Category: Sports

The NHL’s top offense was at it again.

Six different Predators found the back of the net – and Pekka Rinne made 26 saves – as Nashville defeated the Anaheim Ducks by a 6-1 final on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result snaps Nashville’s two-game winless skid and gives them their seventh-straight victory over the Ducks on home ice.

Long before Tuesday’s contest was in the books, the Preds already had their best offensive start in franchise history. Another five-plus goal outing, already their fifth of the season in just nine games, helped to give them their fifth win as well.

“Great win, especially at home,” Rinne said. “We were smart and we generated enough chances to score goals, and tonight was that type of game. We didn’t give that many looks, but we got enough goals. You take them anyway you can get them.”

“It was nice to play with a lead; we haven’t been able to do that much this year,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “Just to get on the board and just to chip away and score some goals and go out in the third and get that opportunity to play with the lead, I thought that was a really good job by our guys from start to finish offensively to go out and be able to produce.”

The Ducks got themselves into penalty trouble early in the game, and Preds Captain Roman Josi took advantage on a 5-on-3 power-play opportunity when he snapped home his fourth of the season for a 1-0 lead. Colton Sissons put his club up by two when he stepped right out of the penalty box, walked into the Anaheim zone and went top corner on John Gibson for a satisfying strike.

Rocco Grimaldi only waited 35 seconds into the second stanza to redirect a Nick Bonino feed for his first of the campaign, and just minutes later, Rinne stopped Anaheim’s Troy Terry on a penalty shot to keep the visitors scoreless.

Later in the period, Mattias Ekholm broke up a Ducks power play and came in on a shorthanded breakaway to beat Gibson and put the Preds up 4-0 through 40 minutes.

“Just the way we kill in the neutral zone, that happens every once in a while that they’re trying to chip it over me because I’m kind of going up a little bit,” Ekholm said of the play. “I didn’t think I did a whole lot, they just kind of floated it in the middle and I pinched on it. I got a lot of time to think about what I was going to do, but I was just trying to keep it simple and shoot the puck. It went in and it was nice. It was a big goal at the time and kind of put the game away.”

Ryan Getzlaf broke the shutout when he scored early in the third to get the Ducks on the board, but Viktor Arvidsson quickly squashed any hope of an Anaheim comeback, and Calle Jarnkrok gave Nashville’s their sixth and final marker of the night.

“It’s a real confidence boost for the team,” Rinne said of the goal-scoring prowess. “It’s early in the season, but we have already come back in a lot of games in the third period. It just gives you the confidence that you can do that. But at the same time, we don’t want to get too loose either.”

Even though they won by five goals, the Predators still relied on their goaltender to give them that cushion. Like always, Rinne was ready for the challenge and boosted his personal record to 5-0-1 in the process.

“There are a couple of reads that could still be better, there are still things that we definitely need to get better at defensively, but it was a good game and a good win for us,” Laviolette said. “We will go back and we will continue to try to tighten things down, so that we don’t have to rely on our goaltender for six huge saves. You need your goaltender to make some big saves, but we just want to try to limit that number if we can.”

A week ago tonight, the Predators felt they put forth their best effort of the season in a 5-2 victory in Las Vegas. A week later, they have another outing to compete in that category – a commanding win that showed exactly what the Preds are capable of when they’re at their best.

“Just the consistency in the game too, I didn’t think we had any big moments where we were just suffering through their offensive play,” Ekholm said. “Maybe in the second [period] a little bit [they were pressing], but other than that, in the third [period] we cleaned it off nicely. It was a good 60-minute effort from the team, and it’s good to see.”

Notes:

Filip Forsberg missed his third-consecutive game with a lower-body injury. Grimaldi re-entered the lineup after being scratched on Saturday.

Mattias Ekholm’s goal was his third-career shorthanded tally.

Kyle Turris extended his point streak to four games (2g-3a).

Ryan Ellis is now on a five-game point streak (9a).

Nashville’s three-game homestand concludes on Thursday night when the Minnesota Wild come to town (at 7 p.m. CT). The Preds will then head to Tampa Bay for a date with the Lightning on Saturday (at 6 p.m.).

The Coffee County Middle School 6^th grade basketball teams welcomed White County to the CCMS gym on Monday.  The Lady Raiders saw the Warriorettes pull away in the 4^th quarter for a 43 to 30 win.  The Red Raiders saw a halftime lead slip away in a 32 to 23 defeat. 

In the girls’ game, the Lady Raiders stayed close through 3 periods but could never slow down White County in the loss.  Coffee County was led in scoring by Natalie Barnes who had 16 points.  Ella Arnold added 10 points and Morgan Spears chipped in 4. 

