In the 2012 football season last year, the T.R. Miller Tigers were sitting at the same spot they are this year—8-0 overall and 6-0 in region play and coming off a win over the Straughn Tigers that gave them the region championship.
Only this year, they hope to avoid what found them in week 9’s game against the W.S. Neal Eagles in the Battle of Murder Creek: a loss.
If the No. 3 Tigers of T.R. Miller (as of press time) play anything like they did Friday night in their 42-7 win against then No. 5 Straughn, a win looks to be in the near future for T.R. Miller.
“We did a good of coming out and trying to set the tempo early,” T.R. Miller head coach Jamie Riggs said. “The biggest deal was they turned the ball over to us in the first half and that is what got us the lead we had at halftime. We were also able to make a few plays on offense and get the ball in the end zone. That allowed us to get the big lead and I thought was the difference in the game. If you take away the turnovers and a big play here or two there, it is a different deal. We know in order to win games you have to take care of the ball. We did a good job of taking care of the ball Friday night.
This week, T.R. Miller will travel to rival W.S. Neal in the final region game of the season for both teams. W.S. Neal dropped to 4-4 overall and to 3-3 in region play Friday after being dealt a 27-24 loss to the Opp Bobcats. The loss for W.S. Neal took them out of playoff contention for this season.
“W.S. Neal has an experienced defense that is big, strong and fast,” Riggs said of the Eagles this year. “They have some of the best players in our region on defense and most of them played last year. On offense they have two of the most explosive players that can score that we have seen all year. We know that they will, by far, play the best game that they have played all year.”
T.R. Miller is 49-21 overall against W.S. Neal but lost last year to the Eagles 34-26 at home. T.R. Miller’s Riggs is 23-4 all time against W.S. Neal while Eagle head coach Doug Hoehn is 1-1 after losing in his first game against T.R. Miller 26-14 in 2011.
In the 27 games Riggs has coached for T.R. Miller, he is 20-4 against W.S. Neal in the regular season and 3-0 in the playoffs. Riggs was 19-1 against W.S. Neal from 1989 to 2005 but in the last seven matches, he is only 4-3.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. in East Brewton.