Category: Sports

Motlow State Community College players and coaches display their runner up trophy and plaque following the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association tournament last week in Gallatin. The Bucks advanced to the championship game with a 96-85 win over defending champion Columbia State, but lost the title game 73-68 to Southwest Tennessee. (Motlow State photo)

One of the best seasons in the 47-year history of Motlow State Community College men’s basketball came to a disappointing end Friday afternoon when the Bucks fell to Southwest Tennessee 73-68 in the championship game of the TCCAA/Region VII Tournament in Gallatin.

Under first-year head coach J.T. Burton, the Bucks (25-7) led 43-41 at halftime and 61-57 with nine minutes to play. However, late foul trouble and a difficult day shooting three pointers (2-15) allowed the Saluqis to escape with the victory and advance to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Tournament, which begins Mar. 14 in Hutchinson, Kan. Motlow hoped for one of four at-large invitations, but did not receive one.

Motlow advanced to Friday’s championship game with a 96-85 win over Columbia State on Thursday. That game saw Jaylen Barford score 45 points, tied for the fourth most in a single game in Motlow history. The Bucks opened the tournament with a narrow 77-75 win over Jackson State, with Barford connecting on a pair of free throws with 1.6 seconds left in the game.

Southwest Tennessee came out of the gates shooting lights out on Friday, hitting five of their first six three pointers and grabbing an early 10-point lead. The Bucks battled back, taking the lead at halftime, but with six minutes remaining the Saluqis took the lead back 63-62 and never trailed again.

Barford and JaQualis Matlock led Motlow with 17 points each, while Stephaun Adams scored 15. Matlock, a freshman who will be the centerpiece for the Bucks next year, added eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Adams, who will play at Tennessee Tech next year, had five rebounds and four assists.

Barford will take his talents to the University of Arkansas after completing his career as one of the top players in Motlow history. His 837 points are the second most in a single season, and his 1,393 career points are also second on the all-time list. He is only the second player in school history to finish in the top 10 in career scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.

He was named the TCCAA Player of the Year and chosen for the all-tournament team. He was an honorable mention All-American last year and likely a first-team honoree this year, in addition to being one of the top contenders for national player of the year. Barford has been rated the No. 1 junior college player in the nation by multiple recruiting and scouting services.

The Motlow men’s basketball program continues to establish itself among the best junior college programs in the nation. The Bucks have won over 20 games in six of the past nine seasons. The 48 combined wins during the past two season’s ties the 2001-02 teams for the second best back-to-back seasons in school history. Motlow won 50 games total during the 2008-09 seasons.

Visit the official website of Motlow Athletics at <www.motlowsports.com> for rosters, schedules, stats and more. Interact with Motlow Athletics at <Facebook/MotlowSports> and <Twitter@MotlowSports>.

5:00 PM – CCMS Baseball at Warren Co
5:00 PM – WMS Baseball at Huntland
5:00 PM – CCMS Softball at Warren Co
5:00 PM – WMS Softball at Riverside Christian
7:00 PM – CHS Soccer at Mt. Juliet

The Coffee County Central High School Baseball team banged out 28 runs and 24 hits in a pair of scrimmage wins on Saturday at Powers Field. The Red Raiders used a big 9th inning in a 14 to 1 defeat of Grundy County in a 10 inning scrimmage to open play on Saturday morning. Nathanial Tate was 2 for 5 with 2 RBI and DeAndre Wakefield was 1 for 4 with 3 RBI.

Against Cumberland County, the Raiders took advantage of a pair of errors to score 5 runs in the 4th inning to shoot down the Jets by an identical 14 to 1 score. Zach Wise was 2 for 3 with an RBI as he also escaped serious injury when he was hit by a pitch in the face. Jacob Langham was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored for Coffee County. Coach David Martin was pleased with how well his team played defensively including the excellence performance by his pitching staff.

The JV team also looked impressive on Saturday as they captured an 11 to 4 win over the Grundy County JV squad.  Six different JV pitchers threw for Coffee County in the 6 inning win.  Kael McCall had 2 hits for Coffee County and stole home in the game.

The Red Raiders open the regular season on Monday, March 14th when they play host to Shelbyville at Powers Field in a district contest. Thunder Radio will travel to Shelbyville on Tuesday, March 15th to bring you the 2nd game of that series.

