Crenshaw County's representation in the state playoffs was cut in half last Friday night.

With all four county schools advancing to the postseason, no matter what school fans rooted for, their season in the stands was sent into overtime. For Highland Home School and Crenshaw Christian Academy fans, their cheering nights ended as both teams dropped out of the playoffs.

As for Luverne and Brantley supporters, they have at least one more Friday night to hopefully help their team to victory.

Highland Home ended it season 4-6 after suffering a huge 28-6 loss to Southern Choctaw. The Flying Squadron hung with the Indians throughout the first half of play, which ended in a 0-0 ties. The second half was a different story.

Southern Choctaw made the best of eight Highland Home turnovers to send the visitors packing.

The Squadron showed a lot of promise this season, battling back from a slow start to advance to the playoffs. Fans should expect great things from this young team in the next couple of years.

Crenshaw Christian also suffered a big loss on the road as the Cougars fell to the Shelby Academy Raiders, 42-14.

The Cougars reversed last season's 4-6 record to finish the season at 7-4. They too showed a lot of improvement from game-to-game to advance to the playoffs after succeeding in a hard area.

Crenshaw Christian football program will lose 10 seniors to graduate in May, but with the coaching staff on hand; good things are still to come.

With a perfect week of predicting, this prognosticator's record improves to 35-6 or 85 percent.

This week, No. 8 Luverne will host Cottonwood, which claimed a 17-6 win over Billingsley last week. The Tigers (9-2) defeated long-time rival Georgiana 29-6.

In order to continue in the playoffs, Tigers' offense will have to engineer some sustained drives that eat up a lot of the clock. By doing so, they will wear out Cottonwood's defense. Then they can go in for the kill.

Getting out on top early will be key as well as preventing turnovers.

Defensively, Luverne played well last week, but will still need to step it up a notch and not give the visitor's any momentum. The Tigers will have to play physical land cause turnovers.

It may be time for the coaching staff to pull one of its many tricks out of the bag and jump out to a quick lead.

Prestridge's Pick: Luverne.

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The cards also fell in place right for the Brantley Bulldogs as they have the opportunity to stay at home once again this week and host Reeltown. The Rebels defeated J.F. Shields 41-14 last week and Brantley downed A.L. Johnson 22-8.

The third-ranked Bulldogs' offense is going to have to crank back up and jump out to a huge lead on the visitors. Last week, it was too close to call at the half.

Defensively, Brantley will have to slow down Reeltown's fast-paced offense and force them to make mistakes both on and off the line of scrimmage.

Clock management could be the difference in the game.

Prestridge's Pick: Brantley.

Adam Prestridge is editor of

The Luverne Journal. He can be reached at 334-335-3541 or by e-mail: adam.prestridge@luverne journal.com