Category: Sports

The goals just keep on coming.

Roman Josi tallied twice and the Predators scored three in the third as Nashville defeated the San Jose Sharks by a 5-2 final on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. It’s Nashville’s second win in three tries on the young season and their 10th victory in their last 12 meetings with the Sharks on home ice.

After a 5-3 loss to Detroit on Saturday, the Preds bounced back with another strong offensive effort to give them 13 goals through their first three games of the season. That’s just a taste of their capabilities in the opposition’s end.

And while there were a few more defensive lapses the Preds would like to clean up, they made the most of their own opportunities on the way to another triumph.

“We’re doing the right things offensively,” Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “I thought we exposed the puck a little bit too much in the second period… so [we need to make sure] we take care of the puck as well. We can’t always create, but it’s certainly nice to see the offense and the goals. The guys are working hard to create.”

“There’s definitely a lot of skill up front,” Josi said of his club’s offensive abilities. “There’s so much skill, and I think it’s a great sign that we’ve taken advantage of our chances too. They were kind of pushing in the third period there and we scored two goals, so it’s been pretty big for us.”

Josi’s first of the night came early in the opening period as the blueliner took a feed from Colton Sissons and sniped a shot past Martin Jones for a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Nashville’s captain struck again midway through the second stanza, this time on the power play. After Filip Forsberg’s shot struck iron, Josi followed it up in the slot and threw the puck home for his club’s second goal on the man advantage this season.

Evander Kane got the Sharks on the board for the first time with a power-play goal of his own late in the second, but the Predators responded with another two before the third period was eight minutes old.

Kyle Turris converted on an odd-man rush for his first of the season at 2:51, and then Matt Duchene picked up his sixth assist of the season with a slick feed to Filip Forsberg, who deposited his third in three games to put the Preds back up by three.

Brent Burns brought the Sharks back to within two late in regulation, but Dante Fabbro iced it with an empty-netter to give the Preds – and Pekka Rinne – their second victory of the season and keep San Jose winless through four games.

“They’re a really good team, and they’re a team that went far last year,” Duchene said of the Sharks. “When Peks needed to be big for us he was, and I thought we were a better defensive team tonight all around. You know, it’s a tough team to play against being as dynamic offensively, but we still were able to score. So I thought we did some really good things and had some big nights from a lot of guys, so that’s what it takes, different guys stepping up each night.”

Duchene’s line with Forsberg and Mikael Granlund has continued to build chemistry in their first and only three contests together, and while they only had one to show for scoresheet, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

“It’s a blast,” Duchene said of skating with his linemates. “We easily could’ve had a couple more tonight, and it’s been fun. They’re both such great players, and I’m very lucky to be on this team for one, and for two, to play with those guys.”

Nashville’s four lines are clicking, and they’re getting contributions from the backend too – but, perhaps most important of all? The Predators avoided an early-season losing streak with Tuesday’s result.

“You can’t really win the season at the start, but you can definitely lose it if you fall back too far,” Forsberg said. “It was a big win for us.”

Notes:

Defenseman Matt Irwin skated in his first game of the season for the Preds; Dan Hamhuis and Daniel Carr were scratched on the evening.

Ryan Johansen continues to produce at a point per game against the Sharks in his career, tallying 24 points (9g-15a) in 24 games. He is on a six-game point streak against San Jose (1g-7a) and has 11 points (2g-9a) in his last nine meetings with the Sharks.

Tuesday’s attendance of 17,251 is the 156th consecutive sellout at Bridgestone Arena.

Nashville’s four-game homestand concludes on Thursday night (at 7 p.m. CT) as the Washington Capitals come to town. The Preds will then head on the road for the first time this season for a three-game trip, beginning in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

The freshman football team of Coffee County traveled to Sparta on Monday night for a battle with White County.  After losing to the JV/Freshman combined team last week, the Raiders were looking for some revenge.  The Red Raiders ended up falling to the Warriors 38 to 37 in a game that saw 8 lead changes.

