It all came down to a crucial moment for the Escambia County Blue Devils Friday night as they lined up for a two-point conversion against the T.R. Miller Tigers in overtime down 34-33 with a landmark victory on the line.

The Blue Devils (1-0, 0-0) pulled within one point of the Tigers on the previous play as senior quarterback Rico Stallworth dove into the end zone to bring the Blue Devils to the brink of a win. Just like the play before Stallworth proved his value as he flew threw the air one final time back into the end zone to give Escambia County and their head coach Mark Heaton his first win as the Blue Devils leader.

Stallworth would finish the game with 196 yards rushing with three touchdowns, while passing for 201 yards on 13-of-20 completions.

Following the game, Heaton said his team did a great job of giving all the effort he expected from them.

“Our guys did a tremendous job,” Heaton said. “We told them they would face adversity all the way up until the fourth quarter, and that’s what happened. T.R. Miller is a great football team, and coach (Jamie) Riggs did a great job tonight.”

From the view from T.R. Miller’s sideline, head coach Jamie Riggs saw a good game that his team had a chance for a win.

“It was a great game,” Riggs said. “We could have very easily won the game. We did not contain their quarterback in the first half and in the second half, especially, we could not get off the field. We gave them the third down here as he just kept breaking the tackles. We just could not get him on the ground and we did not get him on the ground down there at the end. In the second half on offense, we didn’t do a very good job of moving the ball in the third quarter. We made some mistakes and were a little sloppy. Overall, it was a heck of a game and we could have very easily made the play and won the game. It is a game of inches.”

The annual rivalry game between the Blue Devils and Tigers proved to be the battle that it has been over the last few years.

Back-and-forth action kept the fans packed in the stands as Atmore opened the game with a drive down the field that was capped off by Stallworth’s first touchdown of the night, with a five-yard scamper for pay dirt.

Down 7-0, the Tigers and Riggs would not be denied as they created their own scoring drive with running back Anthony Herbert plowing his way into the end zone.

After another lengthy drive by Atmore, the Tigers’ defense forced a punt, and in turn took the lead 17 plays later as Herbert scored his second touchdown of the game with the tie breaker coming on a four-yard run. Following a missed extra point, the Tigers led 13-7.

The Blue Devils offense found life on the next drive as they drove the ball down the field with big plays coming by way of a 24-yard pass and catch from Stallworth to senior running back Neiko Williams as well as a 30-yard dash by Stallworth.

Williams finished with nine yards rushing and 32 yards receiving on four receptions.

The quarterback scramble set up senior running back Chris Smith to score from one yard out as the Blue Devils took the lead 14-13 with Tyler Nero’s extra point.

That score would stand at halftime, but the real action would get started in the second half as both team’s defenses tightened up and forced a combined four punts before the Blue Devils again were able to put a touchdown on the board to extend their lead 21-13.

Defensively, the Blue Devils gave up 307 yards to the Tigers, but they were able to make stops when it counted.

Heaton said his defense had trouble early, but found their zone later in the game.

“They did a great job tonight,” Heaton said. “We had some trouble early, but as the game progressed, they got better each play. I’m so proud of the way they played, and they grew up a lot tonight.”

The score came on a nine-play drive that lasted into the fourth quarter. Stallworth led the Blue Devils down the field hitting Smith on a seven yard screen pass followed by a 64-yard run, a 20-yard pass to Marshall Rolin that set up Stallworth to get into the end zone from two yards out.

Rolin would finish with three receptions for 48 yards in the game.

Miller fought back on their next drive when Herbert returned a kick off down into Blue Devil territory to set up a first and goal.

The Tigers would score three plays later with Herbert getting back into the end zone to pull the Tigers within two points.

Atmore again created a prolonged drive going 80 yards in 16 plays with Smith scoring his second touchdown of the game. Nero missed his first extra point of the game giving Atmore a 27-19 lead.

Miller showed why they are ranked No. 3 in Class 3A with time winding down facing an eight-point deficit.

Senior quarterback Wil Riggs hit receiver Conner Denton for a deep pass that set the Tigers up to make it a ball game.

Riggs would get into the end zone a couple of plays later and with a successful two-point conversion, T.R. Miller tied the game at 27.

The Blue Devils did their best with 46 seconds to avoid an extra period, but they would run short on time.

In overtime, the Tigers received the ball first and scored quickly with Herbert scoring on Miller’s second play from scrimmage. Following the successful extra point, Miller led 34-27.

Atmore took over on the 10 yard line with one goal in mind, to reach the end zone.

On first down, Smith was able to push for two yards with Stallworth throwing an incomplete pass on second down.

Stallworth took the ball on third down and pushed his way to the one yard line to set up an important fourth and one situation.

On the final down, Stallworth rolled to his right, saw an opening, darted up field and dove for the touchdown to pull his team within one point.

Heaton already had a play in place for the conversion attempt and again it was Stallworth who got the call and on a play even closer than the touchdown, the Blue Devils senior quarterback made one final play giving his team a 35-34 win over the T.R. Miller Tigers, their first since 2007.

Heaton said he knew what he was going to do in overtime once his team found the end zone.

“I knew when we made it to overtime that we were going for two,” Heaton said. “I knew what play we were going to run, and we were ready to go once we scored.”

Next week, the Blue Devils face B.C. Rain to open region play in Mobile.

Kick off next Friday is at 7 p.m.