For the second year in a row, the T.R. Miller Tiger football team will play a preseason game before the start of their regular season next week and it will come at the hands of the Flomaton Hurricanes.
T.R. Miller head coach Jamie Riggs said the goal of the preseason with the Hurricanes is almost an extension of fall practice.
“I have learned a few things about preseason games,” Riggs said. “A few years ago we played in Montgomery (in the Champions Challenge against Leeds) and that was a different deal because of who we were playing. That thing was like a playoff game almost. Leeds had won the state championship the year before and you don’t want to go up there and get beat. This is a little different deal now with Flomaton because the goal is different every year. We made a deal to play the varsity the first half and the B-team or JV in the second half and I think that is a good deal.”
Riggs said the situation this year with his team is to find out who will be playing where.
“We have so many jobs still up for grabs,” Riggs said. “The scrimmage Friday night helped us, but this is going to be a really big deal so we can find out who will be playing where come next week. We are going to be doing a lot of subbing in and out and then the film of the game will really be important to watch and really get some positions down to see if we need to move anyone around to another job.”
As for the Hurricanes of Flomaton, Riggs said he knows they like to run the ball.
“I think coach Vickery does a good job with them down there and obviously they want to do well to beat us and we understand that,” Riggs said. “I think it is something that will be of interest to the fans a little bit because we have not played Flomaton a lot in football. We know they are like us and like to run the football a lot. They have ran it out of the spread some and they are very similar to us and similar to us on defense as well. It should be a good game and a good contest. We are just looking forward to getting our guys our there against someone else and see how they measure up a little bit.”
Last year the T.R. Miller Tigers saw no Flomaton Hurricane threaten to reach the end zone as they shutout Flomaton 21-0.
With the game divided up with the first half of varsity players and the second half of JV players, T.R. Miller led Flomaton 13-0 at the end of varsity action while the JV Tigers added eight points of their own and kept the shutout intact.
The Tigers amassed 142 yards of offense in the first half with 124 coming on the ground and 18 in the air. In the second half, T.R. Miller rolled to 204 yards of offense with 187 on the ground and 17 in the air.
Overall, the Tigers totaled 346 yards of offense with 311 on the ground and 35 in the air.
Flomaton totaled 118 yards in the first half with 76 on the ground and 42 in the air. In the second half, Flomaton had 17 yards of offense with 14 on the ground and 3 in the air for a total of 135 yards on the night.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. Friday night in Brewton at Brewton Municipal Stadium on the campus of T.R. Miller High School.