After the first two games of the 2010 season, the T.R. Miller Tiger football team was 0-2 losing to Atmore and Bayside Academy.
With a thrilling win last week at home against Atmore, the Tigers have their chance to avenge the 2010 losses as they will take on Bayside Academy this week at home.
Tiger head coach Jamie Riggs said the win over the Blue Devils of Escambia County was a good win against a tough team.
“We knew Atmore had a good football team and we had our work cut out for us,” Riggs said. “I thought it was a hot and humid game and what impressed me was how much each team wanted to win the game. Atmore really wanted to win this game, as it is always a huge game for them. It mean a lot for them to win this game. So that hit me early. It was a great game as they jumped on us early and we came back and kind of had the lead and momentum in the fourth quarter and they run the kickoff back for a touchdown. Then we could not do anything right and here they come and they take the lead.”
Riggs said he was proud of his team for coming back late to get the win.
“We made some plays at the end,” Riggs said. “Usually you are not good in your two-minute offense in the first game of the year, but I think we did a commendable job getting the ball down there to score and win it against a tough defense. Their two defensive lineman was better than advertised—Craft and Nero—and I thought our guys just hung in there to give us a chance. We won a few battles, but they won some too. We just played with courage.”
Riggs said with all that being said, his team did some poor things as well.
“We did some things that you can’t do if you want to keep on winning,” Riggs said. “We gave up some long runs and passes, so we have some things to work on.”
As for Bayside, the Admirals come into the game with the Tigers 1-0 after beating Millry 43-32. Last year the Admirals beat T.R. Miller 27-20 and the year before, the Tigers had to stop Bayside in the final seconds to win.
“They are a tough team,” Riggs said. “They are very disciplined, tough, good in the kicking game and they do everything well. You can’t look at them and say they are weak at anything. Physically, they don’t impress you as much as their tenacity. It is a different team than the one we played last week. But they are just as hard to beat. So we will have to play really well to give ourselves a chance to win the game. Having played them now with this being the fourth time, I think our players understand what it takes to have a shot to beat Bayside.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. in Brewton.