The T.R. Miller Tigers used a 20-point second quarter to propel them to a 41-14 thrashing of the Escambia County Blue Devils Friday night in Atmore.
T.R. Miller (1-0) used a blocked punt, a punt return for touchdown, and a fumble return for a touchdown in the second quarter to score 20 points and add to a 7-0 lead after the first quarter to hold a 27-0 over the Blue Devils of Escambia County (0-1). In the third quarter, the Tigers of Brewton built a 34-0 lead and looked like they would cruise to an easy win, but the Blue Devils got a spark after a 93-yard kickoff return from Tyjustin Brown to cut the lead to 34-6 after the PAT was blocked.
Escambia County added another touchdown in the quarter to cut the lead to 34-14 heading into the fourth, but the Tigers added the final nail in the coffin with a 2-yard score from McHenry Coleman to ice the game and seal the win by 27 points.
Tiger head coach Jamie Riggs said the big plays early helped his team to the win.
“Well it was very humid tonight and we knew that conditioning was going to play a factor,” Riggs said. “We tried to keep everybody as rested as we could in the first half. We made some big plays in the first half. Between the punt return, the blocked punt, the fumble recovery and the touchdown pass…that is four big plays. We are going to have to be able to do that some. In the second half, they made a few big plays on us. We didn’t contain the quarterback too good and we knew we were going to have some trouble with that. We got the control of the game back in the fourth quarter and were able to get the win. Overall, anytime you can come to Atmore and get a win the game, it feels pretty good.”
First-year Blue Devil head coach Lev Holly said early mistakes made by his team was the difference in the game, but he was proud of the response from his team in the second half after being down 27-0.
“It was a hard-fought game tonight,” Holly said. “I have a lot of respect for T.R. Miller. Coach Riggs does a great job with his team and he had his kids more prepared tonight. It is one of those things where you can’t turn it over and expect to beat a good football team. That is one thing we stressed this week was not turning it over and finish and it hurt us early. T.R. Miller was the better team tonight. You have to give credit to them and the job that staff does. But you know one thing I respect about my kids is that they played hard until the end. We talked about adversity and that adversity hit early.”
Although his team lost the rivalry game with the Tigers, Holly said his team will respond from this loss.
“This game is about bragging rights and it is big for the community and for morale,” he said. “I think we will be fine. We just have to go in and look at it and correct those errors. Another day, it will be a better scene next week. Just like I just told the kids, it is not about that 48 minutes and that one second, it is about who is the best for that 48 minutes and there is no do overs. So the next 364 days, the team down highway 31 has the bragging rights. It will make us better in the long run. We just want to look forward to get back on the field and straighten it out Monday. We just want to get better as a team.”
The Tigers racked up a total of 336 yards of offense while holding Escambia County to 153 yards of offense to help get the win. T.R. Miller had 255 yards rushing while having 81 in the air. T.R. Miller had 119 yards on the ground in the first half and 136 in the second with 41 passing in the first and 40 in the second.
Escambia County had 81 total yards rushing with 45 coming in the first half and 36 in the second. The Blue Devils totaled 72 in the air with 8 in the first half and 64 in the second.
McHenry Coleman led T.R. Miller with 72 yards on 10 carries and one touchdown. Brother Kameron Coleman had 71 yards on six carries. Dominique Jackson added 59 yards on 12 carries and two touchdowns.
Quarterback Kieon Smith was 4-for-5 passing with 81 yards and one touchdown. Smith also had a punt return of 70 yards for a touchdown.
Kyle Davis led the Tiger receivers with one catch for 36 yards. Kellyn Winn had a 34-yard touchdown catch.
For Escambia County, Gordon Brooks led with 41 yards on five carries. Quarterback Christopher Johnson had 26 yards on 13 carries. Johnson was 11-fo-22 passing with one touchdown to D’Andre Lambert.
Lambert led in receiving for the Blue Devils.
T.R. Miller will open up region play next week at home against Opp while Escambia County will play at Clarke County in Grove Hill. Both games start at 7 p.m.

T.R. Miller 41, Escambia County 14

TRM- 7 20 7 7- 41
ECHS- 0 0 14 0- 14

TRM- Winn 34-yard pass reception from Smith (Salter kick)
TRM-Jackson 3-yard run (Salter kick)
TRM-Smith 70-yard punt return (kick failed)
TRM- K. Coleman 29-yard fumble return (Salter kick)
TRM-Jackson 5-yard run (Salter kick)
ECHS-Brown 93-yard kickoff return (kick blocked)
ECHS-Lambert 24-yard pass reception from Johnson (2-point conversion good)
TRM- M. Coleman 2-yard run (Salter kick)