The region championship will be on the line Friday night Brewton as the T.R. Miller Tigers and Straughn Tigers—both undefeated in region play and ranked in the top-10 in class 3A—will tangle for title.
T.R. Miller comes into the game with Straughn with a 7-0 record and 5-0 in region play after cruising to an easy homecoming win over Southside-Selma Friday night.
“It was a great homecoming game and we won,” Riggs said. “I got to see a number of former players and so forth and I really enjoyed that. We got to play a lot of people in the game. The game was really decided in the first quarter and really the first half as we played basically the entire time on their end of the field. Our kicking game was a big factor the other night and they kept getting us good field position.”
T.R. Miller is 7-2 overall against Straughn after winning last season 19-17 in Straughn. The Tigers of Straughn are 6-1 overall and 5-0 in region play after surviving last week in Excel 26-13.
“Straughn, I think, may have the best team they ever had,” Riggs said. “Obviously they have around 24 or 25 seniors, which makes you an older team. It does not take you long when you are watching film that they are all the same numbers you saw in last year’s game. So they return practically their entire team from last year that went to the semifinals. Common sense will tell you they have a pretty good football team. They are a year older and I really thought going into the season, they were the No. 1 team in the region that everyone had to beat.”
Riggs said he does not see a lot of weaknesses in Straughn.
“They play very hard on defense and I am really impressed with their team pursuit and they are very physical,” Riggs said. “They do a good job of defending the run and the pass.”
On offense, Straughn is led by their quarterback.
“Offensively, they really have the best offensive line we have seen this year by far,” Riggs said. “They have a lot of seniors and size. They are very physical and they have gotten better and better as the year goes on. You can see the improvements they have made on film. Their quarterback, No. 5 Rollin Kinsaul, adds another dimension to their passing game. He throws the ball and is very accurate and can pull it and run during their option attack. When some guys run and don’t throw well and others throw well and don’t run, he can do both. He can cause you some problems because they have some really good receivers that he can throw the ball to. They have height at receiver and a tight end with big hands. They have put up a lot of points.”
While Kinsaul is good at quarterback, Riggs said Straughn has two good running backs.
“Their running backs, No. 21 Devin Scott, he has played for them for a couple of years and No. 20, Daryl George, they are really quick,” he said. “They are a complete deal. They do a good job with the kicking game. We have our work cut out for us. I think anything less than our best game of the year won’t get the job done. We are going to have to play the best we have played all year.”
Riggs said a big crowd would help his team out Friday night.
“We know Straughn is going to be a tremendous crowd,” he said. “Their fans follow them so we would love to have a great crowd and supporters here for us Friday night to help us out. They lost their first game of the season to Andalusia in a close game and Andalusia is having a great season. We need all the support we can get.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. Friday night at Brewton Municipal Stadium.