By By Adam Robinson
sports editor
T.R. Miller’s Anthony Herbert rushed for four touchdowns and the Tiger defense picked off four Abbeville passes as they cruised to a 35-6 first round win over the Yellow Jackets Friday night in Brewton in the first round of the AHSAA playoffs.
The win moves the Tigers to a second round game against region rival Luverne at home next week. Luverne pulled off a 13-7 upset of Pike County in Brundidge Friday night.
T.R. Miller defeated Luverne 29-24 earlier this season at home in week seven.
Tiger defensive coordinator Chris Baxter seconded what Riggs said of the defense. T.R. Miller gave up only one touchdown in the game and held deep after some long Abbeville runs and drives.
T.R. Miller failed to pick up any yards on their first series and punted the ball to Abbeville as the Yellow Jackets took over at their own 18-yard line.
From there, the Yellow Jackets used four plays to get to the T.R. Miller 7-yard line.
After getting down inside Tiger territory, the Tiger defense stopped Abbeville for negative yards on two plays and after a third down run got the ball back to the 10-yard line, the Tigers held on a missed field goal to get the ball at their own 20-yard line at the 7:30 mark in the first quarter.
From there, the Tiger passing game went to work as quarterback Wil Riggs connected with Terez Lane for catches of 11, 46, and 8 to set up Herbert’s first touchdown of four at the 4:18 mark.
Wes Dickey, who connected on all five extra points, made it a 7-0 T.R. Miller lead with just over four minutes to play in the first quarter.
The Tiger defense later held after Abbeville got to the Tiger 18-yard line and after a 79-yard run from eighth grader Eric Maye that gave T.R. Miller the ball at the 3-yard line, Herbert scored to give T.R. Miller a 14-0 lead with 18.9 left in the first quarter.
The only touchdown for Abbeville came with 4:28 left before the half as they connected on a 65-yard touchdown pass that a Tiger defender deflected, but fell right in a Yellow Jacket player’s hand to cut the lead to 14-6.
Herbert added a 7-yard touchdown run with 54.9 left in the half to give T.R. Miller a 21-6 lead at the half.
In the second half, T.R. Miller faced a few set backs after quarterback Wil Riggs and receiver Terez Lane had to leave the game with injuries.
The Tiger offense sputtered on their first two series as they had -12 yards of offense.
But the Tiger defense forced an Abbeville punt and the Tiger offense scored on a 29-yard run from Herbert, his fourth touchdown of the night, to go up 28-6 with 4:04 left in the third quarter.
The Tiger defense, after having one interception in the first half from Jamal Spears, got two from Walter Smith in the second half and one from Kendrick Watson to cancel three Abbeville drives.
Maye added the final touchdown of the night at the 1:22 mark in the fourth quarter to ice the game and give T.R. Miller the 35-6 win.
After the loss of Wil Riggs and Lane, coach Riggs said his team just “rallied.”
Herbert had four touchdowns, all rushing, and had 76 yards on 14 carries. Maye had 82 yards rushing on six carries and one touchdown.
Another eighth grader, Cameron Coleman, rushed the ball four times for 25 yards.
The Tigers had five different running backs carry the ball and all had over 20 yards each.
Lane had four catches for 87 yards before leaving with an injury.
The Tigers had 20 first downs in the win and 379 total yards of offense with 240 on the ground.
Abbeville had 359 total yards of offense with 205 on the ground and 11 first downs.
As for the rematch with Luverne?
T.R. Miller 35,
Abbeville 6
At T.R. Miller
TRM    14    7    7       7—35
AHS    0    6    0       0—6
TRM—Herbert 1-yard run (Dickey kick)
TRM—Herbert 3-yard run (Dickey kick)
Abbeville—Sampson 65-yard pass reception from Newman (kick failed)
TRM—Herbert 7-yard run (Dickey kick)
TRM—Herbert 29-yard run (Dickey kick)
TRM—Maye 16-yard run (Dickey kick)