It will be a battle of two top-10 teams Friday night in Brewton as county rivals T.R. Miller and the Escambia Blue Devils take to the field to open their 2011 schedules.
The class 4A No. 10-ranked Blue Devils of Escambia County High School in Atmore will travel north on U.S. 31 Friday to Brewton Municipal Stadium to take on the No. 7-ranked T.R. Miller Tiger football team.
The two teams played to a 35-34 overtime Atmore win last year in Atmore. Atmore went 9-4 last year losing in the quarterfinals while T.R. Miller went 8-4 losing in the second round of the playoffs.
T.R. Miller Tiger head coach Jamie Riggs said his team is getting bored practicing against themselves and are ready to play in a real game.
“Our last few practices have been OK,” Riggs said. “We are at the point where we need to play. We are a little bored and are tired of practicing and we are ready to play. I think everyone is happy to be at game week.”
The Blue Devils hosted the No. 2-ranked class 1A Linden Patriots in a jamboree game last week with the Patriots picking up the decisive victory 32-3.
“I did not get to see them play the other night, but everyone knows about the defensive linemen (Tyler Nero and Dalvin Craft),” Riggs said. “We played against them last year and we know how good they are. So obviously you have to find a way to handle them. Offensively, everything that did the last few years centered around their quarterback (Ricco Stallworth). They have a different quarterback now, but everything still centers around him. He can run and he can sprint out and throw the ball a lot. So, obviously we need to find a way to try and handle some of that.”
Riggs said the 2011 version of the Blue Devils are a typical Atmore team.
“They have great size and overall team speed,” Riggs said. “I don’t see a lot of differences in this Atmore team and a lot of the other ones physically. We know they had a really good year last year and went to the third round of the playoffs and I have no reason to doubt they will be a good team this year.”
Atmore seniors Tyler Nero and Dalvin Craft lead the Atmore front seven on defense. Craft has committed to the University of Southern Miss while Nero is an SEC commit to Auburn.
Riggs says that poses a challenge for his new starter at quarterback and young tailbacks.
“They are difficult to deal with,” Riggs said of the two-headed monster in Craft and Nero. “They have big size and strength. We have to get a plan for them and I am not really pleased with our plan right now for them. We need a better plan of handling them somehow because if we don’t handle them, they will cause us some big problems. Last year, they hurt us in the second half particularly. So we will concentrate on that.”
While Riggs is still game planning for the Blue Devils, he is glad the first game is here.
“We are just glad to play,” Riggs said. “Like everyone, we will try and get a lot of people in the game. Some have done well enough in practice and we feel like we can get them in the game right now. Some of those will show they will get better and be able to play on Friday nights. Some will show us they are not ready yet, but I think they ones who have showed promise need to be able to get in the game and see what they can do.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Brewton Municipal Stadium on the campus of T.R. Miller High School.