SWEET WATER — In a game between two tradition-rich, top-10 teams, the T.R. Miller Tigers prevailed over the Sweet Water Bulldogs with a 27-6 win on Victory Field at Nolan Atkins Stadium.
With the win, the No. 2-ranked Tigers of Brewton capped off a perfect 10-0 regular season while the No. 6-ranked 2A Bulldogs fell to 7-3.
The 2013 Tigers became the ninth T.R. Miller team of 88 to earn a perfect regular season.
T.R. Miller led Sweet Water 6-0 after one quarter of play and 13-0 at the half. The Tigers built a 20-0 lead after three quarters of play before the Bulldogs scored seconds into the fourth quarter to cut T.R. Miller’s lead to 20-6 with 11:51 left in the game.
T.R. Miller’s Kameron Coleman put the game away with a 28-yard touchdown with 7:38 left in the game to give the Tigers the 21-point win.
“It was a great win over a really tough football team on the road,” Tiger head coach Jamie Riggs said. “I thought we bowed up and got tough tonight. We didn’t do everything right all the time. We made some big plays when we needed to. I am really proud of our defense. I thought that we never really gave (Sweet Water standout Jakoby) Aldridge the real big play. I thought we did a really good job of containing him for most of the night.”
Dominique Jackson had T.R. Miller’s first score of the game on a 5-yard run.
Quarterback Kieon Smith hooked up with Jackson for an 11-yard touchdown to put TRM up 13-0.
In the third quarter, Micah McKinney recovered a Bulldog fumble in the end zone to put TRM up 20-0.
Sweet Water’s lone score came on a 28-yard pass play from Branson Davis to Paul Weatherly.
TRM had 297 total yards of offense in the win whole Sweet Water had 223.
The Tigers had 234 on the ground and 63 in the air. Sweet Water had 195 yards on the ground and 28 in the air.
Coleman led TRM rushing with 66 yards on five carries.
Smith was 3-for-4 passing with one interception.
Jakoby Aldridge led Sweet Water with 67 yards rushing on 23 carries.
Riggs said he was happy about his team’s unblemished regular season record, but he was looking towards the playoffs.
“It has only been nine teams to do it,” Riggs said. “That is pretty special, you know. Now it is time for another season.”
Other T.R. Miller teams to go undefeated in the regular season were: 1941, 1969, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 2004 and 2008. The 2013 is only the third T.R. Miller team to go 10-0.
The 1941 team went 8-0 overall and in the regular season while the 1969 team 9-0 in the regular season and 11-0 overall to win T.R. Miller’s first state championship.
In 1990, the team was the first T.R. Miller team to go 10-0 in the regular season and went 13-1 and was the state runner-up.
The 1991 team went 9-0 in the regular season and went 14-0 to a state championship while the 1994 team went 10-0 in the regular season and 15-0 overall to get T.R. Miller their fourth state championship.
In 1995, T.R. Miller went 9-0 in the regular season and finished 13-1 and as the state runner-up while the 2004 went 9-0 in the regular season and finished 12-1 after falling in the quarterfinals.
In 2008, T.R. Miller went 10-0 in the regular season and finished 13-1 overall after falling in the semifinals.
T.R. Miller will host American Christian next week in the first round of the playoffs, while Sweet Water will host Goshen.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. Friday night at Brewton Municipal Stadium for T.R. Miller’s game against the Patriots of ACA.

T.R. Miller 27, Sweet Water 6

TRM- 6 7 7 7-27
SW- 0 0 0 6-6

TRM-Dominique Jackson 5-yard run (PAT failed)
TRM- Kieon Smith 11-yard pass to Jackson (Chardian Johnson PAT)
TRM- Micah McKinney fumble recovery in end zone (Johnson PAT)
SW- Branson Davis 28-yard pass to Paul Weatherly (PAT failed)
TRM- Kameron Coleman 28-yard run (Johnson PAT)