The Coffee County Middle School basketball teams closed out the regular season on the road on Thursday night. Traveling to Shelbyville to take on Harris, the Raiders and Lady Raiders roared to a pair of lopsided wins over the Eagles. The Lady Raiders won 31 to 8 while the Red Raiders scored a 37 to 12 victory.
In the girls’ game, the Lady Radiers dominated from start to finish. Coffee Middle held the overmatched Eaglettes to 2 points in the second half to close the season with a record of 13 and 6. Alivia Reel led the Lady Raiders in scoring with 15 points, including a trio of 3 point baskets. Chloe Gannon added 8 points in the win.
The Red Raiders held Harris to 2 points in the first half in the dominant win. The win gives the Red Raiders a final conference record of 8 and 6. Jackson Shemwell and Hayden Garr each had 8 points in the win to pace the Raider scoring attack. Jacob Holder chipped in 6 points.
Next up for Coffee Middle teams will be the CTC basketball tournament which is set to begin on Monday in Tullahoma. The tournament schedule is set to be released on Friday and Thunder Radio will keep you apprised of game times and opponents. Jonathan Oliver, Red Raiders head coach will be a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to talk about the regular season and will preview the upcoming conference tournament. The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast live each Saturday morning at 10 AM from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln. The Coffee Coaches Show is heard exclusively on Thunder Radio.
The Coffee County CHS wrestling team continued their busy week in Shelbyville on Thursday night. Tangling with the Eagles in a head to head match, the Red Raiders captured a 42 to 36 win.
Coffee County got pinfall wins from Christopher Speagle(at 220 pounds), Cardin Stump(285), Brett Francis(120), Gavin Prater(138), Dakota Chalker(160) and Rey Reyes(182). The Raiders also grabbed a forfeit win at 132 pounds by Hunter Waring.
The Raider grapplers return to action on Friday as they travel to Wartrace for a special match with Cascade. The high school wrestlers and the Coffee County Youth wrestlers will both be in action. Weigh-in is set at 5 PM, the first match is scheduled for 6 PM.
In a test between the top two teams in the Central Division, it was the visitors who passed.
The Nashville Predators fell to the Winnipeg Jets by a 5-1 final on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena, their first loss in two games against the Jets this season.
In a game that presented a potential postseason matchup between two of the behemoths in the Western Conference, it was Winnipeg who prevailed by playing quicker than the Preds and capitalizing on their chances.
“It was a big game for us,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “They’re right in front of us. They’re obviously a great team in our division. We’re not happy with the result, but we have to learn from it.”
“They’re a good hockey team,” Preds defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “We know that. They know that. I thought we competed for the most part. Our battle level, especially in the first, it was there, it was back and forth. You get frustrated as the game goes on, but, all in all, I think they just executed more than we did.”
Brendan Lemieux gave the Jets a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, and it could have been two if Nashville Video Coaches Lawrence Feloney and Andrew Meloche didn’t step in and call for an offside review. As is typical, the duo got it right, keeping the deficit at one.
Less than four minutes into the second, however, Mason Appleton made it 2-0 Winnipeg. Midway through the period, the Preds got on the board thanks to, who else, but Viktor Arvidsson, who slid home a loose puck for his 18th of the season and fourth in two games.
But, with less than a minute to play in the second stanza, Bryan Little put the visitors back up by two, and the Jets added two more in the third to pull away and clinch their victory.
“They were better than us tonight,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “They were quicker. I thought they capitalized. I thought they did a better job of generating quality chances. It seemed when we got in the offensive zone our shots didn’t go through, we didn’t do a good job of taking his (Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck’s) eyes, we didn’t generate the chances from the areas that we need to generate them from. For me, they capitalized on their chances and I thought that we needed to do a better job generating our chances.”
The Predators don’t view the loss as an indicator that the Jets are a better team than they are – it’s just one game – but on this occasion, it was Winnipeg who found a way and jumped out to a four-point lead in the division.
“They’re tough games every time we play them,” Josi said. “They’re a great team, and right now they’re in front of us. It’s such a long season, though. We have to learn from that game. There’s a lot of things we can do a lot better, but it’s one game. We have to focus on the next game.”
“They’re the team we’re chasing right now,” Ellis said. “It’s a bit of a test for us, and tonight, we failed. But, hopefully the next one we won’t.”
