It seems like just yesterday when I came back into the sports scene to become sports editor of The Greenville Advocate.

And now we all are about to bid 2005 a fond farewell.

Jeez, time does fly when you are having fun.

I joined the Advocate back in late April when baseball and softball were winding down, and spring football was about to become all but a memory.

Then I hit the summer doldrums wondering if August would ever get here so we could get back into the swing of things with high school football.

Needless to say the preseason was just as much packed with news as the season itself with the sudden resignation of Alvin Briggs as Greenville's head football coach just five weeks before the Tigers' opener with Daleville.

Although Briggs' resignation was not a surprise, the timing was.

Then the questions arose of who would be so bold to step in and take over a program just a few weeks before the team's opening game.

The powers that be didn't have to look too far or too long. Greenville's Mike Williams stepped in to take over his hometown team just three days before the Tigers were to open practice.

Williams, like myself, didn't know any of these kids from Adam's housecat, so we learned a lot about this team in a short amount of time.

Williams wasn't alone in having to learn a lot about his team in a short time span. Just a few miles down the road, Georgiana finally named its head coach after the job was previously turned down in late June.

Greg Ennis also had to be a quickstudy with his Panther squad after he took over in mid-July.

Now that coaches were in place, the season was off and running. There were a few speed bumps along the way for all of the coaches within Butler County, but the biggest came midway through the season.

McKenzie coach David Kirkland bid the Tigers adieu and left junior varsity coach Timothy Moorer the job to pick up the pieces.

Not long after that coaching change, the playoff picture was beginning to take shape. None of the Butler County public school teams were close to earning a trip to the postseason, while Fort Dale Academy was starring down the barrel of an elephant gun with a killer last four weeks of the season left to play.

The Eagles only had to face the Nos. 7, 5, 4, and 3 teams in the Alabama Independent School Association to close out their year.

It seemed like a daunting task, but the bigger task was just ahead.

After finishing third in the region, Fort Dale would face the high-octane aerial attack of Edgewood.

It seemed like the Eagles' playoff lives would be shortlived. In fact everyone had Fort Dale scratched from the playoffs after round one except for the players and coaches, themselves.

Fort Dale played one of its best games all season and knocked Goliath from his lofty perch.

It seems like it was just yesterday when football season began.

Before you know it, basketball season will be just a thing of the past and we'll be gearing up for another baseball and softball season.

Time does fly.

Kevin Taylor is sports editor of The Greenville Advocate. Call him at (334) 382-3111 ext. 122 or e-mail kevin.taylor@greenvilleadvocate.com.