Marissa Medina of CCMS basketball

The Coffee County Middle School 6^th grade basketball teams closed out their season on Friday night in Wartrace.  Both teams closed out the year on a down note as the Lady Raiders fell 22 to 13. The Red Raiders saw Cascade rally in the 4^th quarter to defeat Coffee County 32 to 30.

In the girls’ game, turnovers and a single field goal in the 2^nd half saw the Lady Raiders drop a heartbreaking decision to Cascade.  Coffee County was also a disappointing 3 of 15 at the free throw line in the game.  Remi Benjamin and Marisa Medina tied for high scorer honors as each had 4 points.

Ethan Hargrove of CCMS basketball

In the boys’ game, the Raiders held a 1 point lead at the half and entered the 4^th quarter tied with the Champions.  Cascade outscored Coffee Middle 10 to 8 in the 4^th quarter to take the win.  The Raiders were led in scoring by Ethan Hargrove who netted 13 points.  Donovan Morgan and Brendan Sheppard each scored 6 points.

Six Coffee County and Manchester elementary schools were in action on Saturday for the 3rd week of the season. The 6 schools paired off in 3 girls’ games and 3 boys’ games. East Coffee had the week off on Saturday.
In girl’s games:
Hillsboro defeated Westwood 24 to 10
New Union held off North Coffee 33 to 25
College Street clawed past Deerfield 39 to 13

In boys’ games:
Westwood edged Hillsboro 33 to 31
New Union bested North Coffee 23 to 5
College Street dumped Deerfield 3 to 11

Current (unofficial)Standings

Next week’s games

It wasn’t easy, but the Nashville Predators are two points richer.

Viktor Arvidsson scored the game winner in overtime, and the Preds posted their second victory in as many nights with 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center. The result gives the Preds seven wins on the season, the latest two resulting in a sweep through Southern California.

“It feels great,” Predators center Ryan Johansen said. “We have four points out of six, out of the California trip, on a back-to-back against a team that’s been playing very well to start the season. All that matters in this moment is that we got two points.”

Games like Saturday’s contest are bound to happen over the course of an 82-game season, and good teams find a way to prevail. On the second half of a back-to-back situation, the Predators entered the third period with a 3-0 lead, only to see the Kings tie the game with three of their own to force overtime.

Then, with just 20 seconds remaining in the extra frame, it was Arvidsson who brought the boys off the bench.

“It was a nice pass by [Calle Jarnkrok] and I just skated into it and just tried to bury it,” Arvidsson said of his goal. “It was nice.”

After an early surge from the home team, Miikka Salomaki took an atmospheric, full-ice feed from Yannick Weber and beat goaltender Darcy Kuemper to give the Preds a 1-0 lead. A P.K. Subban shot found its way through traffic and made it 2-0 before the opening frame was out, and then Craig Smith tallied Nashville’s third of the night in the second stanza.

Once Los Angeles tied it, goaltender Juuse Saros made a number of key stops down the stretch, just as he did in the first 40 minutes, to collect his first win on the campaign. In particular, the second goal for the Kings was one that can luckily be laughed about now.

Anticipating a dump in from the neutral zone, Saros vacated his net to play what he thought was going to be a puck coming behind his own net. Instead, Kings defenseman Christian Folin pulled up at center ice and fired it into a yawning cage.

“I’ve actually seen a couple guys scoring like that and I always thought that’s not going to happen to me,” Saros smiled. “I’ll learn from that and move on.”

“I thought he played really well,” Nashville Head Coach Peter Laviolette said of Saros. “If you think about what he did, the first goal he had no chance, the second goal, it’s a learning curve… and the last one was a one timer on the power play. Other than that, he made save after save… He made a save or two that allowed us the opportunity to fight for another point, so I thought he was really good.”

Once the young netminder regained his composure, he was poised once more, and at the end of the night, Saros had made a career-high 36 saves.

“Good teams have to stay composed,” Johansen said. “[The Kings are] a great team and we had our backs against the wall there for a little bit and Juuse made a couple of unbelievable saves. They were really testing us, and we were able to weather the storm a little bit. Then to find a way in overtime, we needed a big play and Arvi did that for us.”

SoCal Sweep:

Facing both the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings, two of the perennial powers in the Western Conference is never an easy task. Doing so on back-to-back nights magnifies the challenge even further.

But behind balanced scoring and clutch goaltending, the Predators found a way to collect four points from the California foes in 48 hours, something easier said than done.

“It’s never easy coming out here,” Laviolette said. “It’s always a little bit more difficult playing back to back. It’s not an excuse, it’s just what it is. The best games are when you’re fresh, so I have to give our guys a lot of credit. Once it really came down to the chips being on the line, that’s when we dug in the most and were able to get that last goal and get the extra point.”

“We’ve played some good hockey on this trip,” Johansen said. “There’s always room for improvement and things we’ll look at, but for the most part, we’re going to be smiling tonight.”

Notes:

The Predators surrendered a three-goal lead in the third period and won for first time since Jan. 3, 2015, a 7-6 win, also in Los Angeles.

P.K. Subban’s goal was the first of his three tallies this season that wasn’t into an empty net. In addition, Craig Smith’s marker was the first of his four not to be scored on the power play. Smith has three goals in his last fives games.

Anthony Bitetto, Pontus Aberg and Samuel Girard were healthy scratches for Nashville on Saturday night.

With the California portion of their excursion complete, Nashville will finish their four-game trip on Tuesday night in Columbus before returning home on Saturday, Nov. 11 to host the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Pete Weber’s Post Game Report

The Titans reached the halfway point of the season in a pretty good spot, thanks to Sunday’s win over the Ravens.
Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota completed 19-of-28 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns as the Titans won by a score of 23-20 at Nissan Stadium.

An 11-yard touchdown pass from Mariota to receiver Eric Decker capped off a nine-play, 75-yard drive to give the Titans some breathing room with 3:58 left, and the team held on.

The Titans improved to 5-3 with the win, and remain tied with the Jaguars atop the AFC South.

The Titans took a 3-0 lead at the end of their first possession on a 48-yard field goal by kicker Ryan Succop. It capped off a drive that included a 29-yard completion from Mariota to receiver Rishard Matthews on the team’s first offensive play, and a 20-yard run by cornerback Adoree Jackson, who lined up in the backfield.

The Ravens tied the game at 3-3 on a 30-yard field goal by kicker Justin Tucker.

Then came a flurry of activity.

Titans safety Kevin Byard intercepted a pass thrown by Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco after it was tipped downfield by teammate Logan Ryan, and he returned it to the Baltimore 46-yard line.

Mariota took off on first down, and after hurdling a Baltimore defender, he had a seven-yard gain. Mariota then connected with receiver Corey Davis a 23-yard completion. Davis toe-tapped the sideline to record the catch.

On the very next play, Mariota connected with Matthews for a 16-yard touchdown to make it 10-3.

Another Tucker field goal, this one from 49 yards, make it 10-6.

The Titans extended the lead to 16-6 on a one-yard touchdown run by Derrick Henrywith 2:24 in the second quarter.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Ravens cut the lead to 16-13 midway through the fourth quarter on a three-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Flacco to running back Javorius Allen.

But the late touchdown pass from Mariota to Decker gave the Titans the momentum back, and the Titans were able to hold on after a late Baltimore touchdown.

The Titans face the Bengals next Sunday at Nissan Stadium.