Things did not get off to a good start for the T.R. Miller Tigers Friday night on the road in Daleville, but the Tigers were on the winning end of a 41-24 victory round one playoff win over the No. 1 seed Warhawks.

With the win, the No. 4 seed Tigers of Brewton improved to 8-3 overall.

“I appreciate our people who bowed their tails up and did some things right in the game,” T.R. Miller Tiger head coach Jamie Riggs said. “It was a great victory to go on the road and play against a great team.”

After giving up the opening kickoff return for a touchdown, T.R. Miller scored 21 unanswered points to hold a 21-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. Neither team scored in the second half as T.R. Miller held the 15-point lead at halftime.

From there, Daleville cut the lead to 21-12 with 1:48 left in the third quarter as T.R. Miller held the nine-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, T.R. Miller would lead 28-12 with 11:54 left in the game only to see Daleville cut the lead to 28-18 with 8:32 left in the game.

Things got interesting when T.R. Miller fumbled and Daleville recovered to score and cut the lead to 28-24 with 7:13 left in the fourth quarter.

T.R. Miller would add two late touchdowns to get the win by 17.

T.R. Miller made six turnovers in the game on offense, but the Tiger defense got six turnovers from the Warhawks to help preserve the win.

“Well, we did a great job in the first half getting some stops,” Riggs said. “We made some things happen on offense and then all of a sudden, we started turning the ball over. I think we turned the ball over six times. We have not had that many turnovers the whole year. We just all of a sudden can’t hold it. How we come out with a victory is unbelievable. We give up a touchdown on the opening kickoff and then we are down and make six turnovers and still win the game.”

Riggs said he was proud of his defense for helping bail out the offense.

“We know we are going to give up some yards on defense, but when we get some turnovers and stops, like we did, we did a good job especially in the first half,” Riggs said. “The offense kept putting them in some bad places and they kept getting the stops and did a great job. I appreciate my defensive coaches and players who have not played as well as they would have liked to the last few weeks to bow up tonight and do a great job.”

Tiger defensive coordinator Chris Baxter also praised his defensive Tigers.

“We have battled and battled and battled,” Baxter said. “We knew coming in, it was going to be a tough ballgame. We knew turnovers were important and stops were important. I am just so proud of that bunch right there, and we get to play again next week.”

T.R. Miller totaled 458 yards of offense in the win with 326 yards coming on the ground and 132 in the air. T.R. Miller had 150 yards rushing in the first half and 176 in the second half while having 87 yards passing in the first half and 45 in the second.

Daleville racked up 368 total yards of offense with 42 rushing in the first half and 134 in the second half. The Warhawks had 82 passing yards in the first half and 110 in the second half.

Anthony Herbert led T.R. Miller rushing with 197 yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns. Jaren Jackson added 99 yards on six carries and two touchdowns.

Wil Riggs was 7-for-12 passing with two interceptions. Riggs had 132 yards passing with one touchdown.

Dakota Shultz led receiving with one reception for a 45-yard touchdown.

T.R. Miller will take on Trinity next week in a rematch from earlier in the regular season. All region 1 teams defeated region 2 teams as Trinity knocked off Luverne 28-0.

“We know Trinity well,” Riggs said. “So hopefully we can get prepared and make a great game out of it.”

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