Here’s what awaits football teams in The News Courier’s coverage area this week.

For complete prep results, visit www.enewscourier.com or The News Courier Facebook.

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Game: Elkmont (2-7) at Ardmore (7-2)

The Skinny: The Tigers and Red Devils will face off Friday night in the final county vs. county matchup of the season. Ardmore, which leads the all-time series 51-27, has won four straight contests overall and nine in a row against Elkmont. The Red Devils, meanwhile, will attempt to snap a four-game skid with an upset win over their Limestone County rival.

Coach Speak: “You never know how your kids are going to respond in a situation that they’ve really never been in before with their playoff chances on the line, but our kids responded the best way they possibly could. We were able to jump on them quick and our kids just refused to lose, which is the mentality we’ve been trying to create around here. Winning builds a lot of confidence and it makes the game a lot of fun. I couldn’t be more proud of a group than I am of this team. To come back from the 1-9 season last year to now be sitting as the third seed in the playoffs speaks volumes to the work they put in. We want to keep that momentum rolling against Elkmont. It’s going to be senior night here, so we get to recognize our 12 seniors, and hopefully, keep building that momentum against a longtime rival so we can play our best ball in the playoffs.” — Ardmore’s Jonathan Snider

“Ardmore’s really good this year. Coach (Jonathan) Snider has always done a good job at controlling the clock and running the ball. They are huge up front, so defensively, we’ll have to play like we did in the first half last week against Rogers to slow them down. They line up in a unique way that you don’t see very often defensively, so there will be some adjustments needed to successfully move the ball. I feel like we are significantly better than we were earlier in the year, but the biggest thing I’ve seen is the development in our freshman class. That’s exciting for us going into next year.” — Elkmont’s Joel Schrenk

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Game: Athens (7-2) at Russellville (7-2)

The Skinny: The Golden Eagles will look to earn their third straight win Friday night when they face the Golden Tigers on the road. Russellville leads the all-time series 20-10, but Athens has claimed three consecutive victories, including a 41-14 triumph last season.

Coach Speak: “It was a good win Friday night against Decatur, our oldest rival, to finish up region play and solidify that three spot. We’ve got a challenge this week going to a really good Russellville team that’s going to be a good test for us as we head into the playoffs. They’ve got a really, really good offensive lineman who’s been selected to play in the North-South All-Star Game. Then, they’ve got as good of a running back as you are going to find anywhere — and he’s a junior. Coach (Dustin) Goodwin is a really good ball coach, son of a really good ball coach, so he’s going to have his bunch ready to play.” — Athens’ Cody Gross

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Game: Shelby County (7-2) at East Limestone (1-8)

The Skinny: The Indians will cap their season Friday night versus the Wildcats in the first-ever game between the programs. Shelby County has put together its best season since a nine-win campaign in 2009.

Coach Speak: “Shelby County is obviously a team we don’t know a ton about, because they’re not from our area. We know they are having a good year and it’s always good to see a quality team to finish off a season. It’s going to be a big night for our seniors and I’ve been challenging our team to win the last game for them. Our players have responded well to adversity all year — we are just finishing short right now, but they do everything we ask them to do. It’s going to be a really good matchup. They do a lot of similar things we do offensively.” — East Limestone’s Will Johnson

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Game: Sweet Water (7-2) at Tanner (2-7)

The Skinny: The Rattlers will close out their season Friday night against the Bulldogs in the first-ever meeting between the programs. A perennial small-school powerhouse, Sweet Water has reached the playoffs every year since 2001 — garnering seven state titles in that stretch.

Coach Speak: “This is a typical Sweet Water team — they are big, strong and fast. They’ve got a bunch of seniors and it shows in the way they play. Nos. 8 and 18 make their team go, so we are going to have to contain them and control the line of scrimmage as much as possible to find a way to win. I feel like we’ve gotten better every week, not only football-wise, but off-the-field stuff as well. Our IQ, discipline and structure all got better as the season went along, so we’re proud of that. We lost a lot of our older guys to injuries, but we were able to play a lot of our younger guys because of that. I think those guys will be able to help us out even more next year when we get our older guys healed.” — Tanner’s Matt Smith

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The News Courier’s Justin Travis contributed to this report.