Marquice English Scores 4 TDs as T.R. Miller Beats W.S. Neal 43-24 in Battle of Murder Creek, Wins 3A Region 1

BREWTON, Ala. — The 84th Battle of Murder Creek belonged to T.R. Miller and to Marquice English. The senior scored four touchdowns in four different ways Friday night, Oct. 30, and the Tigers beat rival W.S. Neal 43-24 in a heated, penalty-filled game that clinched the Class 3A, Region 1 championship and a home playoff game next week.

English caught a 98-yard touchdown pass from Cole McMillan, returned a kickoff 73 yards for a score and ran for touchdowns of 6 and 9 yards as No. 9-ranked T.R. Miller improved to 8-2 overall and 6-1 in region play. The Tigers will host Talladega in the first round of the Alabama High School Athletic Association playoffs.

W.S. Neal (6-4, 5-2) finished third in the region and will travel to Handley for its first-round game.

The win also settled a score from a year ago. W.S. Neal shut out the Tigers 21-0 in 2025, a loss that snapped a seven-game T.R. Miller winning streak in the series and came in coach Ronnie Cottrell’s first season back at his alma mater.

A tense week between Brewton and East Brewton

The rivalry between the two schools, which sit about two miles apart on opposite sides of Murder Creek, is always intense. This year, the tension boiled over before kickoff. Social media posts aimed at people on both sides of the creek turned personal during the week, and W.S. Neal coach Mike Sims said he waited to bring his team to Brewton Municipal Stadium until 17 minutes before kickoff because he was worried about his players’ safety.

“When you fear for your kids, you worry about it,” Sims said as he left the field after the game.

The emotion carried onto the field. The teams combined for 26 penalties for 249 yards, and each was flagged for six 15-yard penalties.

“There was a lot of talking going on,” English said. “We just had to go out there and play the game we play. People were saying crazy things.”

Fast start for the Tigers

T.R. Miller took control almost immediately. Brodie McBride returned W.S. Neal’s squib kick on the opening kickoff 44 yards, setting up English’s 6-yard touchdown run.

The Eagles answered with a long drive, but quarterback Jarrod Crook was stopped on fourth-and-goal at the T.R. Miller 2-yard line. On the next play, McMillan threw deep to English, whose jersey was being tugged by defender Ethan Fountain. English stretched out for the slightly overthrown ball, kept his balance and raced the rest of the way for a 98-yard touchdown that made it 14-0 with 3:19 left in the first quarter.

“When he pulled on my jersey, I didn’t think I was going to get there in time,” English said.

Sims acknowledged his team was not at its best in key moments.

“We just pooped the bed there with some things,” Sims said. “We didn’t really show up in some areas. They had some big, explosive plays and you’ve got to give credit to them.”

Neal fights back

The Eagles did not go away. For much of the middle of the game, W.S. Neal moved the ball better than the Tigers, and it finished with more total offense, 343 yards to 326.

W.S. Neal got on the board when Kylan Britt took a handoff from Crook and threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Bonam. Devon Williams later scored on a 3-yard run, and Crook found Britt for a 23-yard touchdown, with Britt juggling the ball before securing it in the end zone.

English answered with another big play in the second quarter. He scooped up a squib kick on a bounce, found a hole and went 73 yards for a touchdown that put T.R. Miller ahead 28-12.

“I really didn’t think it was going to get to me and I didn’t think the hole was going to open up like that,” English said. “But thanks to my teammates, I went down there and scored.”

T.R. Miller led 28-18 at halftime. In the third quarter, the Eagles put together a 12-play, 59-yard drive that took 4:57 off the clock, and Bonam finished it with a 2-yard run to cut the lead to 28-24.

The play of the game

With the game hanging in the balance, the Tigers faced fourth-and-2 at the W.S. Neal 46. K.J. Henderson took the handoff, ran into a pile of defenders and kept driving his legs, pushing the pile at least 10 yards on his way to a 14-yard gain.

“That was a desire play,” Cottrell said. “We had hats on people but it was like they had a stalemate there. He ran through a couple of guys and just made a great play.”

Three plays later, Anteion Dees dove over a defender at the goal line for a 7-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, and T.R. Miller had some breathing room again.

A fourth quarter all Tigers

The final quarter was one-sided. T.R. Miller held the ball for 8:34 of the 12 minutes, intercepted Crook twice and held W.S. Neal to 2 yards of total offense.

Dees picked off a pass and returned it 38 yards to set up Henderson’s 1-yard touchdown run, which put the game away. Ryan Smith added the second interception.

Crook, an elusive quarterback who did much of his damage on rollouts, completed 12 of 27 passes for 158 yards and ran for 43 yards on nine carries.

