Category: Sports

Austin Watson scored the lone goal for the Nashville Predators, as they fell to the Dallas Stars by a 4-1 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena.

The preview of the 2020 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic left the Predators frustrated at the end of the night, with the Stars scoring four unanswered in the second period on their way to handing the Preds their second-straight loss.

“It’s been a rough go for too long,” Preds goaltender Pekka Rinne said. “It’s another tough loss, especially at home. By the end of the game, there was probably half the people left in the arena, and it makes me obviously embarrassed by the results at home. We’ve got to be better.”

“Frustrating, yes, and embarrassing is another one that can kind of cover that,” Watson said. “It just hasn’t been good enough.”

After a scoreless first period, Watson gave the home team the first lead of the night when he tipped in a shot early in the second. But it was all Dallas after that. Blake Comeau, Roope Hintz, Jamie Oleksiak and Andrew Cogliano all tallied for the Stars before the end of the second stanza, and that was more than enough to hold on for the victory.

“It wasn’t a quantity thing, it was the quality [of Dallas’ chances],” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “It’s not like we were under siege, but the mistakes we were making, they’re costing us, they’re too big. We need to quiet the game down defensively just from a quality standpoint, not a quantity standpoint, and right now they’re capitalizing.”

“They pretty much got those four chances and they scored on every one of them,” Rinne said of the Stars’ goals. “We made a few mistakes, and then they made us pay right away. I’ve got to find a way to at least make some of those saves.”

Predators forward Colin Blackwell, who was recalled prior to Saturday’s game, and winger Yakov Trenin co-led the team with four hits apiece and earned their praises of their coach in the loss.

“We need to invest more in the game, and I thought he invested a lot,” Laviolette said of Blackwell. “He played the game hard, he was fast, he was attacking the game all night, he was physical, he was passionate, and I thought him and Trenin both did the same, tried to implement the same type of game and it was noticeable. They were able to move the puck, get it into the offensive zone, sustain pressure, establish a forecheck and they had a lot of purpose to their game, so they were noticeable.”

Nashville will now fly to New York to begin a four-game road trip on Monday night (at 6 p.m. CT) against the Rangers, and they know they’ll need a much-improved effort for a chance to find success in their upcoming outings.

“It’s always frustrating, it doesn’t really matter what our previous record is,” Preds forward Filip Forsberg said. “It’s been happening, it’s not good enough and we need to change it quick.”

Notes:

Preds forward Mikael Granlund missed Saturday’s game and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm also missed Saturday’s contest due to illness.

Prior to Saturday’s game, the Predators recalled forward Colin Blackwell from Milwaukee and reassigned forward Daniel Carr to the Admirals.

The Predators will now head back on the road for a four-game trip, and it starts on Monday night in Manhattan when they take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. It’s then on to Long Island, Ottawa and Boston before returning home to host Arizona two days before Christmas.

A second-half comeback energized Nissan Stadium on Sunday, but in the end the Titans fell short in a 24-21 loss to the Texans in a critical AFC South contest.

“It’s hugely disappointing,” said Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill. “I was excited about the opportunity — I think our entire team was, and we didn’t come out and play well early. And when you play against good teams in this league you have to play them for four quarters, not two.”

Tannehill completed 22-of-36 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns in the contest, while running back Derrick Henry carried the ball for 86 yards on 21 carries in the game. Receiver A.J. Brown turned in another stellar performance, catching eight passes for 114 yards and a touchdown.

But the Titans had trouble stopping the Texans on a day when they made too many mistakes in all three phases of the game.

Quarterback Deshaun Watson threw for 243 yards and two touchdown passes for the Texans – receiver DeAndre Hopkins had 119 receiving yards, and receiver Kenny Stills had two touchdown catches. It was too much to overcome for the Titans, who saw a huge 14-point swing early change the game.

The Titans dropped to 8-6 with the loss, and now trail the Texans (9-5) in the AFC South with two games left in the regular season. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Titans, who had won six of seven games heading into Sunday’s contest.

“I am going to try and focus on some of the things that I saw when (players) came back, and fought back, but that’s going to be hard to do right now (after the loss),” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. “I would say that we have to all do a better job of preparing and ultimately coaching and playing on Sunday.”

With the Titans trailing 14-0 in the third quarter, Tannehill scored on a one-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-goal play, which capped off a 15-play, 76-yard drive that took 9:26 off the clock to make it 14-7.

