By Staff
The T.R. Miller Tigers have drawn a first-round matchup with the Greene County Tigers in the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs. That game will be played at Brewton Municipal Stadium on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.
T.R. Miller will enter postseason play as the number one seed from Region 1 despite Friday's 42-35 setback to W.S. Neal. The Tigers finished region play with a 6-1 record and will take an 8-1 overall record into this week's regular season finale against Trinity Presbyterian.
Greene County overtook Oak Grove in the final week of region play Friday to grab the fourth and final qualifying playoff spot from Region 4. Oak Grove would have clinched a playoff spot with a victory Friday, but instead was trounced 26-6 by Fayette County. Oak Grove's loss combined with Greene' County's 63-32 win over Holt enabled Greene County and Oak Grove to both finish region play with 3-4 records. Greene County owns the head-to-head tiebreaker through its 28-19 win over Oak Grove.
The Tigers are 3-6 on the season headed into their regular season finale Friday at Demopolis. Greene County has beaten Oak Grove 28-19, Northside 42-12 and Holt 63-32 in region play. The Tigers have lost region games to Central-Tuscaloosa 52-9, Livingston 26-24, Fayette County 42-22 and Jemison 38-8, and non-region games to Aliceville 49-6 and Sumter County 32-26.
The T.R. Miller/Greene County winner will play the Elmore County/Region 2 third place team winner in the second round. Elmore County (7-2 overall) is the runner-up in Region 3 with a 6-1 record. The Region 2 third place spot finished in a three-way between Ashford (6-3 overall), Daleville (4-5 overall) and St. James (4-5 overall) with 4-3 region marks. The teams have split their head-to-head meetings and none have beaten any team in front of it.
Ashford's defeated opponents have 14 wins, while both Daleville and St. James' defeated opponents have eight wins. St. James can not pick up enough points in week 10 and will be eliminated. Daleville can only qualify it its beats unbeaten Geneva (9-0) and Ashford loses to Rehobeth (2-7).
W.S. Neal's first-round opponent remains to be determined although the Blue Eagles are locked into a road game.
W.S. Neal (7-2 overall and 5-2 in region play) will either be a third seed if Southside-Selma beat Escambia County Friday (no score available at press time) or a fourth seed if Escambia County won.
Fayette County (8-1 overall), Central-Tuscaloosa (7-2 overall) and Jemison (6-3 overall) finished in a three-way tie atop Region 4 and the teams divided their head-to-head meetings.
The first applicable tiebreaker is the number of wins by defeated opponents. Fayette County is in the driver's seat for the number one spot, as their defeated opponents own 26 wins. Central-Tuscaloosa is currently the second seed, as its defeated opponents have 19 wins. Jemison's defeated opponents own 17 wins.
While it will be tough for either Jemison or Central-Tuscaloosa to overtake Fayette County with only one week left, the race for the second spot is still very much up for grabs. The second seed will host either Escambia County or W.S. Neal, while the third seed will have to travel to Region 1 runner-up Thomasville.