“We didn’t stop him by any means because he still made play after play but we kept him in check and made him earn it,” Cottrell said.

McMillan completed 11 of 17 passes for 186 yards for the Tigers. He said he never felt comfortable, even with the early two-touchdown lead.

“I knew that they were good on offense and I knew that their quarterback was a playmaker,” McMillan said. “They had a couple big plays and we didn’t help them out any with the penalties either.”

Last year’s score in the lockers

Cottrell, who played in the rivalry in the mid-1970s, made sure his team did not forget what happened in 2025.

“It was just as real then as it is now,” Cottrell said of the rivalry in his playing days.

“The coaches put the score from last year in our lockers, so we had to look at that all week,” McMillan said. “It feels really good. Last year they shut us out and today we put up 43 on them.”

Cottrell celebrated with a half cartwheel on the field and tossed his cap into the stands to fans.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been as proud of a bunch of kids as I am these guys,” Cottrell said. “They’ve worked together and they’ve played together. It’s just a totally different crew than the one I had last year. We’re not very big but our kids play hard.”

Cottrell took over as T.R. Miller’s head coach and athletic director in April 2025, succeeding Hall of Fame coach Brent Hubbert. He spent nine seasons on Bobby Bowden’s staff at Florida State, including the 1993 national championship season, and later coached at Alabama before winning high school state titles at Godby in Tallahassee, Fla., and at Mobile Christian.

English draws college interest

English has been one of the most productive players in southwest Alabama this fall. Earlier this season against Flomaton, he ran for a touchdown, returned a punt for a score and intercepted a pass. He said Friday that he has drawn interest from Jacksonville State, North Alabama, Tuskegee and Alabama A&M.

“Marquice English has got to be one of the top players in this state,” Cottrell said. “He makes play after play.”

Sims: ‘Our leaders need to be better’

For W.S. Neal, the loss was a frustrating end to the regular season, and Sims said the problem went beyond the scoreboard.

“I’m just gonna be honest with you, the sadness of it is our leaders need to be better,” Sims said. “Our kids battle like that all the time. That ain’t nothing new. It’s hard fought. It’s hard to swallow because I know what our kids are.”

Cottrell had praise for the Eagles.

“I think Neal has a very fine football team,” he said. “They’ve had two good years, made the playoff, went deep last year and I think they’ll go deep again.”

A rivalry with deep roots

T.R. Miller and W.S. Neal first met on Nov. 22, 1946, when the Tigers won 25-0. T.R. Miller entered Friday leading the all-time series 59-24, and the win pushed that edge to 60-24.

The rivalry is also a contest between two school systems. T.R. Miller is part of Brewton City Schools, while W.S. Neal belongs to the Escambia County school system in East Brewton. T.R. Miller owns the longest winning streak in the series, 12 straight from 1986 to 1996, and its most lopsided win, 55-0 in 2008. W.S. Neal’s best run was seven straight wins from 1959 to 1965.

T.R. Miller is the winningest program in Alabama high school football history with 752 victories, and it has won state championships in 1984, 1991, 1994, 2000 and 2002.

Friday’s game also capped a difficult month for both communities. Hurricane Isaias caused heavy damage across Escambia County in early October, closing schools for more than a week and forcing changes to both teams’ schedules. T.R. Miller has won all three of its games since returning to the field, including a 24-21 win at Jackson on a last-second field goal and a 35-0 shutout of Wilcox Central.

Touchdowns

• T.R. Miller: Marquice English 6-yard run, 98-yard pass from Cole McMillan, 73-yard kickoff return and 9-yard run; Anteion Dees 7-yard run; K.J. Henderson 1-yard run
• W.S. Neal: Brandon Bonam 10-yard pass from Kylan Britt and 2-yard run; Devon Williams 3-yard run; Britt 23-yard pass from Jarrod Crook

By the numbers

• Final: T.R. Miller 43, W.S. Neal 24
• Halftime: T.R. Miller 28-18
• Total offense: W.S. Neal 343, T.R. Miller 326
• Penalties: 26 combined for 249 yards
• Cole McMillan: 11 of 17, 186 yards
• Jarrod Crook: 12 of 27, 158 yards, 2 interceptions; 9 carries, 43 yards
• Fourth-quarter time of possession: T.R. Miller 8:34
• Fourth-quarter offense: W.S. Neal 2 yards

What’s next

Both teams open the Class 3A playoffs next week. As the region champion, T.R. Miller will host Talladega in Brewton. W.S. Neal, the region’s No. 3 seed, travels to Handley in Roanoke.

The AHSAA’s state championship games are scheduled for Dec. 2-5 at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the University of South Alabama campus in Mobile. Fans should check with the schools’ athletic departments for kickoff times and ticket information for first-round games.