Category: Sports

The Coffee County wrestling team traveled to Murfreesboro on Tuesday night for a region tri-match with Riverdale and Siegel.  In the duals competition, the Raiders earned a split with the Murfreesboro schools.  Coffee County defeated Riverdale 42 to 33 and fell to Siegel 44 to 33.

Taking on Siegel, Coffee County got pinfall wins from Jesse Smith(at 145 pounds) and Dakota Chalker(160).  Jonathan Cable earned a decision win at 138 pounds.  The Raiders also earned forfeit wins from Gabriel Westbrook(106), Brett Francis(120), and Nick Martinez(220)

Against Riverdale, the Raider grapplers scored pinfall wins from Nick Martinez(220), Cardin Stump(285), Brett Francis(120)and Jesse Smith(145).  Dakota Chalker(160), Devin Judge(152), and Gabriel Westbrook(106) all earned forfeit wins.

Coffee County will host its first home match on Thursday night.  The Raider grapplers will welcome Cookeville and Tullahoma to their home mat at the Coffee County Raider Academy.  The first match will get underway at 6 PM.

With the close of their season last week, the Westwood basketball teams have honored several of their players for their season.  The Lady Rockets honored 5 members of the 2018 team with team awards.  Named as the Joel Vinson Award winner was senior Adriana Basurto.  Senior Maddie Sullivan received the Coaches Award.  Bryleigh Gray was named the defensive player of the year and Leonor Moreno was named the offensive player of the year.  Anna Johnson was named the team’s Most valuable Player and was also named to the Duck River Valley Conference All-Conference team.

For the Rockets, Konor Heaton was named to the Duck River Valley Conference All-Conference team for the Rockets.  Coach Will Pannell had this to say about Konor “He was selected by the coaches in the conference.  He has played for Westwood for all 3 years and was a wonderful leader for the team and did a great job and deserved this great recognition.”   Rockets coach Will Pannell will be a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to talk about the season.  The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast LIVE each Saturday from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln.  The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast from 10 to 11 exclusively here on Thunder Radio.

The Coffee County Central High School basketball teams will be hosting their annual Christmas Tournament beginning on Thursday at CHS.  In an added feature this year, five girls’ teams have been added to make the tournament a 10 team field.

The Red Raiders open tournament play on Thursday when they take on Wilson Central in a 5 PM game at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  On Friday morning, Coffee County will take on Riverside Christian at 9:30 AM.  On Saturday, the Red Raiders will play Oakland beginning at 12:30 PM.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast of the Red Raiders’ Thursday game.

The Lady Raiders open up play on Friday afternoon at 2 PM when they take on Nashville Central Christian.  The Lady Raiders will finish up tournament play on Saturday at 2 PM when they play Oakland.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast of the Lady Raiders’ Saturday game.

The Temple Baptist Christian School Eagle basketball team hit the road on Tuesday night.  Traveling to Cleveland, the Eagles got a varsity/JV sweep at Shenandoah Baptist Academy.  The JV team won 34 to 26 and the varsity captured a 46 to 42 win.

In the varsity game, the Eagles built a 28 to 19 halftime lead only to see the Lions roar back to lead by 4 entering the 4^th quarter.  The Eagles rallied for an 18 point 4^th quarter to claim the come from behind win.  The win is the Eagles 5^th in a row and their 6^th in their last 7 games.  Cody Swayze led Temple in scoring with 31 points including 12 points in the 4^th quarter.  Mich Gloden added 10 points including a pair of 3 point baskets in the 4^th quarter.  The win improves the Eagles record to 7 and 3.

In the JV game, the Eagles held off a late Lions rally in the win.  Seven different Temple players scored in the win led by Alex Gloden who had 8 points.  David Tran and Nathan Baker each added 6 points.

The Eagles will now take off until January 15 when they travel to Jamestown to take on Faith Christian.

The Coffee County Central High School athletic department has partnered with Jiffy Burger restaurant to acknowledge the hard work and dedication that our student-athletes put into their sports. At the end of each month, each in-season head coach will be able to submit the name of one athlete who had a standout performance and demonstrated excellent leadership during that month. The head coaches and the administration will be given the opportunity to vote for one male and one female athlete to be named athlete of the month.