Notes:
With an assist on Viktor Arvidsson’s goal, Filip Forsberg extended his point streak against Winnipeg to four games.
Nashville’s three-game homestand concludes on Saturday night when they host the Florida Panthers before embarking on a two-game trip to Colorado and Las Vegas prior to 2019 All-Star Weekend.
Hosting their final home matches of the year, the Coffee County CHS wrestling team played host to Oakland and Eagleville for Senior Night on Tuesday night. The Raiders won their match with Eagleville by a score of 54 to 20 before dropping their match with state-ranked Oakland 68 to 6. The Lady Raider wrestlers fought to a draw with Eagleville.
Against Eagleville, Coffee County got pinfall wins from Hunter Massey(at 113 pounds), Gavin Prater(138), Jesse Smith(145), Dakota Chalker(160), Ray Reyes(182) and Zachary Galy(195). The Red Raiders captured forfeit wins from Christopher Speegle(220), Cardin Stump(285) and Hunter Waring(132).
Against Oakland, the Raiders got a pair of decision wins. Brett Francis(120) won his match by a score of 9 to 3. Jesse Smith(145) fought his way to a 6 to 0 decision. In the girls’ match with Eagleville, MaryAnne Walker got a pinfall win over her opponent.
The Raider grapplers return to action on Thursday as they travel to Shelbyville for a tri-match. Weigh-in is set at 5 PM, the first match is scheduled for 6 PM.
The Coffee County Claybusters opened the 2019 portion of their season on Saturday with an ATA Individual Shoot at Highland Rim Shooters Club in Tullahoma. The Claybusters captured 5 of the 8 titles handed out on the day. Colter Smith won the High Overall Shooter award. Tucker Carlton captured the Junior Category title and Brayden Davenport won the Sub-Junior category. Alexus Stacey captured the top spot in the Lady Category and Dylan Hickerson won the top spot among Class D shooters.
The Claybusters return to competition on Saturday, February 2nd for a team event at Big Springs. The AIM/ATA team event gets underway at 9 AM in Christiana.
Pete Weber of the Nashville Predators Radio Network
He’s done it again.
For the sixth time in his career, radio play-by-play announcer and Voice of the Predators, Pete Weber, has been named the Tennessee Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Weber shares the 2018 honor with Dawn Davenport of KGFX-FM in Nashville.
Weber, who has been with the Preds franchise since Day One, also received the accolade in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
A native of Galesburg, Illinois, Weber has made stops with the Los Angeles Kings and the Seattle Supersonics. He landed in Buffalo from 1982 to 1998 before the Preds came calling. He has been in Nashville ever since.
Earlier this season, he shared three things you might not know about being the Voice of the Preds, including the first time he ever stepped behind the mic in 1968. All these years later, Weber is still at it, providing the soundtrack to just about every goal in Predators franchise history.
Also joining Weber with NSMA honors is Joe Rexrode of The Tennessean who earned his second-consecutive nod as Tennessee Sportswriter of the Year.
Legendary NHL play-by-play announcer Mike “Doc” Emrick, Bob Ley, Peter King, and Tony Kornheiser were voted into the NSMA Hall of Fame and will be inducted this June.
Continuing their longest home stand of the year on Tuesday, the Coffee County CHS basketball teams welcomed Shelbyville to the Patch for a district doubleheader. The Lady Raiders rallied from an 8 point deficit to beat the Eaglettes 57 to 52. The Red Raiders built a double digit lead in the 1st half and fought their way to an 80 to 64 win.
After missing shots at the rim and the free throw line all night, the Lady Raiders found their scoring touch in the 4th quarter. Trailing by 5 points with 5 minutes remaining, Coffee County went on a 10 to 0 run to take the lead and hold on for the win. Abby Morgan had 6 straight points in that stretch to push the Lady Raiders in front by 5 with 1:12 left in the game. Morgan finished with 19 points as she was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game. Bella Vinson added 17 points and Jacey Vaughn netted 14 as Coffee County improved to 20 and 3 on the season and 6 and 0 in district play.