With a second-and-goal at the Tennessee four-yard line, the Texans were on the verge of extending their lead. But defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons tipped a pass from Watson and linebacker Jayon Brown intercepted it in the end zone.

The Titans then tied he game at 14-14 on a five-yard touchdown pass from Tannehill to A.J. Brown, which sent the Nissan Stadium crowd into a frenzy. The score was set up by a 57-yard run by Jonnu Smith, who lined up in the backfield, took the pitch, and sprinted deep into Houston territory.

But the Texans reclaimed the lead on a 10-yard touchdown run by Carlos Hyde with 10:34 left, and a field goal by kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn made it 24-14 with 3:26 left.

The Titans cut the lead to 24-21 on a touchdown pass from Tannehill to running back Dion Lewis with 2:04 left, but couldn’t recover the onsides kick and the Texans ran the clock down to just 28 seconds before punting it away. When the Titans got the ball, they couldn’t do anything with it and time expired with the Texans celebrating.

“I think everybody in this whole room is disappointed,” Titans safety Kevin Byard said after the contest. “We just didn’t play consistently enough in all phases. We played good in spurts. Defensively we didn’t make enough plays when it counted and we can’t get down 14 points to a good team like Houston. Credit to the Texans – they made plays and we didn’t stop them enough.”

There were some big swings early.

The Texans put together a nice drive on the opening possession, but it ended with Titans safety Kenny Vaccaro intercepting Watson on the one-yard line.

When the Titans got the ball, they quickly moved into field goal position following a 60-yard pass from Tannehill to Brown. But the possession stalled, and kicker Ryan Succop’s 45-yard attempt was blocked.

Later, the Titans failed to execute a fake punt when punter Brett Kern’s pass to safety Dane Cruikshank fell incomplete.

“I’ll back and take a look at it and see what happened and see what I can do better the next time we are out there,” said Succop, who is now 1-of-6 on the season. “I am out here battling, I am doing everything that I can. Unfortunately, it just hasn’t been as good as it needs to obviously.”

The Titans appeared to be on the verge of jumping ahead early in the second quarter, but a Tannehill pass to tight end Anthony Firkser was dislodged near the goalline by safety Justin Reid and intercepted by linebacker Whitney Mercilus, who returned it to the Tennessee 12-yard line.

Two plays later, Watson connected with receiver Kenny Stills for a 12-yard touchdown pass to give the Texans a 7-0 lead.

It was a huge 14-point swing.

“I didn’t do my job well enough,” Firkser said. “I have to do my job better, complete the catch and hold onto the ball. I’ve got to control it better. Ryan put it on me, and I was trying to make the catch.”

The Texans made it 14-0 on their next possession as Houston capped off a nine-play, 72-yard drive with another touchdown pass from Watson to Stills, this one for 16 yards, and the Texans had a two-touchdown lead at the half.

While the Titans battled back, it wasn’t enough.

The Titans face the Saints next Sunday at Nissan Stadium before ending the season in Houston against the Texans.

Hosting their first home matches of the year, the Coffee County CHS wrestling team welcomed Forrest and LaVergne to the Raider Academy on Thursday for a tri-match.  The Red Raiders opened the night with a 46 to 30 loss to LaVergne.  The Lady Raiders got a 36 to 6 win over LaVergne.  In the night cap, Coffee County’s boys beat Forrest 46 to 30.

Against LaVergne, Mary Anne Walker got a pair of pins while Alana Coker got a pin and an injury forfeit win.  Lyra Leftwich and Mary Wolfram each scored pinfall wins for the Lady Raiders.  For the Red Raiders, Jeremiah Wardell(113 pounds), Cardin Stump(285), Chris Speegle(220), Zach Speegle(170) and Hunter Massey(126) all got pin fall wins. 

Against Forrest, Jeremiah Wardell(106 pounds), Gavin Prater(152), and Cardin Stump(285) got pinfall wins.  Hunter Massey(132) got a 13 to 2 decision win while Shon Taylor(160), Zach Speegle(170), Russell Ralph(182) and Chris Speegle(220) all won via forfeit. 

The Raider grapplers will suit up on Saturday in Tullahoma as they take part in the Garner-Dyer Invitational.  Both the boys’ and girls’ teams will be in action.  First matches are set to get underway at 9 AM at Tullahoma High School.   

The Coffee County Middle School basketball teams squared off against North Franklin on Thursday night at the CCMS gym.  The Lady Raiders rolled to a 41 to 29 win.  The Red Raiders fought off a tough Gator squad to get a 28 to 24 win. 