Last week, the CHS athletic department announced the selection of Brett Francis and Abby Morgan as the student-athletes of the month for the month of November.

Brett is a junior member of the wrestling team competing in the 120 pound class.  Brett currently has the best record in individual competition on the Raider squad at 14 and 3 on the year.

Abby is a senior captain for the Lady Raider basketball team.  Abby has been a 4 year starter for Coffee County and in a tight competition as the leading scorer on the Lady Raider basketball team.

Congratulations to Brett and Abby!

Pekka Rinne made 34 saves, but the Nashville Predators only scored once as they fell to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night at the United Center, 2-1. It’s the second defeat in as many evenings suffered by the Preds; they dropped a 4-3 overtime decision in Ottawa on Monday.

Nashville is 0-6-2 in their last eight away from home, and although the group said their overall effort was better at times on Tuesday, the results still weren’t there, which didn’t bring about any satisfaction.

“We didn’t get a win, so it’s not good enough,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “Pekka stood on his head for a lot in the second period, and it seemed like we just couldn’t get anything going. We didn’t get enough zone time, didn’t win enough battles, so it’s disappointing. We need to win some games on the road.”

“Better effort yes, energy no,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “I don’t feel like we had a lot of energy… We didn’t have any pop to our game, and they scored two goals and that’s the difference.”

It was Kevin Fiala who gave the Predators a 1-0 lead with less than a minute to play in the game’s opening period after he took a pass from Ryan Johansen and sniped a shot past Cam Ward.

In the second, the Blackhawks ratcheted up the pressure, and they eventually broke through on Rinne. Gustav Forsling and Erik Gustafsson tallied in the middle frame to give Chicago their first lead of the night.

The third period belonged to the Preds, predominantly, as they registered 13 shots in an effort to even the score, but Cam Ward turned them all away to give Chicago the win.

Compared to Monday’s outing in Ottawa, the Preds believe they had a better start in Chicago, but there were still too many inconsistencies throughout the game, an area harped on after the fact.

“We know we have a great team in this room, but we have to try to make plays,” Nashville forward Ryan Hartman, who made his first trip back to the United Center since being traded by the Blackhawks in February, said. “There’s a lot of guys in this room that can make plays, and we just have to make sure they’re 100-percent plays.”

From here, Nashville’s trip will continue in Philadelphia on Thursday, and with their recent record away from home, the Preds want nothing more than to find success before the excursion concludes.

“We have to go out there right from the start and attack the game,” Josi said. “Just go and try to get the first goal – we have to have that mindset more often on the road.”

“We’re in a position right now on the road where you need to play a consistent 60 minutes,” Laviolette said. “Some of it was ok tonight, and some of it was not.”

Notes:

Preds forward Colton Sissons was helped to the Nashville locker room by Predators trainers in the third period and did not return.

Defenseman Anthony Bitetto entered the lineup for Matt Irwin on Tuesday night, with Irwin and Zac Rinaldo serving as healthy scratches.

With the road trip now halfway done, the Preds will continue on to Philadelphia for a date with the Flyers on Thursday night before finishing up in Boston on Saturday afternoon.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

The Coffee County Middle School basketball teams traveled to Woodbury on Monday night for a pair of games with Cannon County.  Playing in their last games before the Christmas break, the Raiders and Lady Raiders settled for a split with the Lions.  The Lady Raiders won 37 to 33 while the boys fell 48 to 34.

Trailing at the half, the Lady Raiders turned up the defense in the 3^rd quarter holding Cannon County to just 4 points in decisive frame.  Coffee Middle was able to hold off a 4^th quarter Lionettes rally to grab the non-conference win.  Chloe Gannon led Coffee County in scoring with 11 points.  Alivia Reel scored 8 points and Olivia Vinson added 7.

The Red Raiders fell behind early, but it was an ice cold 4^th quarter that doomed Coffee Middle in the boys’ game.  Trailing by 5 entering the final period, the Red Raiders managed only 5 points in the minute 6 minutes in the loss.  Dayne Crosslin led the Raiders in scoring with 14 points.  Cooper Reed came off the bench to add 8 points while Hayden Garr and Ethan Hargrove each finished with 4 points for Coffee Middle.