Kyle Farless of CHS basketball
The Red Raiders got their own 10 to 0 run at the midway point of the first half to take a 9 point lead over Shelbyville with 6:29 to go in the half. Coffee County stretched the lead to 17 at the half and led by as many as 25 in the second half to improve to 13 and 4 on the season and 5 and 1 in district play. Kyle Farless led the Raiders in scoring as he had 22 points to earn the Crazy Daisies player of the game award. Darius Rozier added 16 points and Shawn Anderson chipped in 10.
The Raider and Lady Raider basketball teams will be back at home on Friday as they open the second half of the district season against Lawrence County. Tip-off for the girls’ game is set for 6 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you live coverage beginning with the Powers Storage Pregame show at 5:50.
Cody Swayze of Temple Baptist Christian School basketball
The Temple Baptist Christian School got the 2019 portion of their schedule kicked off on Tuesday night. The Eagles traveled to Jamestown to take on Faith Christian. Temple fell behind early and could never recover in a 54 to 50 loss. The JV Eagles rallied to win by a final score of 28 to 19.
In the varsity game, Faith scored first and never allowed Temple to catch up. With Temple trailing by 1 after 1 quarter, Faith outscored the Eagles 21 to 8 in the 2nd quarter to seize control. A late Temple rally came up short in the loss. Cody Swayze poured in 42 points to pace Temple. Trace Woodard added 6 points and Mich Gloden finished with 2.
In the JV game, Temple rolled out to a 13 to 4 lead after the 1st period and never looked back in the win. Alex Gloden was the top scorer for Temple as he had 16 points. David Tran and Nathan Baker each scored 4 points for the Eagles.
Temple is back at home on Tuesday when they welcome Victory Baptist of Shelbyville to the E.C. Bailey Gym. The varsity game will get underway at 6 PM at Temple Baptist Christian School.
For the fifth time this season, Predators fans lost their caps.
Viktor Arvidsson recorded his second-career hat trick and the Nashville Predators scored a season-high seven goals to crush the Washington Capitals by a 7-2 final on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result gives the Preds a clean sweep of their season series against the Caps, outscoring them 13-5 in the process.
In addition to the blowout win over the defending champs, Arvidsson’s effort set a Preds franchise record with five hat tricks in a single season, joining Filip Forsberg, Colton Sissons, Calle Jarnkrok and Austin Watson on the ledger.
And on Tuesday, it was another classic showing from Arvidsson.
“He was a big difference-maker tonight,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said of Arvidsson. “He plays the same way every night, and tonight he was able to chip in three and his line was good. Viktor is a guy that never stops, and he competed from start to finish.”
Not only were the Preds thrilled to be back in their own building after a six-game road trip, but to earn a win of that magnitude, against the defending Stanley Cup champs, well, it meant a little more.
“That road trip was pretty wild, a lot of games, a lot of days and a lot of different cities,” Preds center Ryan Johansen said. “We put that loss in Carolina behind us quick and just focused on tonight. We came out excited to be back in this building and it was a fun night, a lot of good things and a lot of things we can build off.”
“It’s our building, and we haven’t been here for a couple weeks, so we wanted to come out with some energy just like they did to us a couple weeks ago,” Preds forward Rocco Grimaldi said. “They jumped out to a quick lead against us, so we wanted to do the same to them and then keep the pedal to the metal.”
Arvidsson got things started less than four minutes into the contest when he beat Pheonix Copley on a breakaway to give his club a 1-0 lead. At the midway point of the first, Nick Bonino finished off a 2-on-1 with Sissons to hit double-digits on his season goal tally for a 2-0 advantage after 20.
Arvidsson put his club up by three less than two minutes into the second stanza, and after the Capitals cut the lead to two with a power-play marker, the Preds went back to work. First, it was Arvidsson who finished off the hat trick on a shorthanded breakaway, and then Grimaldi added an exclamation point with a spin-o-rama in tight for his fourth of the season.
Before the middle frame was out, Bonino deflected a Mattias Ekholm shot into the twine for his second of the evening while allowing the Nashville defender to attain a career-high with his 36th point of the season.
Calle Jarnkrok joined the party when he scored Nashville’s seventh of the evening, and lost in all of the offense was goaltender Juuse Saros who made 26 saves to collect his 11th win of the season and tie his career-high in victories.
The Predators won’t have much time to celebrate, however, with the Winnipeg Jets knocking on their door for a meeting in Nashville on Thursday night. But, the Preds don’t mind a challenge, especially when the club that has become their most heated rival comes to town.