In the boys’ game, the Red Raiders used a great defensive effort in the 1^st half to take a 12 to 11 lead into intermission.  In the second half, White County picked up the scoring pace and Coffee County could match them.  Jace Cashion led the Raiders in scoring with 7 points.  Alex Kilgore added 6. 

The 6^th grade basketball teams will travel to Tullahoma on Tuesday night for a pair of games at West Middle.  The girls’ game will tip off at 6 PM. 

The Coffee County Elementary Basketball League opened their 47^th season on Saturday with 8 games at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  All 8 schools played a girls and a boys’ game in the day long schedule on Saturday.  On Monday, 4 elementary teams were in action to begin the 2^nd week of competition.

On Saturday in girls’ action, Hillsboro beat Deerfield 14 to 9.  New Union raced by East Coffee 23 to 10.  Westwood dumped College Street 21 to 5 and North Coffee blasted Hickerson 22 to 2.  In boys’ action, Hillsboro pushed past Deerfield 17 to 3.  New Union outlasted East Coffee 17 to 11.  College Street tamed Westwood 26 to 11 and North Coffee clipped Hickerson 32 to 1.

On Monday night in girls’ action, East Coffee shut down Deerfield 9 to 1 and New Union toasted College Street 32 to 6.  In boys’ action on Monday, East Coffee edged Deerfield 13 to 12 and College Street topped New Union 29 to 17.

Week #2 action continues on Tuesday when North Coffee takes on Westwood in a doubleheader beginning at 5 PM and Hickerson plays Hillsboro in a pair of games beginning at 7 PM.  Each doubleheader begins with the girls’ contest, followed by the boys’ game.

6:00 PM – CHS Girls’ Soccer at Siegel – Region 4AAA Semifinals – 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series broadcast on Thunder Radio

6:00 PM – CCMS Basketball(6th Grade) at West Tullahoma

6:00 PM – WMS Girls’ Basketball vs. Irving College – Preseason Tournament at Morrison

8:00 PM – WMS Boys’ Basketball vs. Morrison – Preseason Tournament at Morrison

Traveling to McMinnville on Friday night, the Coffee County CHS football team took on Warren County on a beautiful evening for football.  Warren County got off to a hot start as they scored touchdowns on their first 3 offensive drives and on the final play of the first half.  That momentum pushed them to the 42 to 20 win. 

Warren County used their power running game to roll up 302 yards of total offense in the 1^st half as they led at intermission 35 to 14.   Coffee County made some defensive adjustments at the half to limit the Pioneers to 132 yards in the second half. 

Coffee County was led in rushing by Matthew Pittman who had 101 yards on 17 carries and 2 touchdowns.  Marshall Haney rushed 10 times for 60 yards.  Connor Shemwell was 4 of 13 passing for 29 yards and a touchdown as he hit Collin Ward with a 19 yard touchdown pass.  Jalen Williams finished the game with 3 tackles for a loss as he was selected the Mid Tenn Turf Most Valuable Player of the game. 

Coffee County will return home on Friday night for their final home game of the season taking on Oakland.  Friday night will be Senior Night and the Annual “Pink Out Game” for cancer awareness.  Kick-off is set for 7 PM at Carden-Jarrell Field.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast beginning with the Friday Night Thunder Pregame Show, maintained by Premier Lawn Care, starting at 6. 

Download the broadcast at: www.Thunder1320.com/downloads

Story by MYFL President Lawrence Phillips.

All six MYFL teams were slated for action on Saturday.
In Tri County Youth Football League action Manchester played host to Watertown.

JR Division (8-9 year olds)
The game was hard fought between two teams that matched up really well on offense and defense and was decided by a single score. The Raiders offense couldn’t find a way to get through Watertown’s defense and ended up losing the contest.
Manchester 0 Watertown 6
After the game AJ Whitman was crowned JR Division Homecoming King. The Manchester Red Raiders JR Division finishes the season in 3rd place (4-2 ) and will play in the TCYFL Playoffs next Saturday October 26th against second place Gordonsville (5-1) at 3:30pm in Watertown.

Flag (5-6-7 year olds)
Walker Lovelace had touchdown runs of 25 and 35 yards. Tripp Trussler scored on a 35 yard run. Brodie Alijah added a two point conversion.
Manchester 19 Watertown 0
Kyson Norris was crowned as Homecoming King and Lilly Proctor was crowned as Homecoming Queen. The 4th place Raiders (3-3) advance to the TCYFL playoffs next Saturday to face first place Gordonsville (6-0). Game time is 12:00pm in Watertown.