Trailing 38 to 31, Coffee County scored with 95 seconds remaining in the game.  The Red Raiders came up short on the 2 point conversion as they went for the win.  Tristan Galey finished the night with 3 rushing touchdowns including one from 70 yards out.  Nate Luttrell threw a pair of touchdown passes as Elijah Clemons and Ian Weldon each had a touchdown reception.

The Red Raiders hit the road again next Monday night as they travel to McMinnville for a battle with Warren County as part of a JV/freshman doubleheader.  The JV teams will play at 5 PM with the freshman game scheduled for 7 PM.

The Temple Baptist Christian School volleyball team spent Friday and Saturday in Alabama competing in the Madison Baptist Academy tournament.  The Lady Eagles fought their way to the championship game against Clays Mill out of Kentucky.  But playing their 5^th match of the day, Temple fell to Clays Mill to come home with the runner up trophy.

The Lady Eagles opened up tournament play on Friday with 3 pool play games.  The Lady Eagles got wins over Cornerstone Baptist and Anchored Christian and lost their match to Victory Baptist of Shelbyville.  On Saturday in tournament play, Temple got a pair of wins to open the day before advancing to the winner’s bracket finals.  The Lady Eagles defeated Mountain View, AL and Victory Baptist in a rematch to set up a battle with Clays Mill.  The Clays Mill team of Lexington, KY stopped Temple sending them to the elimination bracket.  The Lady Eagles got a win over Anchored by a single point to earn a rematch in the finals against Clays Mill.  After their 2^nd place finish, junior Lauren Davis of Temple was named to the All-Tournament Team.

The Lady Eagles have the last regular season matches in a tri-match format Tuesday in Cleveland where they will play Shenandoah Baptist and Fairview Christian. The season will concludes this weekend with another tournament in Louisville, KY hosted by Landmark Christian Academy.

The Nashville Sounds Foundation, in conjunction with the Nashville Sounds’ community relations team and grounds crew, will renovate the baseball field at Hillsboro High School on Tuesday, October 8 and the softball field at John Overton High School on Wednesday, October 16.
WHO: The Nashville Sounds Foundation with assistance from the grounds crew and other Sounds front office members.
WHAT: The Nashville Sounds Foundation will renovate two local high school fields. Planned work includes sod cutting edges, new bases and pitching rubber installation, mound patching, patch and reshaping home plate, grass seeding, fertilizing, nail dragging, etc.
WHEN: Hillsboro High School Baseball Field – Tuesday, October 8 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
John Overton High School Softball Field – Wednesday, October 16 from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
WHERE: Hillsboro High School – 3812 Hillsboro Pike, Nashville, TN 37215
John Overton High School – 4820 Franklin Road, Nashville, TN 37220

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.

The Coffee County CHS football team welcomed Rockvale to Carden-Jarrell Field on Friday night as the Red Raiders were looking to get their 2^nd region win of the year.  Coffee County got a spectacular effort from their defense and a career night from Matthew Pittman to earn their 2^nd win of the season.  A big crowd saw Coffee County come out on top 44 to 13.

After filling in for injured quarterback Connor Shemwell the last 2 games, Pittman was pressed into service as a running back on Friday night and stole the show.  The junior ran the ball 23 times for 245 yards and 3 touchdowns while catching 2 passes for 58 yards and another touchdown.  He also played one snap on defense and got an interception.  For his efforts, Pittman was named the Mid-Tenn Turf Most Valuable Player.  Connor Shemwell was 8 for 17 passing for 146 yards and 3 touchdown passes.  C.J. Anthony and Collin Ward each caught touchdown passes.

Coffee County took their first drive down the field for a touchdown as Shemwell hit Anthony for a 29 yard touchdown pass.  After Rockvale tied the game, Coffee County scored on a 63 yard touchdown run with 7:17 left in the game.  Felix Salinas added a field goal with no time on the clock to give the Raiders a 17 to 7 lead at the half.  A revived Raider defense forced 3 turnovers by Rockvale, including 2 in the 2^nd half as they dominated the line of scrimmage.  The win moves the Raiders record to 2 and 4 on the season and 2 and 2 in region play.