The Raiders and Lady Raiders will now take off for the Christmas break.  Coffee Middle will return to the court on Thursday, January 3^rd when they play host to Warren County.  Tipoff is set for 6 PM at the CCMS gym.

The Temple Baptist Christian School Eagles welcomed Philadelphia Baptist to the E.C. Bailey Gym on Friday night for a JV/Varsity doubleheader.  The Eagles kept their hot streak alive as they captured a 49 to 36 win.  The JV Eagles won their match-up by a final score of 37 to 33.

In the varsity game, the Eagles pulled away in the 4^th quarter to win the hotly contested contest.  Leading by 3 points entering the final frame, Temple outscored Philadelphia by 10 points to capture the win.  Cody Swayze led Temple in scoring with 26 points.  Alex Gloden chipped in 8 points and Trace Woodard added 6 points.  The win is the Eagles 4^th in a row and 5^th in their last 6 games.

In the JV game, the Eagles built a first half lead and held on down the stretch to claim the win.  Sam Floyd was the leading scorer for the Eagles as he put up 16 points, including 7 points in the 4^th quarter.  Alex Gloden and David Tran each added 9 points.

Temple will close out the 2018 portion of their schedule on Tuesday night as they travel to Cleveland to take on Shenandoah Baptist Academy.  Tipoff is set for 5 PM EST.

The Nashville Predators came back to salvage a point in the standings, but the goal is two.

Monday’s game had all the makings of an unforgettable comeback as the Preds erased a three-goal deficit – but the Ottawa Senators found the fourth goal in overtime to take the win. The result ends Nashville’s win streak at three as they complete their season series with Ottawa, collecting three out of a possible four points.

The Preds played well enough to collect three goals in the game’s final 40 minutes, but when it was all said and done, it was the start that was still fresh.

“Frustrated, disappointed, we came here to play a game, and we didn’t do what we were supposed to do,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “It’s not good enough, especially when you’ve lost as many on the road as we have.”

Roman Josi scored two of the Predators three goals, two of which were on the power play, as the visitors turned 3-0 into 3-3 with two tallies in the final frame. Thomas Chabot’s 10th of the season, only 21 seconds into overtime, ruined the storybook evening for Nashville, however.

“We started slow – unacceptable,” Preds defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “It was not at all what we want… and we battled back and we fought hard and got a point. That was good, but there’s certainly some areas we can be better.”

The opening period couldn’t have gone much worse for the visitors as Nashville surrendered three goals in the frame, including the third with just 12 seconds to play. Laviolette elected to switch up his goaltenders to start the second with Juuse Saros taking over for Pekka Rinne, and then the group began to chip away.

Josi got Nashville on the board when he tallied a power-play goal at 5:37 of the period, and Nashville held a 24-18 lead in shots after 40 minutes.

And things got even better in the third.

First, it was Craig Smith who rifled home a shot on the power play just 46 seconds into the frame, and then Josi got a friendly bounce with a shot that deflected off the stick of Ryan Dzingel and past Craig Anderson to tie the game at three all.

Nashville’s best chance to take their first lead – and likely win the contest out right – came with 3:25 left when the Predators earned their fifth man advantage of the night. The special teams unit was turned away in the closing moments of regulation, finishing the contest 2-for-5.

There will be little time for the Preds to reflect on this one as they’ll immediately head to Chicago for a meeting with the Blackhawks on Tuesday night. There will be plenty to build off of from Monday’s outing, but also much to correct as well.

“With the exception of the first, we were right there, we were skating and competing and doing all the good things that we need to do on the road to get points,” Ekholm said. “We just have to clean up that first 20 and then we’re good but obviously we can play better.”

Notes:

Prior to Monday’s game, P.K. Subban (Injured Reserve) and Viktor Arvidsson (IR) participated in Nashville’s morning skate, the first time they’ve been on the ice with the team since suffering their respective injuries.

Anthony Bitetto and Zac Rinaldo were scratched for the Preds on Monday.

Nashville now immediately heads back to the U.S. – Chicago to be specific – for a date with the Blackhawks on Tuesday night (at 7:30 p.m. CT). The Preds then finish off their trip on Thursday in Philadelphia and Saturday in Boston before the Christmas break.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report