By By Adam Robinson- Sports Editor
The T.R. Miller Tigers used a 14-point first quarter and a 21-point second quarter to claim a 35-0 halftime lead to help defeat Dale County 42-6 Friday night in Brewton in round one of the class 3A playoffs.
With the win, T.R. Miller improved to 11-0 on the season, while Dale County fell to 6-5. The Tigers will take on Slocomb next week at home in round two of the playoffs. Slocomb beat Straughn 46-14.
The Tigers racked up 562 yards to the Warriors' 114 and had 17 first downs to Dale County's seven.
“I thought we did a pretty good job on defense. They run about three different offenses and we had all three of their offenses to prepare for. After we kind of got used to some things a little bit, they ripped us a couple times on this and that, but after we got use to it I thought we did well.”
After a 14-0 first quarter lead in which the Tigers racked up 74 yards on the ground and 59 in the air and held the Warriors to only 13 total yards and one first down on a roughing the passer penalty, the Tiger air-attack came to life in the second quarter as Tiger quarterback Wil Riggs threw for three touchdowns.
Riggs had an 83-yard pass to Bradley McCreary on the Tigers first play of the second quarter to go ahead 21-0 with 11:46 left in the half.
Riggs connected with McCreary again, this time for a 56-yard touchdown play with 2:41 left in the half to go ahead 28-0.
Riggs' final touchdown pass went to Terez Lane as the duo hooked up for a 34-yard pass reception with 2:12 left in the half to go up 35-0 after a Warrior fumble.
At the half, the Tigers had 337 total yards to just 23 for Dale County. Of the 337 yards, 232 were in the air and Riggs was 6-for-8 at the half. The Tigers had 10 first downs to Dale County's 23 total yards and three first downs. The three first downs all came on Tiger personal foul penalties.
Riggs finished 7-for-10 with 249 yards and three touchdowns. All three touchdowns came in the second quarter, and two went to McCreary who had four catches for 154 yards.
Riggs said that when you have as many of people trying to stop the run against you as Dale County did, the Tiger passing game needed to work.
Kenneth Fountain got the Tigers on the board early in the first quarter after a Dale County punt as he scored from 26 yards out to put T.R. Miller up 6-0 with 8:59 left in the first. Nick Dorso added the PAT for the Tigers and connected on all six for the night.
Cortez Banks gave T.R. Miller a 14-0 lead with 3:23 left in the quarter when he scored on a 3-yard run.
Fountain added his second touchdown of the night with 1:06 left in the third quarter as he scored on a 94-yard run from the Tiger's own 6-yard line to give T.R. Miller a 42-0 lead.
William Shriver had the lone touchdown for the Warriors as he returned a Tiger fumble 55-yard to cut the lead to 42-6 with 6:40 left in the game. The Warrior PAT was no good.
The Tiger defense pitched two goal line stands and recorded a shutout on the night as the lone Dale County touchdown came on an offensive turnover.
It would have been the third shutout of the year for the Tiger defense, which has only given up 35 points as the most in one game.
The 35 points came against Straughn with 28 points coming in the fourth quarter. All in all, the Tigers have given up 141 points this season for an average of 13 points a game.
While rain in the afternoon on Friday made for a wet, damp, and foggy night, Riggs said that in the playoffs you can'y let things like that bother you.
T.R. Miller will be home in round two of the playoffs next Friday night as they take on Slocomb. Slocomb is 9-2 on the season and claimed the second place position in region two this postseason.