The Red Raiders hit the road next Friday as they travel to Nashville to take on Maplewood.  The game will kick off at 7 PM at Maplewood High School.  Thunder Radio’s live coverage will begin with the Friday Night Thunder Pregame Show at 6 PM.

Download the broadcast at: www.thunder1320.com/downloads

Competing for their 1^st ever middle school conference title, the Coffee County Middle School football team traveled to Tullahoma on Saturday for a rematch with the Wildcats of Tullahoma Middle.  The Red Raiders carried a lead into the final 4 minutes before Tullahoma scored twice to capture the win.  In a game you heard here on Thunder Radio, Coffee County fell 26 to 13.

Each team turned the ball over in the first 12 minutes as the 2 defenses fought off explosive plays from the offenses.  Tullahoma got on the board first as they scored with 2:03 left in the half on a 10 yard touchdown pass to lead 6 to 0.  But the Raiders answered back on a 50 yard touchdown run from Cole Pippenger to tie the game at 6 going into the half.  In the second half, Pippenger returned the opening kick 68 yards for a touchdown.  Ethan Hargrove hit the extra point kick to give the Raiders a 13 to 6 lead that they would carry into the 4^th quarter.  Tullahoma rallied for a touchdown with 3:50 to go and added an insurance score with 1:29 to play to ice the win.  As Coffee County has done all year, the Raiders fought hard to the final whistle as they drove down to the 1 yard line before running out of time.

Pippenger led the team in rushing as he 100 yards on 13 carries.  Jackson Shemwell was 4 of 6 passing for 30 yards.   After the game, 4 members of the Red Raiders were named to the CTC All-Conference team.  Cole Pippenger, Jackson Shemwell, Blayne Myers and Jacob Barlow were voted to the squad by the conference coaches.

Download the broadcast at: www.thunder1320.com/downloads

Sophie McInturff of the Coffee County Middle School cross country team competed on Saturday in the Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association state cross country meet in Clarksville.   McInturff, a 7^th grader at CCMS, was competing in her 1^st state meet.   Sophie covered the 2 mile course in a time of 13:17.37.  That time was good enough to capture 14^th place out of 116 runners.

The Coffee County Youth Bass Club hit the water on Saturday in a Central Tennessee Region tournament at Tims Ford.  Eight boats from the Raider Anglers competed in the high school division.  Competing against a field of 67 boats, all 8 of the Raider boats came home with keepers.

The brother tandem of Branson and Dawson Wells were the top finishers for Coffee County as they landed 3 fish weighing in at 5.74 pounds.  Logan Floyd and Brent Boehman came in 29^th place as they landed a 4.58 pound bass.  Kaden Freeze and Briley Said came in 42^nd place with a one fish total of 2.97 pounds.  Adam Petty and Jayden Yates came home in 43^rd place with a 2.93 pound fish.  Other Raiders boats that also landed a keeper were: Sawyer Banks and Trey Brewer(53^rd place – 2.44 pound fish); Jacob Garms & Jase Rice(56^th – 2.16); Curtis Tudor & Ethan Bell(60^th – 1.96) and Tristen Boyd Reagan Hershman(62^nd – 1.87).

After 2 tournaments, 3 Coffee County Youth Anglers are in the Top 25 of the region standings.  Garms and Rice currently sit in 17^th place.  Freeze and Sain are in 19^th place and the Wells brothers are in 25^th place.

The Raider anglers will be back in action on October 19^th when they compete in a state trail event on Kentucky Lake.  The next region tournament is set for October 26^th on Center Hill Lake.  Both events get underway at first light.

Story compiled by MYFL President Lawrence Phillips.

MYFL continued their season on Saturday with all six teams in action.

