Category: Sports

CHS wrestler Owen Teague

The CHS Wrestling team opened their season with a trio of matches in Hendersonville at Beech High School. Even though the Raiders did not get a team match win in the 3 contests, several Raider wrestlers had good days in individual matches. The team highlight of the day was 3 pinfall wins by Owen Teague in the 145 pound weight class.
Against Cookeville, Teague got a pin in 1:20 which was his longest match of the evening. In the 285 pound weight class, Dustin Seals got a pin and Josh Tobitt scored a pin at 195 pounds. Raider grappler Jacob Rice got a 9 to 3 decision win at 170 while James Lynn suffered an 8 to 7 decision loss at 152 to earn 3 team points.
Against Clarksville Northwest, Teague got a pinfall win in 69 seconds at 145 pounds. James Lynn bounced back for a pinfall win at 152 pounds and William Green won a 7 to 2 decision at 126 pounds.

Against the home standing Beech Buccaneers, Teague completed the hat trick in 15 seconds with a pinfall win. Thomas Lawrence scored a pinfall win at 160 pounds and Josh Tobitt scored a forfeit win wrestling at 195.
The wrestlers travel to Oakland on Thursday, December 3rd for a tri-match with Oakland and Page. Matches will begin at 6 PM. Coach Roger Barlow will be a guest on the Coffee Coaches Show on Saturday to talk about the Raiders’ performance.

The Coffee County CHS Lady Raider softball team is hosting the 1st Annual “Long John Open” golf tournament on Saturday, December 12th at Willowbrook. Cost for the 4 man scramble tournament is $200 per team. The event tees off at 10 AM and there will be prizes awarded for the Best and Worst Dressed participants. Teams can receive an extra $25 off (per team) if they bring a lightly used coat to be donated for charity. $25 will also enter participants in contests for the longest drive, longest putt, mulligans, throws, red tree drives and a drawing for golf bags. 1st and 2nd Place flights will be paid and hot chocolate will be served on the course. For more information, contact WIllowbrook Golf Club or CHS softball coach Steve Wilder at 731-445-4897

Do you have a child that loves to cheer or would like to find out? If so, the Coffee County Middle School Cheerleaders have the perfect event for you on Friday, December 4th.  The CCMS Cheerleaders will be holding a clinic for kids Pre-K thru 6th grade.  Campers will learn a basketball chant and dance routine that they will perform at a middle school game!  Cost for the camp is $25.  The camp will run from 4 PM to 6 PM on Friday, Dec 4th @CCMS.  Campers will be invited to the CCMS game on Thursday, December 10^th to perform their routine at the game!  Forms are available at the county elementary schools, Tennessee Gymnastics, Pathway Gymnastics, and at CCMS.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Nashville Predators goalie Carter Hutton

Mike Fisher and the Nashville Predators were in the midst of a franchise-record scoring drought but felt probability was in their favor.

Fisher ended the Predators’ goalless skid at 227:39 and Nashville scored three times in 13 minutes during a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night.

“We were due for bounces and we got a few,” Fisher said. “Luckily it was enough ’cause they were coming pretty hard at the end.”

Craig Smith and Cody Hodgson also scored, while Carter Hutton made 30 saves to help Nashville snap a three-game losing streak.

“We weren’t going to get shut out the rest of the year,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “That would be impossible, right? They do the right things, they put the puck at the net. It’s going to go in.”

The Predators were outscored 11-0 over the first three games of this five-game trip, which ends Friday in Philadelphia. They hadn’t scored since the second period of a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Nov. 17.

“We had a lot of confidence in this room,” Hutton said. “We’re not too far removed from scoring seven in a couple games. So at the same time we knew if we stuck to what worked, it would come.”

Evander Kane and Jack Eichel scored for the Sabres.

The loss was Buffalo’s sixth straight, and they’ve only scored seven goals and collected two points in that time.

Over the first two periods, Buffalo outshot Nashville 25-11 but trailed 3-0.

“There’s a lot in the game that’s good,” Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. “There’s nothing good about getting down 3-0 and not winning the hockey game, but some pretty good stuff from our lines.”

Linus Ullmark allowed three goals on eight shots for Buffalo and was then replaced by Chad Johnson. Johnson stopped all 12 shots he faced.

The Predators scored on their first true spell of possession in the Sabres’ end. Fisher’s busy work off the puck got him to a rebound ahead of Jack McCabe and he scored with 6:08 left in the period.

It took just 55 seconds of second-period play for Smith to build Nashville’s lead, taking advantage of a poorly-positioned Ullmark with a high wrister.

The third goal started when Calle Jarnkrok lunged to corral a Sabres clearing attempt at the blue line and fired a wild shot toward the net. Gabriel Bourque controlled the rebound and found former Sabres forward Hodgson streaking across the slot for an easy goal.

“Bourque made a great play, a really sharp pass,” Hodgson said. “I just had to tap it in.”

Brian Gionta collected an ambitious pass up the right boards from Cody Franson and forced Hutton into an early blocker save as Buffalo recorded up the first eight shots on goal.

Hutton dodged trouble when Jack Eichel’s long shot through traffic beat him five-hole but trickled off the left post.

Kane pulled the Sabres to within two late in the second. Nashville allowed the left wing to gain the zone and move into the center of the ice, where he beat Hutton with a glove-side wrist shot.

Marcus Foligno was called for two penalties early in the third period, the second for interfering with Hutton on a 1-on-1 opportunity that went wide. When Foligno emerged from the box, he found himself in a race with Hutton for a loose puck, and his dive flipped the goaltender in the air.

“I just tried to elevate it and he caught my legs and sent me for the old flip-a-rooskie,” Hutton said. “I’ve got to work on my landing, that’s for sure.”

Eichel then fired a cross-crease pass from Ryan O’Reilly off Hutton and into the goal with 1:19 left, but Buffalo couldn’t find the equalizer with the extra attacker.

Aerial Williams(Photo by Jay Bailey – Manchester Times)

The 3rd quarter proved to be the deciding period on Tuesday night as the Raider and Lady Raider basketball teams finished the “Pre-Thanksgiving” portion of their season in Huntland. In the girls game, Coffee County turned a 2 point halftime deficit into an 8 point lead as the Lady Raiders got a 48 to 44 win. Coffee County forced 7 Huntland turnovers in the quarter and stretched their lead to 11 points early in the 4th quarter. Huntland made a run late, but Coffee County kept their poise and hit their free throws down the stretch to even their season record at 1 and 1. Holli Smithson and Aerial Williams led the Lady Raiders in scoring with 10 points each. Freshman Abby Morgan finished with 7 points. For her strong post play, Williams was named the Gateway Tire and Service Center Player of the Game.

LeAundre Graham(Photo by Jay Bailey – Manchester Times)

The Red Raiders saw turnovers and missed shots in their 3rd quarter contribute to their first loss of the year 65 to 54 to the Hornets. After a back and forth first half, the Red Raiders saw their 2 point deficit at the half balloon to 17 points at the end of the 3rd period. Coffee County was led in scoring by LeAundre Graham who had 9 points to earn Gateway Tire and Service Center Player of the Game honors. Kohl Young finished with 8 points and Caleb McKenzie came off the bench to net 7 points.
Coffee County will return to the court on Monday, November 30 when they travel to Fayetteville to take on the Tigers of Fayetteville High. Tipoff is set for 6 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the call beginning with the Powers Storage/Char-El Apartments Pregame Show at 5:50. Coffee County returns home on Tuesday night as they play host to Grundy County.

Westwood Lady Rocket Ashley Starks

The Westwood Rockets and Lady Rockets split a conference doubleheader on Monday night in Shelbyville to Duck River Valley Conference rival Liberty. In the girls game, Westwood held Liberty to single baskets in the 1st and 3rd quarters as the Lady Rockets notched the 34 to 22 conference win. The Lady Rockets got 15 points from Ashley Starks and 8 points from Morgan Jones as they improved their conference leading record to 12 and 2.

Westwood’s Collin Ward

The Rockets had zero answers for Liberty post player Keion Johnson as he netted 23 points in the Patriots 43 to 21 win over Westwood. The Liberty win avenged an earlier loss at Westwood as the 2 rivals split their 2 meetings this season. Westwood was held scoreless in the 1st quarter as they dug themselves a 14 to 0 hole after one period. Roderic Brinkley and Collin Ward led the Rockets in scoring with 6 points apiece.
The Rockets return to the court on Saturday as they travel to Morrison for a 4 PM game. The Lady Rockets and Rockets return to conference play on Monday night when they travel to Huntland. That matchup begins at 6 PM.

Pete Weber’s postgame report

The Nashville Predators ran into the wrong goalie at the wrong time and found themselves on the wrong side of a shutout again.

New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves, and forwards Rick Nash, Derek Stepan and Kevin Hayes scored in a 3-0 victory at Madison Square Garden.

Nashville (11-6-3) has been shut out in three consecutive games and hasn’t scored a goal in the past 213:47. The Predators have 103 shots on goal and are 0-for-10 on the power play in that time. They were 0-for-5 with the man-advantage against the Rangers (16-3-2).

“Our goalie was unbelievable again,” Nash said. “It seems to be a trend every single night that he’s our best player.”

Lundqvist improved on his NHL-best goals-against average (1.74) and save percentage (.946) with his second shutout. It was his 12th win, tying him with Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals for the League lead.

The Predators, who were averaging 3.00 goals per game through their first 17 games, have seen that number dip to 2.55 with the three shutout losses.

Their frustration started to show in the third period, when they committed five minor penalties. Center Mike Ribeiro was sent to the dressing room early because of a 10-minute misconduct at 18:13 for arguing with the officials following a slashing call on forward James Neal.

“You try to work through it, but when it happens three times in a row, you’re getting pretty frustrated,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said.

The worst part for the Predators is that they feel they deserved better in two of the past three games. They had 39 shots on goal and 84 shot attempts in 4-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday. They outshot the Rangers 31-19 and finished with a 75-41 advantage in shot attempts.

“We’ve got to find a way to stay with it. We can’t get frustrated,” Predators captain Shea Weber said. “It’s tough to say that when you haven’t scored in three games.”

The Predators are so cold that they couldn’t even score when Lundqvist was a non-factor.

Center Calle Jarnkrok had a shot go off the crossbar at 8:38 of the third period, and forward Filip Forsberg missed the net in the second period when Lundqvist was out by the faceoff circles because of an aggressive attempt to play the puck.

Forsberg hasn’t scored since Oct. 15, a span of 16 games. He scored 26 goals last season.

“I don’t think that they’re not trying to put it in the net when you end up with 30 quality chances out of 75, 80 attempts at the net,” Laviolette said. “The guys are trying to score, and it’s not dropping right now. They worked their tails of tonight and again it didn’t go our way.”

It didn’t in part because of Lundqvist and New York’s penalty-killers. The Rangers were shorthanded four times in the first period, including a high-sticking double minor by Stepan at 16:39, but blocked seven shots and allowed eight to get to Lundqvist on the penalty kills.

The Rangers finished the game with 26 blocked shots, including six from defenseman Kevin Klein, who was hobbled by a slap shot from Weber, the winner of the NHL’s hardest-shot competition at 2015 NHL All-Star Weekend with a blast of 108.5 mph.

“I think he fired from the blue line one time and I didn’t even react to it, so for them to step in front of that and pay the price, [I have] a lot of respect for that,” Lundqvist said. “I think the guys, when they see guys pay the price like that, it gives the bench energy. As a goalie, it gives you energy.”

The Rangers also got energy again from Nash, who scored his sixth goal of the season and fourth in the past two games on an individual rush at 4:32 of the second period. Nash blew past Predators center Mike Fisher and scored from the left circle on a short-side wrist shot.

Nash also had a hat trick, including the overtime winner, in New York’s 5-4 victory at the Florida Panthers on Saturday. He scored two goals in his first 17 games.

“I already could tell this morning in practice just the way he was shooting the puck and around the net; he’s hungry, and I’m just happy for him,” Lundqvist said. “He deserves it the way he’s been working and making so many good plays. Now the goals are coming, so it’s great to see.”

