Coming off a tough loss last Friday night—their first loss of the season— to rival W.S. Neal, the T.R. Miller Tigers will have another tough test this Friday night in their final game of the regular season when they host the Sweet Water High School Bulldogs.
T.R. Miller comes into the game with Sweet Water with an 8-1 overall record and finished 6-1 in region play after falling to the Eagles of East Brewton 34-26 Friday.
“It was a really good game,” T.R. Miller head coach Jamie Riggs said of the Battle of Murder Creek. “We played really hard and so did they. They just made more plays in the second half than we did. There is not much else I can say.”
Sweet Water comes into the game with T.R. Miller with an 8-1 overall record and finished 7-0 in region play. The Bulldogs, who were ranked No. 3 in the last football poll, suffered their only loss of the season in week one to Thomasville where they suffered a 37-22 loss.
The Bulldogs have won five state championships during head coach Stacy Luker’s 11-year tenure at the school. Sweet Water has made five semifinal appearances in the last six years alone.
Sweet Water defeated Mobile Christian last week 42-7 in their final region game of the season. T.R. Miller and Sweet Water have never met on the football field before.
“You are talking about a team that has won nine state championships,” Riggs said. “They obviously know something about winning. They once again have an outstanding team. They bumped up to 2A, but it has not seemed to slow them down any. They lost to Thomasville in the first game, but Thomasville is another good team. Since that time they have won all the rest of their games. I think this is a game that is kind of interesting just because we have such good football traditions. We just have never played each other. I think from that standpoint it will be a very interesting game. I know they are excited about coming over here when I have talked to them. Certainly I will hope that we will respond to that.”
Riggs said in talking to coach Luker when they scheduled the game and a couple of times over the summer, Luker thought that this year his team would be very good and this could be one of their better teams that they have ever had.
“So we have our work cut out for us, first of all, in getting prepared for them,” Riggs said. “And then second of all, they are probably going to play their best game they have played this year against us. So we need to have a great week of preparation and get ready to play this game.”
Riggs said the Bulldogs have several key players.
“Most everybody, when you start talking about them, talks about their fullback (No. 40 Marquis Waters),” Riggs said. “He is really an outstanding player and they depend on him a lot. Their quarterback (No. 7 Brett Davis) is an excellent player. I think he has been starting forever over there. He has been starting over there for a few years and also plays defense and returns kicks for them. He is kind of a do-everything kind of guy. They have a number of quality athletes and they also have some size. They have enough players that they don’t have to play a lot of them on both sides of the ball. So they have a number of good football players on their team.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Brewton Municipal Stadium on the campus of T.R. Miller High School.