The teams competing in TCYFL (TRI COUNTY YOUTH FOOTBALL LEAGUE)
Made a long road trip on Saturday to Celina, TN to take on the Clay County Bulldogs.

Flag Division (5-6-7 year olds).
Kyson Norris had touchdowns of 40 and 17 yards. Tripp Trussler had a 23 yard score.  Walker Lovelace and Caden Strickland each had two extra point runs.
The defense played well enough to garner the victory. Now 2-2 on the season.  Final Score: Manchester 20 Clay County 13.

Junior Division (8-9 year olds)
Story by Ashley Delaney Whitman.
The Red Raiders assured themselves a place in the TCYFL Playoffs after a near flawless victory against Clay County on Saturday.  The Red Raider offense piled up yardage the entire game.  AJ Whitman lead all scorers with 3 touchdowns and an extra point. Huck Damon also had two touchdowns and an extra point.
Ty Stevens and August Lynch contributed with an extra point each.
The Raiders potent defense was also dominant as they held the Bulldogs scoreless and did not allow a first down the entire game. Lynch, Whitman, Tanner Daugherty, Audie Nicoll, Kelden Jolly, Myles McIntosh and Jordan Henley’s names were called through the stadium speakers repeatedly as the Raiders shut down the Bulldogs and any hope of them making it to the end zone. The Raiders move to
3-1 with 2 games left.  Final Score:  Manchester 36 Clay County 0

Senior Division (10-12 year olds)
The Raiders were held scoreless by a much bigger and faster team and were no match for the Bulldogs offense. Head Coach Gary Melton quoted  “The kids played hard and never quit. They had a really good running back that we hit but he kept getting away and we couldn’t catch him.”  The Raiders fall to 1-3.  Final Score: Manchester 0 Clay Co 30

The SMTYFA teams of MYFL played host to the Giles County Red Hawks at Carden-Jarrell field.

Division 1 (5-6-7 year olds)
The game was a forfeit to begin with as Giles County arrived with only 8 players and the referees would not officiate the game. The decision was made to continue without officials. (Special thanks to Jon Helms for stepping in to be
be a replacement referee).
Avery Hodges started the game with a touchdown and Kayleb Morris added the extra point. Morris threw to Karson Wimley for a 65 yard touchdown and Trenton Gadeken punched in the extra point. Christopher Meeks recovered a fumble and Griffin Woods ran for a 35 yard score but no attempt was made at the extra point as the Red Hawks, having taken too much punishment from the Red Raiders
high powered offense and dominate defense stopped the game giving the Raiders the win.The Raiders now have a 6-0 record as they remain unbeaten and have still not allowed any of their opponents to score.  Final Score:  Manchester 20 Giles Co 0

Division 2 (8-9 year olds)
The Raiders offense was outstanding as Levi Scott was sprung by huge lead blocks from Treyvion Mathis and outstanding line play. Scott ran for 5 touchdowns and an extra point conversion. He also had 2 interceptions. Mathis rushed for 100 yards, scored an extra point, had several sacks, forced 3 fumbles and recovered 1 one of those.  Kaden Strohm was instrumental as he dominated the ”A” gaps the entire game preventing the Red Hawks from gaining yardage up the middle. Xavier Foy, Easton Hinson and Riley McBroom all had a great defensive game. The Raiders, now 5-1 cruised to the win.  Final score: Manchester 32 Giles Co 6

Division 3 (10-12 year olds)
The Raiders once again showed the opposition no mercy in a game which ended before the kickoff to start the second half when the head official stopped the contest due to lightning. Caiden Martin started the game with a touchdown but the extra point attempt failed.  Kamerom Stafford caused a fumble followed by the “scoop and score”. Martin added the extra point.  Martin scored again with Landen Abellana adding the extra point. Martin scored yet again with Gabriel Hambly running in for the extra point. Matthew White contributed with a touchdown run and Kaysen Lowery threw for the 2 point pass play to a wide open Tyler Martin. To end the first half and ultimately the game. The Raiders maintain their stranglehold on the Division with another big win and now sit in 1st place at 6-0 with only 21 points having been allowed all season. Final Score: Manchester 35 Giles County 0

Next Saturday, October 12th all six teams will be back in action as the TCYFL teams of MYFL play host to the Cannon County Lions at 10:00 am at Carden-Jarrell field.  Take a break from Exit 111 and come check out some great football action.