New York has won nine in a row at home.

The Rangers had a 1-0 lead despite being outshot 25-7 through two periods, including 14-6 at even strength. The Predators had a 62-21 advantage in shot attempts. One of New York’s shots was a 131-foot slap shot at the end of the first period.

The Predators continue their road trip on Wednesday night as they travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres.  The puck drops at 6 PM and you can hear the action here on Thunder Radio

The Coffee County Elementary League had a full slate of games on Saturday at the Joe Frank Patch Gym. Results are as follows,

In girls action:
Westwood 28, East Coffee 0
College Street 21, Deerfield 20
Hickerson 27, North Coffee 6
Hillsboro 21, New Union 18

In boys’ play:
Westwood 30, East Coffee 8
College Street 32, Deerfield 6
Hickerson 29, North Coffee 14
New Union 40, Hillsboro 16

UNOFFICIAL Current Standings

Girls
College Street – 4 & 1
Hillsboro – 4 & 1
New Union – 4 & 1
Westwood – 4 & 1
Hickerson – 3 & 2
North Coffee – 1 & 4
Deerfield – 0 & 5
East Coffee – 0 & 5

Boys
College Street – 5 & 0
Westwood – 5 & 0
Hickerson – 4 & 1
New Union – 4 & 1
East Coffee – 1 & 4
Hillsboro – 1 & 4
Deerfield – 0 & 5
North Coffee – 0 & 5

The Elementary League will be off on Saturday and will return to the court on December 5th

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Predators forward James Neal approached Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk near the end of Saturday night’s game and told his offseason golf partner he hoped Dubnyk wouldn’t post a shutout.

Unfortunately for Neal, Dubnyk wasn’t in a joking mood after Neal knocked out Wild star Zach Parise earlier this season.

Dubnyk made 23 saves for his third shutout of the season and Ryan Suter had a goal and two assists against his former team, leading Minnesota to a 4-0 victory.

“He told me that he hopes I don’t get a shutout; I imagine you don’t, you’re on the ice,” Dubnyk said of the interaction. “I went golfing with him this summer. I still didn’t really want to be laughing with him. I don’t really like, obviously, what he’d done to Zach.”

Neal was involved in a collision with Parise on Nov. 5 that sidelined the Wild forward with a sprained MCL. Parise skated with the Wild on Saturday morning but missed his seventh straight game.

A testy game between Central Division foes featured two fights, numerous altercations and a 10-minute misconduct against the Predators’ Mike Ribeiro. Many times it was the Predators, who have been outscored 8-0 the past two games, instigating the exchanges.

“Discipline’s playing into it,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. “We’re not very disciplined right now.”

Suter said he didn’t think there was carry-over from the previous meeting when Parise was injured, but the loss of their leading goal scorer was still on the Wild players’ minds.

“To see guys dropping their gloves out there, obviously you never expect them to, but it shows how we feel about what he did to our best player,” Dubnyk said. “It’s important just for the symbolic part of it, that guys are going to go out and fight for each other.”

Suter, who left Nashville in 2012 when he teamed with Parise to sign matching 13-year contracts with Minnesota, opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first against Pekka Rinne. It was the first time in five games the Wild had scored first.

“As soon as that went in that was a lot of relief for our team,” Suter said. “We had been chasing and I think that’s what’s taken away from our structure and the way that we were used to playing. To get the first goal was important.”

Rinne made 23 saves, but Nashville was again undone by numerous trips to the penalty box. The Predators have been short-handed 29 times in the past eight games. They had killed their past 13 penalties before Suter’s goal.

“We keep talking about it,” Predators defenseman Shea Weber said. “A lot of your best players kill penalties and when they kill penalties the whole game they can’t do offensive things. I don’t know how long we can sit here and talk about it until we actually start doing something.”

The Wild were 2 of 4 on the power play as Nashville accumulated 30 penalty minutes. Mikael Granlund, Jonas Brodin and Thomas Vanek also scored for Minnesota.

The Predators travel to New York on a game on Monday night with the Rangers.  Face-off is set for 6 PM and you can hear the game here on Thunder Radio.