The CHS Soccer and Softball teams were in scrimmage action on Saturday in Rutherford County. The Lady Raider softball team finished their day with a record of 1 and 2 in the Rutherford County Playday at Riverdale. Lauren Tomberlin, Shelby Scrivnor and Paige Baker all had home runs for the Lady Raiders. Coach Steve Wilder was pleased with the power production “(but we) just have got to get runners on base.” The Lady Riaders will open the season at home on Monday, March 14th when they play host to Shelbyville in a 7 PM district contest. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of that game with Lucky Knott on the call.
The soccer team dropped a 2 to 0 decision to Stewarts Creek but Coach Robert Harper was proud of the play of his team. “(I) thought we played better than anytime (last) Saturday (at their home playday)” said Harper. Harper singled out the play of his goal keepers as John Parigger held Stewarts Creek scoreless for the first 60 minutes in the varisty match and JV keeper Kix Ferrell shutout the Red Hawks in the first half of the JV game. The Red Raiders will travel to Mt. Juliet on Monday night for a Varsity/JV scrimmage doubleheader with the Bears of Mt. Juliet High. The JV game begins at 5 PM with the varsity getting underway at 7 PM. The Red Raiders open the regular season on Tuesday, March 15th at 7 PM as they welcome LaVergne to the Raider Soccer Field at the Raider Academy.

Skylar Bratcher leads off the 2nd inning for Westwood on Friday night vs. Grundy County

In the game of baseball, it is often the case that the little things mean the difference between winning and losing. Such was the case on Friday night as an improved Westwood baseball team lost their season opener to Grundy County 10 to 2 at Fred Deadman Park. A 5 run Yellow Jackets rally in the 3rd inning proved to be the back breaker as Grundy County strung together 6 hits and took advantage of some key defensive lapses from the Rockets. “We are still making too many little mistakes to win games” first year coach Josh Morris told his team following the game. Those little mistakes resulted in 2 charged errors in the inning, but saw the Westwood defense have trouble making several crucial defensive decisions resulting in the Yellow Jackets being able to advance their baserunners.
But make no mistake about it, this Rockets team is much improved over last year’s team which was shut out 7 times as they lost all 17 of their games. “We have a long way to go” said Morris immediately after the game, but in comparison to how far they have come that seems like a short road indeed. Skylar Bratcher got the starting nod for Westwood going 1.2 innings and surrendering 2 runs with 3 strikeouts. Zach Milan came on in relief and got 3 strike outs in 2.1 innings of relief as Morris used 5 different pitchers on the night. Bratcher led the Rockets in hitting as he went 2 for 2 with a walk and a run scored. Nick Smith was 1 for 2 with a walk and scored the other Westwood run. The Rockets open conference play on Monday when they to Huntland for a 5:00 PM matchup.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Nashville Predators center Mike Fisher

After entering the third period down 2-1, the Nashville Predators scored four answered goals and kept their franchise-record, 12-game point streak alive with a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday afternoon at Pepsi Center.

The win gives Nashville 33 victories and 78 points overall, putting them six points ahead of Minnesota and eight ahead of Colorado for the top Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

“Sometimes those early games are tough to get into, but I thought our guys were sharp right from the start,” Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “It was a good team win. We knew what we were in for. We knew it would be a playoff battle, and it was good throughout.”

The Preds raced out to an early 11-5 shot advantage, but fell behind 1-0 when Blake Comeau crashed the crease and backhanded a puck home off Pekka Rinne’s right pad.

In the second period, with the puck loose in the crease, Filip Forsberg scooped the biscuit into the cage for his 14th tally in as many games. The 21-year-old currently sits second in the NHL in goal scoring since Nov. 27 with 26 tallies (Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin is first with 30).

Colorado reclaimed a one-goal advantage before the second period horn following a Gabriel Landeskog one-timer, but it wasn’t long into the third before the Preds struck back again.

A play that started at the Nashville blue line, thanks to a Colorado turnover, saw Ryan Johansen collect the puck and motor all the way to the opposing net, drawing three Avalanche defenders with him. That allowed James Neal to follow up the play and deposit the puck for his 23rd of the season and a 2-2 score 63 seconds into the frame.

Then it was Mike Fisher, in career game No. 1,001, who picked up a loose puck in the slot and wristed home his ninth of the season for Nashville’s first lead of the afternoon and a goal that proved to be the game winner.

After Pekka Rinne and Co. withstood the final Avalanche push, Captain Shea Weber and forward Miikka Salomaki potted empty netters for a 5-2 final and two huge points in the standings, capped by a four-goal effort in the final 20.

“We were generating some chances; their goaltending was playing well, and we just talked about sticking with it,” Weber said. “Eventually, it was going to come.”

