The Sweet Water Bulldogs closed out their regular season Friday night by taking on the No. 2 team from Class 3A, the T.R. Miller Tigers.

The Bulldogs made several mental mistakes that cost them yardage offensively, but T.R. Miller controlled the game for the most part.

“This was a great learning experience for us,” Sweet Water head coach Stacy Luker said. “This can’t do anything but make us better.”

The Tigers opened the game by forcing a Sweet Water punt, then they drove down the field with a heavy dose of running back Dominique Jackson. Jackson capped off the 76-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run. The extra point was no good, and the Tigers led 7-0.

Sweet Water had good field position to start their next drive after Daniel Sewell returned the kickoff to the T.R. Miller 35 yard line, but the Bulldogs went three-and-out and punted the ball back to the Tigers.

The Bulldogs returned the favor with a three-and-out and got the ball back in Tiger territory on the 46 yard line.

The Bulldogs drove down the field, but the drive stalled out at the 11 yard line.

T.R. Miller took the next drive to go 89 yards to score again. The drive was capped off by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Kieon Smith to Jackson to put the Tigers up 13-0 with 5:07 on the clock in the second quarter.

Sweet Water was unable to drive down the field on their next drive, and the Bulldogs went into halftime down 13-0.

T.R. Miller opened the second half with the ball and drove down inside the Bulldogs 20, but Tate Gibbs intercepted a pass on the 3 yard line to give Sweet Water the ball.

Jakoby Aldridge fumbled the ball on the 4 yard line, though, and the Tigers recovered it in the endzone for a touchdown to go up 20-0.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Sweet Water got on the board with a 28-yard pass from Branson Davis to Paul Weatherly for a touchdown to pull the Bulldogs to a more manageable 20-6 deficit with 11:51 to play.

The Tigers drove down the field on the next drive, though, and extended their lead to 27-6 on a 29-yard run by Kameron Coleman.

Sweet Water’s offense couldn’t sustain a drive to get back in the endzone, and the Tigers defeated Sweet Water 27-6.

“I feel good about where we are as a team heading into the playoffs,” Luker said. “We’re healthy, we’re hosting, and we’ve got a good bracket. We just have to continue getting better and working on the things we didn’t do well tonight.”

Sweet Water will host Goshen next week in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs.