best in the West, a chance for Nashville to begin to break out of their current 2-4-2 stretch.

“You never want these stints to happen, but we have a lot of tremendous players in here and we’ll find a way to get our game where we want it to be,” Predators center Ryan Johansen said. “We just have to do that on Saturday and get back to our game as soon as possible.”

“I think we’ll let it burn a little bit for tonight,” Josi said. “We have to come back tomorrow morning, look at a couple things, but after that we have to focus on L.A. and make sure we’re ready for that game.”

Notes:

Craig Smith’s goal eight seconds into the third period set a record for the fastest goal from the start of the third period on the road in franchise history. The tally is also just two seconds off the franchise record for fastest goal from the start of a period.

The Predators conclude their three-game trip on Saturday night in Los Angeles (at 9:30 p.m. CT) before returning home to host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena.

Pete Weber’s Post Game Report