Miller gets 600th win
Published 12:40 am Saturday, September 11, 2010
After three unsuccessful tries at getting their 600th win, the T.R. Miller Tigers got the milestone win Friday night over Excel at home 64-7.
The win was also the team’s first of the 2010 season as they improved to 1-2 overall and to 1-1 in region play.
T.R. Miller is the first team in the state of Alabama, regardless of classification, to accomplish the feat of 600 wins.
“Well, the sad part of it is that I have seen most of the 600 wins,” T.R. Miller Tiger head coach Riggs, who has seen 237 wins at T.R. Miller, said. “It is nice and I think it has said something about the people who have been here in the past. We have formed the M Club and I have been amazed at seeing all these guys come in. To me, it is special to them. That is something that they can take pride in knowing they were part of it. I am excited about those guys. The 600 thing for me is more about the guys in the past. I hope they will take some pride in it.”
After seeing Excel intercept the Tigers second play from scrimmage and return it to the 1-yard line and score four plays later to take a 7-0 lead with 7:04 left in the first quarter, T.R. Miller scored 64 unanswered points including 29 in the third quarter to turn a 16-7 lead into a 45-7 lead.
Sophomore Tiger quarter Kevin Davis made his first start of the season in place of injured senior quarterback Wil Riggs.
“It started off rough but the offensive line was there 100 percent for us tonight,” Davis said. “We picked it up in the second half and just came out and played our butts off. It feels great to get the win. We have been working hard all week for it.”
Riggs said he thought Davis did a good job leading the team in his first start.
“He did good especially with him not having a lot of playing experience and everything,” Riggs said. “We put him under the gun tonight and asked him to do some things and I thought he did really good. Not only that, we were doing some no huddle stuff and I thought he handled that really well recognizing all his signals well. He got roughed up a little bit but kept on playing. He did good. He is going to be a really good quarterback.”
The Tigers racked up 485 total yards of offense with 422 coming on the ground while holding Excel to 108 total yards—11 total in the second half all on the ground.
“I am really happy to get the win,” T.R. Miller Tiger head coach Jamie Riggs said. “I was really proud of the second half. We came out in the third quarter and started making an effort in the third quarter to get some fresh legs in the game and I thought it paid off for us as we were trying to rotate backs a little bit. I think that helped us some and was a good deal and we got some turnovers. I was disappointed in the second quarter down there as I thought we were just slow, making penalties and all. It was just ridiculous. You can’t win doing things like that. We would gain 20 yards and have the thing called back. We got to straighten some of that out, but you make a little progress.”
Fifteen Tigers ran the ball in the win with Anthony Herbert leading the way with 105 yards on nine carries and three touchdowns.
Davis finished 6-for-19 with one interception for 63 yards.
“I am just glad to get the win,” Riggs said. “It was very hard fought. We have had 10 very hard fought quarters before we finally kind of exploded tonight in the third quarter. We certainly know how to play ahead and certainly know how to play from behind. So, we have seen a little bit of both. We had the bad start tonight (interception returned to the 1-yard line) but we handled it. We are learning some things and hopefully it will help us out.”
T.R. Miller will be back in action at home next week against Montgomery Academy.