By By Adam Robinson
sports editor
In a rematch of region rivals in round two of the AHSAA class 3A state playoffs Friday night in Brewton, No. 4 seed Luverne picked up a 19-14 win over No. 2 seed T.R. Miller in another classic between the teams.
With the loss, T.R. Miller ends its seaon at 10-2, while Luverne (9-3) advances to the quarterfinals to take on Trinity next week. T.R. Miller had beaten Luverne earlier in the season.
After no points went on the board in the first quarter, T.R. Miller scored first in the game with 8:26 left before the half as Anthony Herbert scored on a 19-yard run. Wes Dickey made the PAT to give T.R. Miller a 7-0 lead.
On the ensuing Luverne drive, the Tigers took over at their one 31-yard line with 8:19 left in the second quarter and went 11 plays to set up shop at the 1-yard line.
After a rush for no game and a 5-yard penalty against Luverne that pushed them back to the 6-yard line the Tiger defense held for a negative rush on third down to set up fourth down and goal from the 8-yard line.
That is when quarterback Monterio May connected with Michael Richardson for an 8-yard score to tie the game at 7-7 at the 1:14 mark before the half.
T.R. Miller fumbled the kickoff after the touchdown but held as the game was tied at 7-7 at the half.
In the second half, the Tigers used a six-play drive to get to the 18-yard line, but on fourth down missed a 35-yard field goal to give the ball back to Luverne who used seven plays to score and go ahead 13-7 with near the six minute mark after a 14-yard rush and the PAT failed.
T.R. Miller responded with an 10-play drive of their own to set up Herbert’s second touchdown of the night as he scored on a 12-yard run and Dickey put the Tigers ahead 14-13 with 52.8 second left in the third quarter.
Luverne benefited from a 74-yard on their first play of their next drive to score with 11:56 left in the game to go ahead 19-14 after a failed two-point conversion.
Both teams alternated punts and after a T.R. Miller punt back to Luverne at the 5:12 mark in the game held on a fourth-and-two inside their on 14-yard line to take over with 2:06 left in the game and no timeouts.
The Tigers picked up two first downs and got to their own 40-yard line with 28.2 seconds left in the game.
After an 8-yard pass from Wil Riggs to Terez Lane to the Miller 48-yard line, Miller was forced to spike on third down and a fourth down pass fell incomplete as time expired and Luverne got the win.
T.R. Miller was held to 250 total yards of offense with 119 on the ground while Luverne had 410 total yards with 388 on the ground. The visiting Tigers had 213 yards on the ground in the second half and no passing yards to help seal the win.
Herbert led with 79 yards rushing on 13 carries and two touchdowns, and Lane led with 54 yards receiving on three catches.
Riggs said that his seniors had been through a lot.