Pickens County Tornadoes

The Pickens County Tornadoes (8-3, 6-1) bounced back from last week's defeat to rival Gordo by defeating the Woodville Panthers (5-6, 4-2) in the first round of the AHSAA Class 1A Playoffs 33-8.

Now that the regular season has concluded, excitement is buzzing in the Druid City in preparation for the Super 7 State Championships that will take place at the beginning of December in Bryant-Denny Stadium. In a season that has seen unlikely upsets, high-scoring shootouts, and many forfeits due to COVID-19, six teams remain in contention for the state title.

The Gordo Greenwave closed its regular season on Thursday night with a 40-8 win over county rival Pickens County.

Now that region play is over, many teams across west Alabama are preparing for the first round of the playoffs. With that being said, the final week of the regular season stands in the way. From games that can determine a 10-0 perfect season to an intense cross-county rivalry, these games might not be regional, but they are still just as important.

With Hillcrest’s huge win over Northridge last week, the doors of Region 4 of 6A were opened wide for an arms race involving almost all of the teams in the region. Now that we’re in October with only four weeks of the regular season left, its “put up or shut up” time for teams on the edge of a playoff berth.

This week, many of the Tuscaloosa-area schools are looking at off weeks, but many other schools in west; Alabama are taking on cross-division and even cross-class showdowns. These may not affect playoff races, but they can definitely halt some of the valuable momentum that teams have been storing as they progress through the season.