It’s the most wonderful time of the year

Published 5:55 am Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The weather is finally starting to turn colder, the leaves are changing color and high school and college football seasons are entering their most exciting stages. With no disrespect to the classic Christmas song, this truly is the most wonderful time of the sports year.

Fans of local teams have enjoyed cheering for their schools this fall and have a chance to cheer some more, as at least two of our teams will be in the football playoffs with two more possibly joining them.

Athens and West Limestone clinched playoff spots two weeks ago and now know who their playoff opponents will be.

By virtue of finishing in third place in Class 6A, Region 8, Athens will travel to play the No. 2 team from Region 6, Clay-Chalkville. The Cougars completed their regular season last week with a 30-7 loss to Park Crossing in a non-region game.

Clay-Chalkville finished the season with an 8-2 overall record and 5-1 record in Region 6, losing only to region champion Pinson Valley 34-32. Clay-Chalkville and Athens do have one common opponent, as the Cougars defeated Florence 31-27 in the opening game of the season while Athens defeated the Falcons 28-24 in week four.

West Limestone also knows it will be traveling in its first round playoff game. The Wildcats, who finished fourth in Class 4A, Region 8, will travel to take on Region 6 champion Fayette County, the No. 5-ranked team in 4A. The Tigers are 8-1 on the season with one game to play and finished region play with a perfect 6-0 record. Fayette County’s only loss on the season was a 37-24 defeat to Class 6A Cullman.

East Limestone and Tanner can also join Athens and West Limestone in the playoffs this week, as both teams are involved in tiebreaker scenarios. However, both schools will need some help from other teams in order to make it. It will be a tense Friday night for fans of those schools, as they will be checking for updates from other games to see if their team will continue its season.

High school football isn’t the only exciting thing on the gridiron this time of year. College football is also heating up, with some big games coming up this weekend.

The biggest, of course, is Alabama’s annual showdown with LSU. The Tigers are probably Alabama’s biggest test of the regular season until the season-ending Iron Bowl, as LSU seems to have picked its season off the garbage heap following a 30-point loss to Mississippi State and home loss to Troy.

LSU fans consider Alabama to be their biggest rival, due to the Tide’s recent success and the fact that Nick Saban led the Tigers to a national title before leaving for the NFL, only to return to the SEC a couple of years later. Alabama has the luxury of a home game this week and should take care of business, but you never know in a rivalry game.

Auburn also has a huge game this weekend, as the Tigers travel to take on Texas A&M. If Auburn wants to be taken seriously as a challenger in the SEC, the Tigers must win this game. While the game is at Texas A&M, the Aggies haven’t been very good at defending their home field, as proven by last week’s 35-14 loss to Mississippi State. The Tigers need a convincing win to keep their season on track as they look forward to hosting Alabama in the Iron Bowl on Nov. 25.

— Contact Edwards at jeff@athensnews-courier.com.