The Lady Raiders held the Lady Gators to 5 points in the 1^st half as they built a 23 to 5 lead at intermission.  North rallied in the 2^nd half but Coffee County hit 12 of their 19 second half free throws to grab the win.  Coffee County was led in scoring by Olivia Vinson who finished with 16 points.  Taylor Anthony added 11 points.  Channah Gannon and Samantha Kirby each finished with 5 points. 

The Red Raiders trailed 19 to 16 entering the 4^th quarter after trailing for much of the 1^st half.  In the 4^th quarter, the Red Raiders took the lead at 22 to 21 with about 3 minutes remaining and held on for the conference win.  Ethan Hargrove was the leading scorer for the Red Raiders as he had 14 points, including 5 in the final frame.  Cooper Reed added 8 points and Jackson Shemwell finished with 4. 

Coffee Middle’s cage teams will be back at home on Monday as they welcome Harris to the CCMS gym.  Tip-off is set for 6 PM. 

The Temple Baptist Christian School Eagles hosted their first home basketball game of the year on Thursday night.  Welcoming in Dogwood Christian of Tunnel Hill, Georgia, the varsity Eagles got off to a hot start to grab a 52 to 41 win.

The Eagles jumped out to a 10 to 1 lead in the first 4 and a half minutes of the game to seize the momentum.  They stretched the lead to 15 at the half and carried a 16 point advantage into the 4^th quarter.  Temple was led in scoring by Mich Gloden who had 19 points and 9 steals while adding 6 rebounds.  Alex Gloden finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds.  Sam Floyd also finished in double figures as he had 11 points. 

The Eagles hit the road on Friday as they travel to take on Shenandoah Baptist Academy.  The varsity/JV doubleheader will tip off at 4 PM EST in Cleveland, TN.

Ryan Johansen scored his second goal in as many games, but Victor Olofsson put the Sabres ahead for good in the third period, as Buffalo defeated Nashville, 4-3, on Thursday night. The result sees Nashville’s two-game winning streak come to an end, as they fell in Buffalo for the first time in their last nine trips to Western New York.

The contest was a back-and-forth affair at KeyBank Center. The Predators had their chances with 39 shots on goal, but they were unable to solve Linus Ullmark when they needed it the most late in the game.

“We had our chances, they had theirs, but we’re a team that prides ourselves on defense, and tonight it wasn’t good enough from our side,” Preds Associate Captain Ryan Ellis said. “And give them credit, they produced and scored on their chances.”

Matt Duchene didn’t even need a whole minute to put the Preds up 1-0, as he deked around Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark and tucked the puck into the cage at 57 seconds of the first. Jimmy Vesey tied the game for Buffalo later in the opening period, but less than a minute after that – and with just one hand on his stick – Colton Sissons redirected a Ryan Ellis point shot into the twine to give the visitors a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.

The Sabres took their first lead of the night in the second stanza when Jack Eichel beat Juuse Saros on two different occasions. But before the period was out, Johansen tallied his sixth of the season as he converted on a chance in front to even the score at 3-3 through two periods.

Only one goal came in the third, and it was off the stick of Olofsson to give the Preds just their second regulation loss in their last nine outings.

“We worked, we were competitive, but I think we can just be smarter with the puck,” Sissons said. “We get in trouble when we’re trying to be at bit too creative, and we can’t be when we have our chances. But at certain times, we have to be a little bit wiser with the puck.”

From here, Nashville returns home to host divisional rival Dallas on Saturday night (at 5:30 p.m. CT) for the first time since the two met last spring in the postseason. Plus, it’s the precursor to the NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day, and the Predators will be eager to make a statement against the Stars.

“We’ve been doing some good things lately,” Johansen said. “We’ve definitely been taking strides to be a consistent winning team, so taking a step back tonight is frustrating, but no need to get discouraged. We have another game Saturday, so we’ll be ready for that and take care of business at home before we go on another long road trip.”

Notes:

Preds defenseman Mattias Ekholm skated in his 500th career game, logging three shots and one hit in 20:56 of time on ice.

Blueliner Yannick Weber re-entered the Nashville lineup in favor of Matt Irwin on Thursday. Yakov Trenin was also scratched for the Predators.

With the quick one-game trip complete, the Preds now head home for one of their own at Bridgestone Arena, as the Dallas Stars come to town on Saturday for a special 5:30 p.m. CT start.

