By By BRUCE HIXON
Sports Editor
Like any game, there are several questions surrounding the T.R. Miller Tigers home contest with the Abbeville Yellow Jackets in a Class 3A Region 1 matchup, but the questions are a little different this week.
When will the game be played? What kind of condition will Brewton Municipal Stadium be in after Hurricane Ivan strikes? Could it get moved to a different location?
For now, the game is still slated to be played at T.R. Miller High School as scheduled, which is Friday at 7:30 p.m. Then again, that date and time could change at any moment.
"The way the forecast is projected, we're probably going to get a lot of rain and wind. We'll probably be without power for a while. The big question for us to be able to host the game is how quickly we can get our electricty turned back on if it goes out," T.R. Miller coach Jamie Riggs said.
If conditions do not allow, Saturday night would probably be the next likely possible playing date.
"You could get by without having the power on if you played in the afternoon, but you'd like to have electricity for the concession stands, the scoreboard and the public address system," Riggs said. "If we can't go Friday or Saturday, we might be looking at playing Monday."
There is a slim chance the game could get moved to Abbeville if conditions are unfavorable in Brewton, but playable at Abbeville. That would be an ironic situation since this game was supposed to be played at Abbeville in the beginning. T.R. Miller has since paid Abbeville to travel to Brewton instead.
"Playing the game in Abbeville is kind of one of those last resort things, but I guess it's something you can't totally rule out," Riggs said.
Weather aside, the Tigers (3-0 overall and 2-0 in Class 3A Region 1) host an Abbeville team that has lost both of its region games (21-13 to Dale County and 42-6 to Straughn) after a 62-7 win over non-region foe Barbour County in its opener.
Abbeville is a pretty young team (only seven seniors), but they have a lot of size up front. Their offensive line will go from about 250 to 300 pounds. They also have pretty good skill people," Riggs said.
Perhaps the Yellow Jackets
See TIGERS Page 7
best combination so far has been quarterback D.J. Wiggins (5-11, 159 lb. soph) to wide receiver John Grubbs (6-1, 203 lb. sr.).
"Wiggins is a pretty good athlete. He has a nice arm and Grubbs gives him a good target because of his size. As a whole Abbeville tries to throw the ball quite a bit. They probably throw it better than they run it. I imagine they will try to throw it at least 20 times," Riggs said.
The Tigers, who are coming off a 27-0 victory over Dale County, have allowed just nine points (an average of three per game).
"It's probably not feasible to expect that all season, but we have played pretty well on the defensive side. Probably the area that has helped us the most is we've tackled pretty well," Riggs said. "Other than the one long pass against Escambia County, we haven't given up big plays. We've made teams have to grind it out against us."
T.R. Miller's offense got two big boosts last week. Junior running back Tim Atcher returned to the lineup last week and racked up 88 yards on nine attempts and scored three touchdowns. The Tigers also got 115 yards passing from junior quarterback Jordan Cauley after he had completed just one pass in the previous two games.
"We try to spread the ball around among our backs and getting Tim back gives us another threat. Jordan also had a nice game. He made some good throws and we did a better job of catching it," Riggs said.
NOTE: All girls who attended the T.R. Miller Cheerleading Clinic in August will be allowed to cheer with the T.R. Miller cheerleaders during the game against Abbeville.
Each girl will be admitted free with a ticket paying adult. Those girls need to be at the north gate between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. No other gate will allow the girls in free.