“We just have to refocus here,” Arvidsson said. “We have a big test coming up, a division game against Winnipeg. They’re the top of our division, so we have to bring our game.”
Hats & Spins:
If Viktor Arvidsson’s hat trick was the entrée, Rocco Grimaldi’s terrific tally was the tiramisu.
Arvidsson had his three before the second period was even out, the second hat trick of his career.
The energy Arvidsson brings to his club is palpable, and as it feeds from the ice to the bench to the home crowd and back down to ice level again, there’s no mistaking the difference when No. 33 is at his best.
“When the rink gets into it – that’s huge,” Bonino. “The fans love chanting ‘Arvi.’ We all love it too, it’s fun to see. He just plays so hard, throws his body on the line every night. You can always get behind guys like that. He scores so often, so it’s fun seeing a smile come down the line. He made some big goals tonight.”
“His relentlessness, his tenaciousness, he’s always on the puck,” Grimaldi said of Arvidsson. “Anytime the puck is on the ice and he’s out there, he seems to be around it somehow, so it’s really fun to watch. He takes his chances and he buries them when he gets it, but he’s a fun player to watch and his work ethic is extremely awesome to watch and be a part of.”
Perhaps Grimaldi himself was inspired by Arvidsson’s brilliance, because less than three minutes after the hats hit the ice, Nashville’s smallest player wracked up a highlight-reel strike of his own.
It started innocently enough in the Nashville end, with Grimaldi breaking up a Washington pass attempt before heading the other way. Going 1-on-1 with a Caps defender, Grimaldi spun from forehand to backhand and sent a puck short side for one of the prettiest goals of the season.
“It was awesome,” Bonino said of Grimaldi’s goal. “It was, first, a great defensive play. He stops, he doesn’t over-back check, he makes a good play on the puck, and then makes a nice move. He catches the goalie before he sets. He’s been playing great. It was really nice.”
Indeed, just about everyone on the Nashville roster had themselves a night, but the two smallest, scrappiest wingers were the ones who left Preds fans hatless – and speechless – when it was all said and done.
“For both of us being smaller guys, we’ve been told we can’t make it our whole lives, and we know that skill is not going be the thing that gets us through, its work ethic,” Grimaldi said of he and Arvidsson. “He’s an extremely hard worker, so I try to be a hard worker as well. I think for both of us to get here, we’ve maybe had to do a little extra than the average person, so it’s good to see guys like him succeed.”
Notes:
Defenseman Yannick Weber returned to the Preds lineup on Tuesday after missing the previous 10 games due to injury.
The Preds have now won six straight over the Caps, scoring at least five goals in four of those victories.
At home, Nashville has won three in a row versus Washington and has points in eight of its last nine meetings (6-1-2).
Nashville’s three-game homestand continues on Thursday night when the Winnipeg Jets come to town before finishing up with the Florida Panthers on Saturday evening.
Beginning the final week of the regular season on Monday, the Coffee County Middle School basketball teams visited North Franklin on Monday night. In a pair of game you heard here on Thunder Radio, Coffee County dropped the conference doubleheader. The Lady Raiders fell 49 to 26 while the Red Raiders lost 35 to 24.
In the girls’ game, Coffee County turned the ball over 22 times, including 9 times in the first period as North built an 8 point halftime lead. In the second half, the North defense held the Lady Raiders to 4 points in the 3rd quarter to seize control of the game. Aleaya Barnes came off the bench for the Lady Raiders to hit a trio of 3 point shots to finish with 9 points. Barnes led Coffee Middle in scoring as she was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game. Chloe Gannon added 6 points for the Lady Raiders.
It appeared that the Red Raiders would go into the halftime break with a 1 point lead. A buzzer beating 3 pointer by North gave the Gators a 15 to 13 lead at intermission and Coffee County never regained the lead. Ethan Hargrove led the Red Raiders in scoring with 9 points as he was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game. Hayden Garr added 6 points and Jackson Shemwell finished with 4 points.
The Raider and Lady Raider basketball teams will travel to Shelbyville on Thursday night for their final regular season game of the year at Harris. Tip-off for the girls’ game is set for 6 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you live coverage beginning with the pregame show at 5:50.