Thursday Prep Schedule
5:00 PM – TBCS Basketball HOSTS Dogwood Christian
6:00 PM – CCMS Basketball HOSTS North Franklin
6:00 PM – CHS Wrestling HOSTS Forrest and LaVergne

Thursday’s Coffee County Elementary Basketball League Postseason Tournament Semifinals at CHS
5:00 – New Union vs North Coffee – Girls
6:00 – North Coffee vs New Union – Boys
7:00 – East Coffee vs Westwood – Girls
8:00 – Westwood vs College Street – Boys

6:00 PM – Nashville Predators at Buffalo – Fifth Third Bank Nashville Predators Radio Network broadcast on Thunder Radio (brought to you by the law office of Burch and Lockhart)

Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill has been named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for Week 14.

Tannehill completed 21-of-27 passes for 391 yards with three touchdown passes and a passer rating of 140.4 in the team’s 42-21 win over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.

Tannehill joined Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (three games in 2011) as the only players to complete at least 75 percent of their passes with a passer rating of 130 or higher (minimum 10 attempts) in three consecutive games in a single season in NFL history.

Tannehill also joined Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (five games in 2015) as the only players with four consecutive games with at least two passing touchdowns and a passer rating of 125 or higher in NFL history.

Tannehill is now 6-1 since taking over as the team’s starting quarterback, and he’s posted a passer rating of 100-plus in six of those contests and 130-plus in four of those games.

The veteran quarterback continued to spread the ball around in Oakland, finding 10 different targets on the day.

The Titans face the Houston Texans on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.  That game is scheduled for a noon kickoff.  You will be able to hear the Titans Radio Network broadcast right here on Thunder Radio

The Nashville Sounds have been named the 2019 Triple-A winner of Baseball America’s Freitas Award. The Freitas Awards have been presented by Baseball America annually since 1989 and recognize franchises for their community involvement, long-term business success and consistent operational excellence. The award was presented on Monday to Sounds General Manager Adam Nuse at the Baseball Winter Meetings in San Diego.

“This is a tremendous honor from Baseball America for our organization,” said Nuse. “We strive to be the very best Minor League Baseball team in the country and share this award with our passionate fan base in Middle Tennessee. This would not be possible without their support and the support of the Texas Rangers. Minor League Baseball is alive and well in Nashville and we’re excited to continue moving forward with our loyal fans.”

The Sounds’ Remastered rebranding campaign kicked off the memorable year. Following weeks of teaser campaigns on social media, thousands of fans packed First Tennessee Park on November 15, 2018 to get the first look at the team’s complete overhaul of its uniforms, logos and marks. The Remastered event was a rousing success with Rangers ownership, Hall of Famer Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez and current Rangers players present at the highly anticipated reveal.

The 2019 season started in historic fashion for the Sounds and First Tennessee Park with the first Major League exhibition game in Nashville since 1999. The Sunday matinee game on March 24 drew a record-breaking crowd of 11,824.

Attendance at First Tennessee Park continued to surge into the regular season as 578,291 fans passed through the gates during the 2019 campaign. The Sounds drew 23 sellout crowds and finished with an average of 8,631 fans per game, the third-highest mark in Minor League Baseball.

“When picking Freitas Award winners, we are looking to honor clubs that provide excellence throughout the ballpark experience,” said Baseball America Executive Editor J.J. Cooper. “The Sounds organization has impressed with its ability to connect with fans in a variety of ways, while also connecting to the unique culture of Nashville. In a very competitive sports market, the Sounds have consistently lived up to very high expectations, which is why they were a logical choice to be our Triple-A Freitas Award winner for 2019.”

Off the field, the Nashville Sounds Foundation and community relations department reached new heights in 2019. Once per month during the season, several Sounds players, along with Booster and front office members visited patients at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. On July 22, the Sounds hosted their fourth annual “Hope to Dream” event. The front office, along with several players, and representatives from Ashley HomeStore surprised 30 children from the Boys & Girls Club of Middle Tennessee with new bed sets.

Another rapidly growing program designed by the community relations department continued to develop. Throughout the season the community relations team visited five local elementary schools to play “Pop Up Baseball” games. Front office members, Sounds players and Booster “popped” up at schools with bases, balls and bats. Nashville Mayor David Briley joined the fun for one of the games.

In addition to teaching Nashville’s youth about baseball fundamentals, all supplies were donated to the school to further their experience with the game.

The 2020 season begins on Thursday, April 9 when the Sounds host the Iowa Cubs. 2020 season ticket memberships are on sale through the Nashville Sounds ticket office. For more information on membership packages, call 615-690-4487, or e-mail tickets@nashvillesounds.com.