By By Adam Robinson – Sports Editor
Last week, Terez Lane scored four touchdowns for the Tigers to help lead T.R. Miller to a 48-19 win over Cottage Hill.
Not to be outdone by his brother, Matt Lane rushed for three touchdowns and 148 yards and the T.R. Miller Tiger offense racked up 540 total yards of offense. Those yards led to the defeat the Bayside Academy Admirals 41-13 Friday night in Brewton. The win keeps the Tigers undefeated in the region at 2-0 and in the overall category at 3-0.
Bayside fell to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in class 3A region one.
The Tigers totaled 308 yards on the ground and 242 yards in the air to just 131 on the ground for the Admiral s and 141 in the air for a total of 272.
Another thing Riggs said helped lead to the 540 yards of rushing was his teams blocking. Riggs said earlier in the week that blocking was something his team needed to work on from last week and needed to correct to win this weeks game.
The Tigers elected to go on defense to begin the game and held the Admirals to just two first downs on their first offensive possession. After the two first downs, the Tiger defense forced an Admiral punt which was downed at the Tiger 1-yard line.
A 15-yard run on a first down pushed the ball to the Tigers' 16-yard line and on their second play on offense, Tiger quarterback Wil Riggs connected with Bradley McCreary for an 84-yard touchdown. A Nick Dorso extra point put the Tigers up 7-0 with 8:39 left in the first quarter.
On the Admirals second offensive series, Cortez Banks picked off an errant pass for the Tigers and returned it to the 34-yard line.
From there, the Tigers used 12-plays to get its second score of the night, a 10-yard run from Matt Lane, to go up 14-0 with 4.3 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Admirals, on their next offensive series, elected to try for a 50-yard field goal that landed just shy of the cross bar. That shortall gave the Tigers a chance to add more points, but the Tigers failed to move the ball. The play frced the Tigers to punt the ball to Bayside, who cut the Tiger lead to 14-7 with 4:15 left in the half.
After the ensuing kickoff, Lane scored his second touchdown of the night on a 7-yard run to put the Tigers up 21-7 with 2:18 left in the half.
After another Tiger interception by Bradley McCreary, the Tigers turned the ball over on an interception. Daniel Calametti returned the ball 47-yards with 45 seconds left in the half to cut the Tiger lead to 21-13 after the missed two-point conversion.
After the interception, the Tigers used five plays to get to the Admiral 17-yard line when first year football player, Nick Dorso, attempted his first career field goal and connected to put the Tigers up 24-13 at the end fo the half.
The Tigers opened the second half with another Dorso field goal after moving the ball to the 13-yard to go ahead 27-13 with 8:11 left in the third quarter. It was Dorso's second field goal of the night and he also connected on all of his extra points.
Riggs said that Dorso is getting better every week and is learning more about kicking every day.
The Tiger defense held the Bayside Admirals scoreless in the second half and the Tiger offense would add 14 more points.
Lane scored his third and final touchdown of the night with 3:13 left in the third quarter on a 71-yard run to put the Tigers up 34-13.
Jaren Jackson would add the final Tiger touchdown with 1:11 left in the third quarter on a 3-yard rush to give the Tigers a 41-13 lead in the quarter and claim the win by the final score.
That is all the offensive line yardage right there and the receivers just did a great job,” Tiger quarterback Wil Riggs said of the offensive numbers and his 9-of-17 passing for 242 yards. “I throw the ball and they catch it and run the rest of the way. It's my job to get the ball to them. We came in this week and worked on blocking and talked about blocking til the whistle blows so that is just credit to the offensive line. I am proud of the win. It's a great win.”
Tiger offensive coordinator Eddie Brundidge also gave credit to the Tiger offensive line for the huge offensive numbers.
Earlier in the week, Riggs said something that stuck out at him and is when he thinks his team won the game.
The Tigers will be back in action next Friday night at home as they close out their three-game home-stand against Central of Hayneville. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Brewton Municipal Stadium.