What an exciting first week of the season it was. There were some surprises. There was drama, and then there were just some dominating performances.

It was a great way to get the season started and then get into region play this week. The only team not playing this week is Maplesville, who doubled up Billingsley for the first game.

By the way, whoever wrote “MHS” in shoe polish on my windows when I was covering the Marbury game last week, thanks for putting me in the school spirit.

Chilton County at Demopolis

I don’t understand why this big region game is held so early. The winner of this game is likely in the driver’s seat for the region championship. Chilton County lost to Demopolis 27-13 last year. Just about every time these two teams get together, they play an entertaining game, and I expect no less this year.

One thing that makes this more difficult for CCHS is that Demopolis’ stable of running backs is back to full strength.

CCHS must find a consistent running game to match-up against Demopolis. They had a pretty good game passing last week against Jemison. The defense played well for the most part, but Jemison just made a couple more plays than CCHS did.

Jemison at Southside-Selma

The Panthers should have an excellent chance to go 2-0 tonight, but they must forget about the emotional win eight days ago against CCHS. While it was great to get the win, it won’t help them tonight against Southside-Selma.

Jemison is a little banged up after the physical game. I don’t know if it will be a pretty performance tonight, but the Panthers just need to keep its momentum going and not get anyone hurt going into next week’s big game against Calera.

No. 6 Fultondale at Isabella

This game has special meaning because my high school used to be big rivals with Fultondale back when they were in 4A. Now they are in Class 2A. This is the first meeting between the Wildcats and Mustangs.

Isabella got off to a great start with a 74-0 win, but they will face a much bigger test this week. Fultondale is much improved over the last couple of years. In fact, the Wildcats rolled up more than 600 yards rushing in a win over then-No. 3 Addison.

The Mustangs must limit their mistakes if they have any chance to win.

American Christian at Thorsby

The Rebels will have a difficult time with the Patriots again this year. The Rebels must reduce its number of mistakes, and they must find a way to slow the Patriots’ attack.

Billingsley at Sunshine

The Bears need to rebound with a win tonight to have a chance to make the playoffs. This is a winnable game for the Bears.

Billingsley should have some success running the ball against the Sunshine defense and hopefully they can mix in enough of the passing game to keep the Tigers off balance.

Marbury at LaFayette

You can expect this to be a physical game. And for the second week in a row, this is the battle of the Bulldogs. Marbury actually had success against Holtville last week, but they just had some mistakes and some bad breaks. I think Marbury should be able to run the ball, and the defense just needs to find ways to get stops.

No. 6 Wadley at Verbena

The Red Devils got off to a good start with a big win over Thorsby last week, but they face a difficult test in Wadley. Verbena must play mistake-free football and force some turnovers of the Bulldogs to pull the upset tonight.