By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
So far on the young season the T.R. Miller Tigers have shown they like home cooking with victories over Escambia County and Straughn.
Now the Tigers will find out how well they perform on the road when they travel to Midland City Friday for a 7 p.m. Class 3A Region 1 matchup against the Dale County Warriors.
On paper, the contest looks like a mismatch. While the state's top-ranked Tigers have outscored their first two foes 57-27 in their two victories, the Warriors have been outscored 67-24 in setbacks to Geneva (48-6) and last week's region opener to Abbeville (19-18).
Numbers on the scoreboard have not been the only digits that have plagued new Dale County coach Will Randolph, who had formerly been the head skipper at Tarrant. The Warriors have just 22 players, barely enough for a full team scrimmage.
Despite the lack of overall numbers, Dale County does have some experience especially at the skill spots where quarterback Michael Johnson (5-9, 150 lb. sr.), running backs Chaz Thomas (5-11, 245 lb. sr.) and James Peters (6-0, 202 lb. sr.), and tight end Robert McClain (5-11, 208 lb. sr.) return. Peters actually now shares some of the snaps with Johnson.
Even though Dale County again came up short last week, Riggs said the Warriors made some big strides from their week one loss.
While Dale County has a new coach this season, the T.R. Miller coaching staff is familiar with Randolph's work.
While T.R. Miller's offense generated a somewhat modest 20 points against Straughn Friday, its defense scored nine points and was largely responsible for Straughn's average starting position being its own 13-yard line.
T.R. Miller lineman Justin Marshall will miss his second game this week with a hamstring injury. Meanwhile wide receiver Javaris Drakeford continues to mend from a broken wrist.
has the cast on his wrist. While he is able to do limited leg work, the cast limits him quite a bit as to what he can do," Riggs said.