Both T.R. Miller and W.S. Neal will see some familiar faces in their football regions for the next two years as the teams learned their fate from the Alabama High School Athletic Association Wednesday morning.
T.R. Miller remained in class 3A while W.S. Neal moved up to class 4A after the AHSAA added a seventh classification.
In T.R. Miller’s new region will be Geneva, Bayside Academy, Opp, Hillcrest, Excel and Cottage Hill.
In W.S. Neal’s new region will be UMS-Wright, Satsuma, Thomasville, Clarke County, Southside-Selma, and Monroe County.
The overall record for T.R. Miller’s region last year (including T.R. Miller’s record) was 41-37 and a 4-4 record in the playoffs.
W.S. Neal’s region’s record was 31-44 with a 3-2 record in the playoffs.
T.R. Miller head coach Jamie Riggs said he has played some of the teams in his new region before.
“Essentially, the way I look at is, it had some affect on the other classes just because some of each class was knocked off while others were bumped up a little bit,” Riggs said of the addition of the 7A. “Other than that, it didn’t change it a lot. I think a few people bumped up a class because of it, but there is still not very much discrepancy from the top to the bottom. When you get to 2A, 3A, 4A, and even 5A now, there is not that big of a discrepancy from the top to the bottom. From my standpoint, it changed our region some. But other than that, that is about it. We have never played Geneva except for the playoffs, but we have played Hillcrest on and off down through the years. Also, it is only 30 miles down the road. That is a good deal.”
As for W.S. Neal head coach Doug Hoehn, he will have to be learning teams in a new region for the third time in his short tenure with the Eagles of East Brewton.
“As it is now, I have been here three years and I have had to learn the competition when we were in 4A because I didn’t know anything about the teams,” he said. “The last two years, we were in 3A and I had to learn those teams. I had no idea what they ran, so I had to learn about them by watching film on them. Now I am back in the same boat again. This is my third change in three years. I know Thomasville and I know UMS. They are top-notch programs. I know Monroeville because we have played them. I know absolutely nothing about Clarke County. I have never seen them. I know nothing about Satsuma. I have never played them and I have never seen them. We had Southside-Selma in our 3A region. There are going to be a couple of teams in there that again, I am going to have to see them before I can comment on them. It is going to be another learning curve for me and my staff. I will check with some of the guys to see if they have played them here before I got here.”
W.S. Neal last played in class 4A from 2006-11.
For the complete story, see Wednesday’s edition of the Brewton Standard.

Editor’s note: It is possible, depending on the AHSAA’s ruling Friday about Houston Academy, that Flomaton could come up to 3A and join T.R. Miller’s football region. As soon as any information is learned from the ruling, we will post it immediately. Stay tuned to www.brewtonstandard.com for all the latest information.