SR Division (10-12 year olds)
Carlos Martinez lead the team in rushing and Isaiah Deadman ran for the Raiders lone touchdown. On a very strong defensive series the defense forced Watertown into the end zone for a safety. The Raiders fall to (1-5 ) and their season comes to an end without a trip to the post season.
Manchester 8 Watertown 14
Isaiah Deadman was crowned Homecoming King for the TCYFL SR Division.

SMTYFA
The SMTYFA teams played host to Liberty.

Division 1 (5-6-7 year olds)
The game was a forfeit as the Patriots Division 1 parents and coaches decided prior to making the trip to Manchester that they wanted no part of the Raiders which had accumulated 280 points for the season with 0 points allowed. In SMTYFA a forfeit goes into the record book as a standard score of 35-0.
Manchester 35 Liberty 0.
Hayes Shemwell was crowned as the SMTYFA Division 1 Homecoming King and Jodi Foster was crowned as the Homecoming Queen. The Division 1 first place Red Raiders (8-0) will face 4th place (5-3) Fayetteville City Tigers next Saturday October 26th at 10:30am in Franklin County.

Division 2 (8-9 year olds)
Treyvion Mathis was on the receiving end of two touchdown passes from Levi Scott. Mathis and Scott each had scoring runs. Xavier Foy ran for an extra point. Mathis also kicked a field goal for an extra point. The defense recovered four fumbles for the Raiders. The Patriots called an end to the game in the second quarter.
Manchester 27 Liberty 0
Levi Scott was crowned as SMTYFA Division 2 Homecoming King and Emma Still was Crowned as Homecoming Queen. The 2nd place Raiders (7-1) will face the 3rd place (5-3) Marshall County Elite next Saturday October 26th in Franklin County at 12:00pm in the SMTYFA Playoffs.

Division 3 (10-12 year olds)
Landen Abellana scored the first touchdown and the extra point and the Raiders were off to the races. Caiden Martin scored next with the extra point conversion being a two point pass from Kaysen Lowery to Tyler Martin. Caiden Martin scored again but the extra point failed. Lowery then threw a strike to Tyler Martin and Jase Cashion added the extra point. Gabriel Hambly tacked on a score with the extra point coming from Isaiah Robledo. Caiden Martin scored yet again and Lowery finished the onslaught with the extra point. The Raiders defense held the Patriots scoreless and completed a perfect regular season.
Manchester 42 Liberty 0
Tyler Martin was crowned the SMTYFA Division 3 Homecoming King and Leila Leverette was crowned as the Homecoming Queen. The Division 3 Raiders in 1st place (8-0) will rematch the 4th place Liberty Patriots next Saturday October 26th in Franklin County at 4:30pm in the SMTYFA Playoffs.
Wish all these young players the best as they head into the playoffs looking to bring home a championship or two to Manchester/Coffee County.
“GO BIG RED”

The Predators staged another comeback and salvaged a point, but the visitors ultimately claimed victory.

Nashville scored twice in the third period, but the Florida Panthers prevailed in the shootout to take the Saturday night matchup by a 3-2 final at Bridgestone Arena. The result moves the Preds to 4-3-1 through eight games, their first foray into overtime and a shootout this season.

A win every time out is the goal, of course, but Nashville had their chances throughout the night, and considering their situation entering the final frame, they’ll take the point in the standings on this occasion.

“We had a ton of chances throughout the game to get on the board and make it a bit of a different game,” Preds forward Kyle Turris said. “Coming back like we did in the third was good, just weren’t able to finish it in the shootout.”

“We battled all night,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We had a difficult time getting the puck actually onto the net; there were a lot of blocks and a lot of pressure coming as we were trying to approach the net. You have to give our guys a lot of credit for battling back and tying it up. It’s always difficult when you get into a shootout loss. I thought we played hard in the third to get a point.”

The first goal of the evening didn’t come until the game was over halfway over, and it was Denis Malgin who tallied on the power play to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Brett Connolly then floated a shot from the point past Pekka Rinne before the second stanza was out for a 2-0 Florida lead through 40 minutes.

But in the third, Roman Josi gave the Preds life with a blast from the point to cut the deficit in half. Four minutes later, and with the Preds on the power play, Kyle Turris walked down the right wing and roofed a shot over the shoulder of Sam Montembeault to tie the game at 2-2 and force overtime.