“Everybody came out in the third period and did a tremendous job,” Laviolette said. “[Rinne] was awesome; we had a little bit of trouble in the first five or six minutes of the third period, but after that I thought we got going and started playing some offense and it was good. They have a real good team, and sometimes you’re going have to play good defense. We thought we did that tonight, and this was a good team win in a playoff-like atmosphere.”

As of late, the Predators have received plenty of production from the line of Mike Ribeiro, Filip Forsberg and Craig Smith. That trio still did their part in Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Avalanche, but the other three forward units got in on the act as well.

Forsberg, James Neal, Mike Fisher and Miikka Salomaki – each a member of a different line – all put the puck in the net, and nine different Preds forwards recorded at least one point on the afternoon.

“Every line can score,” Smith said. “You don’t have to really worry. You can get goals from everywhere, and that’s what we need.”

The top line of Neal, Ryan Johansen and Calle Jarnkrok tied the game 2-2 early in the third, an important tally, not only in the game, but for the trio as well, who haven’t found the back of the net with the regularity they’d prefer.

“You try not to dwell on how it’s been lately; the three of us want to produce more offensively, but I think it’s important we don’t get away from our defensive game,” Johansen said. “We’ve been pretty solid there, so it was definitely nice contributing and hopefully we can use that now and get a spark here.”

No matter who is scoring, the spark of a 12-game point streak undoubtedly keeps the confidence high with only 16 games to go.

“It was very noticeable from my eyes the resiliency in the group tonight, which has made us very successful as of late as well,” Johansen said. “That was a huge win in their building, knowing the circumstances of the standings right now. We’re definitely going home feeling good about ourselves.”

The Predators five-game road trip continues on Tuesday night when they travel to Winnipeg for the final time this season, before heading to Western Canada later in the week.  That game begins at 7 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Nashville Predators center Mike Fisher

Mike Fisher’s 1,000th NHL game didn’t produce a win for the Nashville Predators, but his club still set a franchise record in the contest.

Nashville’s 5-4 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena gave the Preds at least a point for the 11th consecutive game, a franchise record. The Predators are 7-0-4 during the streak.

“It’s been a great stretch,” Fisher said. “It’s disappointing tonight to lose that way. It wasn’t our best, but we just have to regroup and have a good game in a couple of nights and forget about this one. Just keep rolling here, and keep our confidence high, and forget about it.”

Craig Smith opened the scoring for the third consecutive game, this time on the power play, when he one-timed a Shea Weber pass from the left circle and past Keith Kinkaid for a 1-0 lead. Weber’s helper was the 183rd point on the man advantage of his career, giving him sole possession of first place in the category in Predators franchise history.

After the Devils evened things with their own power-play chance, Nashville got another marker with the extra skater, as Mike Ribeiro tipped home a Roman Josi point shot for his seventh of the season and a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

Paul Gaustad put the Preds up 3-1 early in the second frame when he took an Austin Watson pass in the slot and slid the puck five hole on Kinkaid. New Jersey battled back, however, with a goal from Devante Smith-Pelly in his Devils debut and a power-play marker from Travis Zajac at 9:13 of the third to even things at 3-3.

Then, it was Filip Forsberg, potting his 27th of the season with just over two minutes remaining in regulation to give Nashville a 4-3 lead. The goal sets a career high for Forsberg, besting last season’s total of 26 goals. But New Jersey refused to go away, and Adam Henrique tied the game with 40 seconds remaining to force overtime.

In the extra session, it was Henrique once more who scored the game winner on the power play to hand Nashville their first loss in the last six games.

“Every game, you want to keep getting better, even when you are winning,” Weber said. “We’re still going over things we need to improve on and tomorrow will be the same as normal. We are going to review what we need to be better at; I’m sure we’ll go over some things on the PK, 5-on-5, and then on to Colorado. Another big game and we have to move past this.”

From here, Nashville heads west to meet the Avalanche to start a five-game road trip, their longest stretch away from home since January, and an excursion that presents a possible 10 more points for the taking.

“It’s been a tough year as far as stringing points together like that for us,” Weber said. “Kudos to the guys right now that are playing well and buckling down here down the stretch. But we haven’t accomplished anything yet. There’s a long way to go and we have to keep going.”

The Predators hit the road for a game on Saturday at Colorado.  That game will face-off at 2 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network.

5:00 PM – CCMS Baseball(JV) at Cannon Co
5:00 PM – CCMS Soccer HOSTS White County
5:00 PM – CHS Soccer at Smyrna(Scrimmage)
5:00 PM – CCMS Softball HOSTS South Franklin
5:00 PM – WMS Softball at Huntland