The weather has finally cooled off and rainy days are now becoming more frequent. So, you know what that means. It’s time for another year of high school football to conclude.

The regular season comes to an end this week, with three area teams playing Thursday night and the other four teams playing Friday.

This week won’t be the end for two area teams, however. Athens and Clements qualified for the playoffs in their respective classifications. Athens will host Buckhorn in a Class 6A playoff game, while Clements will travel to play Geraldine in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs.

For the rest of the teams in Limestone County, the players will be hanging up the helmets and shoulder pads, some for the final time.

The 11 weeks of the high school regular season just flies by. It doesn’t seem that long ago when players were sweltering in nearly 100-degree temperatures preparing themselves for the season. Now, not even three short months later, the season is over.

It’s been an up and down season for our Limestone County teams. It was a season full of big wins, tough losses and successes, especially for two schools.

Clements (6-3) is having its best season in 10 years, as the Colts have guaranteed themselves a winning season for the first time since 2009. It wasn’t very long ago that Clements went through a six-year stretch where it won six total games. Now, the Colts are in the playoffs for the second consecutive season and are knocking on the door of seven wins as they travel to face Hatton Friday night.

Coach Michael Parker said he wanted to change the culture at Clements when he was hired in the spring of 2018, and he seems to have done that in just two short years. The Colts are winning the close games they have lost in the past. The last two weeks are evidence of that.

First of all, Clements took a thrilling 31-25 double-overtime win over Colbert Heights two weeks ago that clinched a playoff spot. They then scored two touchdowns in the final 3 minutes against Lexington last week to break a 13-13 tie in a 26-13 victory to take the third spot in the region and guarantee a winning record.

Athens has also enjoyed a fantastic season filled with many milestone victories. The Golden Eagles broke a 14-game losing streak to Hartselle with a 28-19 win in their second game, and then defeated Decatur 27-14 the next week to post their third straight win over the Red Raiders.

It was the first time Athens enjoyed a three-game winning streak against Decatur since 1980-82 and the first time the Golden Eagles defeated both Decatur and Hartselle in the same season since 1987.

Athens (7-2) also finished second in Class 6A, Region 7, which allows it to host a first-round playoff game for the first time since 2005.

This is the third consecutive year Athens has made the playoffs, but the Golden Eagles are 0-2 in the postseason under coach Cody Gross, losing 21-0 to Clay-Chalkville in the first round in 2017 and falling 24-14 to Homewood last season.

The next milestone victory for Athens would be a playoff victory, something that hasn’t happened since the Golden Eagles defeated Pleasant Grove 24-0 in the second round in 2013.

While the regular season might be over with Friday night, both Athens and Clements want to make sure their seasons go on several weeks longer. Good luck to them.

— Edwards can be reached at jeff@athensnews-courier.com.