“They were kind of cheating [Craig Smith] after we broke out the first time, the defenseman was,” Turris said of the play that led to his goal. “I just tried to jump by him and luckily he didn’t get a piece of me and I got by him. The other d-man kind of came down and took away the pass to [Mikael Granlund] going backdoor, so I couldn’t come over to him. I figured I would try to catch the goalie leaning.”

Nashville had a late chance on the power play in the extra session, and after overtime solved nothing, Vincent Trocheck was the lone skater to score in the shootout. Montembeault stopped Matt Duchene, Ryan Johansen and Turris on the breakaways to give the Panthers the extra point.

“We were ready to play,” Josi said. “Our first [line] was pretty good. I felt like we were pushing for the whole game. We just have to clean up those big chances right in front of our net. Other than that, I thought the boys were ready to play.”

Of note on Saturday night, Turris slid into the middle with Duchene and Granlund on his wings. The trio combined for eight shots on the night and impressed their bench boss in the process.

“Kyle was good, and the line was dangerous,” Laviolette said. “All three of them played well together, especially [Duchene] moving over to the wing for the first game. He has played a lot of wing, so the move was a little more natural for him. I thought the line was pretty good.”

Forward Yakov Trenin also made his NHL debut for the Predators after being recalled earlier in the day from AHL Milwaukee. The Russian forward dished out one hit in 12:35 of ice time while on a line with Smith and Nick Bonino.

Miikka Salomaki was also recalled along with Trenin, and both were in the lineup on Saturday night.

“They were good,” Laviolette said of Trenin and Salomaki. “They brought good energy. They’re big, they’re strong, they skate, they try to hit. We knew going into the game we were going to have a couple lines that were more built on skill, and we’d have a couple lines built on the energy, the physicality and being able to play good defense. I thought the four lines were pretty good.”

The Predators didn’t achieve the desired result on Saturday, but after Thursday’s loss in Arizona – a game that left Nashville disappointed in just about every facet of their play – this was a much better look to start a three-game homestand.

“We talk about just finishing games strong, whether we’re behind or in the lead,” Turris said. “Just trying to finish strong, give ourselves the best opportunity to win a game.”

Notes:

Forward Filip Forsberg missed his second consecutive game due to a lower-body injury.

Prior to Saturday’s contest, the Predators signed 2019 second-round draft pick Egor Afanasyev to a three-year, entry-level contract.

Nashville’s three-game homestand continues on Tuesday night when the Anaheim Ducks come to town. That’s followed by a visit for the Minnesota Wild for the second time this season on Thursday.

Story by Jim Wyatt, TitansOnline.com

Clinging to a three-point lead in the closing seconds on Sunday, things didn’t look good for the Titans.

The Chargers had the ball at the one-yard line, first and goal. On the clock, just 34 seconds.

On the sideline, Titans rookie A.J. Brown knows what he was thinking.

“Honestly,” Brown said with a smile, “if I was the coach, I would have let them score so we’d have a chance to get the ball back and have a chance to score.”

Then, something crazy happened.

Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard knocked the ball out of the hands of Chargers running back Melvin Gordon at the goal line on a second-down play – just moments after a Los Angeles touchdown call was reversed. The ball ended up on the arms of defensive lineman Jurrell Casey, who was in the end zone.

A review confirmed the fumble, and the scene at Nissan Stadium did, too – the Titans had pulled off an improbable win, 23-20 over the Chargers.

“I would say the win probability was a high 96 percent for them to win,” said Woodyard. “But we fought, and we defended every blade of grass. We kept fighting, and we never gave up.”

Casey could hardly believe it as he celebrated with his teammates.

“The ball dropped into my arms,” Casey said. “The next thing you know, the crowd was going crazy and we’d won the game. It was crazy. But man, we needed this. This is huge.”

The Titans improved to 3-4 on the season with the win on a day quarterback Ryan Tannehill stepped in as the team’s starting quarterback.

Tannehill played well, throwing for over 312 yards a pair of touchdowns while engineering one impressive drive after another. Tannehill ended up completing 23-of-29 passes with the two scores, and he finished with a passer rating of 120.1.

What had been a stagnant offense in recent weeks with Marcus Mariota at the helm suddenly looked more potent, and 22 first downs and 403 yards of offense was a welcome relief. Running back Derrick Henry did his part, too, rushing for 90 yards and a touchdown.

“It felt good,” Tannehill said of the offense. “Obviously we did some good things, moved the football, put some points on the scoreboard. Guys played extremely hard from the beginning of the game. I’m really proud of the way the guys played.”

Tannehill found receiver Tajae Sharpe open in the back of the end zone for a five-yard touchdown to give the Titans a 16-10 lead with 13:11 left in the contest. It capped a 14-play, 85-yard drive that took 7:09 off the clock.

After the Chargers cut the lead to 16-13 with 10:55 left on a 50-yard field goal by kicker Chase McLaughlin, the Titans answered back and appeared on the verge of being able to win going away after Henry’s 11-yard touchdown run gave the Titans a 23-13 lead with 6:39 left.

But the Titans allowed a 41-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Philip Rivers to running back Austin Ekeler to make it 23-20 with 5:09 left and after Tannehill was stopped on a fourth-and-one near midfield late, the Chargers were in a position to win it before the heroic goal line stop.

“The football gods were on our side tonight,” Titans safety Kevin Byard said. “It was amazing – probably the best Titans game I’ve been a part of for sure. We just have a mentality on defense that we have a blade of grass to defend and not give up on anything.

“Things might not have looked good, but we kept playing hard and we found a way to win.”

Earlier in the game, Tannehill connected with receiver Corey Davis for an eight-yard touchdown pass to make it 10-10 at the half. The touchdown toss capped an eight-play, 86-yard drive with just 23 seconds left on the clock before halftime.

The Titans took a 3-0 lead early on a 45-yard field goal by kicker Cody Parkey before the Chargers scored 10 straight points to take a 10-3 lead. Los Angeles got on the board with a 29-yard field goal by McLaughlin before a one-yard touchdown pass from Rivers to Gordon.

First-round pick Jeffery Simmons saw his first action after being activated from the Non-Football Injury list on Saturday, and he recorded a sack and two tackles for a loss, along with four overall tackles.

The Titans return to Nissan Stadium next Sunday to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“That was a crazy game, with a crazy ending,” Sharpe said. “I’ve never really had a game come down to something like that, so it was great. It was fun to watch the ending from the sideline, watching our defense do its thing – I felt like a fan out there.

“Now we need to carry the momentum from this and keep it going. We needed this a whole bunch. After a couple of losses, you kind of forget what this feels like. But coming in the locker room after win like that, it electrifies everybody and gives everybody the spark that we needed.”

Three goals in the first half were more than enough as Nashville SC moved back into first place in the Eastern Conference with a 3-0 win over Atlanta United 2 in the regular season finale at First Tennessee Park on Saturday night.

A headed goal from Forrest Lasso from a corner in the 23’ minute and a brace from Daniel Ríos in the 32’ and 39’ minutes sealed the three points on a cool night in the Music City.

The night shone gold for two Nashville players as Matt Pickens kept a clean sheet, earning the USL Championship’s Golden Glove award as the most effective keeper in the league, and Daniel Ríos scored twice, giving the star forward back-to-back 20-goal seasons. It is the first time any player in USL history has scored 20 goals in a season twice.

In the Eastern Conference standings, Nashville SC jumps back into first place with the three points, passing idle Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. The pressure now jumps to Pittsburgh as a Riverhounds SC loss or draw will clinch the East for Nashville SC.

Here are three takeaways from the victory.

1) Pickens Is Gold

Nashville keeper Matt Pickens capped a stellar 2019 regular season with his 14th clean sheet to lead the USL Championship and in the process won the Golden Glove. The 37-year-old veteran allowed a paltry 16 goals in 25 matches including just five in his last 15 matches of the season. His 0.64 goals against average is the second-best mark in USL Championship history. His 14 clean sheets matches his total from last season and stand the two totals stand as two of the three best clean sheet seasons in league history, falling one short of the best-ever total of 15. There is only one Matt Pickens.

2) Ríos Makes History

Two first half goals from Daniel Ríos gave Nashville’s first MLS signing a second-consecutive 20-goal season, the first time in league history a player has hit the 20-goal mark in two different seasons. Ríos’ brace was the fourth time this season that he has scored multiple goals in a match. He also finishes the year as the Eastern Conference goal leader and just two away from the league’s best total of 22 scored by Solomon Asante of Phoenix Rising FC.

3) Nashville Sets the Total

With 67 points, Nashville SC leads Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC by two points with a match in hand. Pittsburgh can surpass Nashville with a win tomorrow in its final match of the USL Championship season at Birmingham Legion FC. Birmingham clinched a playoff spot tonight, but a win could bump Legion FC into 9th place in the East. Nashville fans will want to tune into the match at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN+ to see if Nashville can win the Eastern Conference title.

Up Next

Nashville SC gets to stay at home at First Tennessee Park in the Conference Quarterfinals of the USL Championship Playoffs presented by Nissan. It will await its opponent which will be determined in the Play-In Round on Wednesday night. Regardless, Nashville will host at 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 26. Tickets for the playoffs are available here.