With every great challenge, you always need to have courage.

For the T.R. Miller Tigers, this week against top-10 ranked Washington County, Tiger head coach Jamie Riggs says the game will be a “great challenge.”

“The one thing I will say about this group is that the last couple of weeks in particular, we have played with a lot of courage and that is a good sign and I really like that,” Riggs said. “We don’t do everything right, but if you will try really hard and show courage, it will give you a chance. So I like what I see out of that.”

The Tigers improved to 4-2 Friday night with a big road win at Clarke County. The win also improved the Tigers to 3-1 in region play. The Tigers defeated Clarke County 34-26, but trailed early in the game and used a second half shutout to get the win.

“We kind of got ourselves in a hole against Clarke County as we gave up a run on the opening kickoff for a touchdown and we didn’t defend a few pass plays down there,” Riggs said. “We also roughed the kicker one time and did some things we cannot do. Clarke County, to their credit, was well prepared and they have a really good team and they made some plays down there in the second quarter as they made some good throws and catches and some things.”

Riggs said he was really proud of his group for coming out in the second half.

“In the third quarter, we moved the ball some, but we just could not get it in, but I think they only made two or three first downs in the second half,” Riggs added. “We kind of shut them off some and get them off the ball. Once we got the first one in, we got the ball back and got the second one in and got the lead and then we were just trying to run the clock out but we scored on the way down there and got the eight point lead. It was a good victory and it is difficult to get behind on the road and come back and win.”

This week, the Tigers will take on Washington County at home. Last week, Washington County (5-1 overall and 4-0 in region play) was ranked No. 7 in class 3A.

The Bulldogs lead region 1 as of right now after knocking off previously undefeated Bayside Academy 34-31 Friday night.

“Washington County is a really excellent team,” Riggs said. “They went to the quarterfinals of the playoffs last year as a 2A school and they return several players from that team. So this is a fairly seasoned team first off. Everyone starts off and talks about their great running back, No. 25, Devonta Parker. He is a great running back. He is a great player and they are certainly going to give him the ball a lot.”

In addition to Parker, Riggs said Washington County also has a really excellent quarterback in No. 4, James Beech.

“He is a big kid,” Riggs said. “He does a great job of running the option and can really throw the ball. They can run and throw the ball with their great tailback so they can do both. So they are very difficult to defend.”

On defense, Riggs said the Bulldogs really play hard.

“That is the number one thing,” Riggs said. “They really have some athletes over there. I know our coaches look at them and the number one thing we see from them is that they really play hard. They have defended people really well and have a really good pass defense as well as a run defense. So the combination has put them on a current five-game win streak. With Washington County, it is safe to say that this will be a great challenge.”

Game time is set for 7 p.m. in Brewton.