The SMTYFA teams will be on the road in Lewisburg, TN against the Marshall Co Elite. Game time is also 10:00 am for the first game.

by Jim Wyatt, TitansOnline.com

The Titans let one get away on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.

And they have no one to blame but themselves.

“It’s super frustrating,” Titans defensive lineman Jurrell Casey said after the team’s 14-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills. “We tried to put together a game on both sides of the ball, and we just couldn’t get it together. We couldn’t make enough plays.”

Members of the offense put the loss on them. No one was arguing with that conclusion, although kicker Cairo Santos also spent post-game beating himself up as well.

The Titans scored just one touchdown on Sunday and squandered too many chances. Four missed field goals by Santos didn’t help the cause, but pass protection was also shaky once again and too many drives stalled in the red zone.

The Titans also racked up eight penalties for 60 yards, including several that came at inopportune times.

“We feel like we shot ourselves in the foot over and over again like we did in other losses,” tackle Jack Conklin said. “And we have to get that fixed. We knew they were a physical defense and give them credit – it looks like they were more physical than us today. We have to be better.

“The defense played great – we let them down.”

In a defensive slugfest, the Titans simply didn’t land enough punches.

And they eventually got knocked out.

Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota completed 13-of-22 passes for 183 yards against the Bills, but he was sacked five times.

Running back Derrick Henry ran for 78 yards on 20 carries, including a one-yard touchdown run.

But it wasn’t enough as the Bills left Nissan Stadium with a win. With the loss, the Titans fell to 2-3.

“When it comes down to it, out defense is playing outstanding,” Mariota said. “And we just have to play better complementary football.”

It was part of a frustrating day for the Titans, and the team’s fans.

“When you lose a game in this league it is always frustrating,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “I think there were a lot of missed opportunities and self-inflicted wounds. … We didn’t do enough. We didn’t play well enough, we didn’t coach well enough.”

Trailing in the third quarter, the Titans tied the game 7-7 on a one-yard touchdown run by Henry, which capped off a seven-play, 38-yard drive.

The drive was set up by an interception by safety Kevin Byard.

But the Bills reclaimed the lead 14-7 with 9:46 left on a 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Josh Allen to Duke Williams. It came after the Titans had two touchdowns called back because of penalties — and following a fourth straight missed field goal from Santos.

It was a tough day for Santos, who misfired on a 50-yard field goal early, and then missed on kicks from 36 yards, 33 yards and 53 yards. The 33-yarder was tipped at the line of scrimmage and fell short.

“It was a very painful, disappointing day,” Santos said. “I don’t feel sorry for myself, I feel sorry for my teammates and coaches. I haven’t missed four kicks even in practice in years. So just sorry. … (My teammates) deserve for me to do my job better.”

Vrabel didn’t blame Santos, and neither did his teammates.

“This is a guy that’s made some kicks for us,” Vrabel said of Santos, who is now 4-of-9 on the season. “We’ll have to do a better job of making them, and coaching him, and executing them.”

The game was a defensive battle, which was expected.

The Bills took a 7-0 lead with 2:36 left in the first half on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Allen to tight end Lee Smith. Earlier, the Titans defense held the Bills on a 4th down try at the 30-yard line in the first quarter and the game remained 7-0 at the half.

With the game tied after three quarters, this was a game there for the taking.

But on this day, the Titans left it on the table.

The Titans travel to Denver to face the Broncos next Sunday.

“Leadership is critical right now,” Byard said. “At times like this, the culture of this team is going to be tested – I think we have a good culture here. There will be bad days, but bad times don’t last, tough people