Two Bulldogs down and one to go: That is the case for the T.R. Miller Tiger football team this week, as they will travel to Chatom to take on the Washington County Bulldogs.
Washington County will be the third straight set of Bulldogs the Tigers have faced after falling to Andalusia in week five 35-10 and downing Clarke County last Friday night at home in a key region game 14-6.
As for the win over Clarke County at homecoming last week, Tiger head coach Jamie Riggs said he is always happy to get a win.
“I was particularly happy because I knew Clarke County had a good team,” Riggs said. “I think that will prove out as the year goes on and they will have some success. Secondly, with all going on with homecoming, we were able to focus on the game enough and win the game. That is not an easy task these days. I was very pleased to get the victory.”
Riggs said he thought his defense played really hard in the win.
“Certainly the players did a really good job of what we were asking them to do,” Riggs said. “I was a little disappointed in our offense’s performance. We really played well in the first quarter, but after that we seemed to lose our intensity or something. We never did block or execute the way we are capable of doing. That needs to pick up in a hurry.”
This week the Tigers will take on one-loss Washington County on the road.
Friday night, No. 4 Washington County lost to No. 6 Bayside Academy 35-28 Friday night for their first loss this season to fall to 5-1 overall and to 3-1 in region play.
In the final seconds last year in Brewton against No. 6 Washington County, T.R. Miller scored on a 45-yard Hail Mary as time expired and added a two-point conversion to stun Washington County and claim a 36-35 win.
With less than 20 seconds to go and trailing 35-28, T.R. Miller Tiger quarterback Wil Riggs scrambled around in the backfield and threw the ball to the end zone, where Jaren Jackson plucked the ball from 5 yards out and bulled his way into the end zone as time expired. As the Tigers went for a two-point conversion, Jamaal Spears ran the ball around left end and was hit at the goal line. He fell in to give the Tigers a 36-35 heart-stopping win.
“Obviously we knew going into the year, Washington County would have one of the best teams in our region,” Riggs said of the Bulldogs this year. “I think that has been proven to be true. They have been outstanding on defense this year (allowed 36 points all season until Friday’s loss at Bayside for an average of 7.2 points a game). Bayside was by far the most points they have given up this year. They have great quickness on offense. Their quarterback, No. 10 Dane Howard, is an excellent athlete who does a great job of running and throwing the ball. He is very dangerous and is a quick runner.”
Riggs said WCHS has two or three running backs they like to use as well.
“They are all very quick,” Riggs said. “They also have some very skillful players at wide receiver. Some of their receivers have some size. They just do a really good job on offense. Our challenge is to No. 1, deal with the trip and get great preparation this week and group together and go play a very tough football team. It is really going to be a great challenge.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Washington County.