Hurricane Ivan not only caused a lot of havoc throughout southern communities, but on the high school gridiron as well.

Is this week No. 6 of the season or No. 5 of the season? The season opened six weeks ago, but without games being played last week, its actually week five.

Talk about strange.

As reported last week on The Journal's hurricane recap page, the Alabama High School Athletic Association has bumped the entire season, including the playoffs and the Super 6 at Legion Field in Birmingham a week forward.

The AHSAA opted to cancel high school games throughout the state pending warnings of flooding and high winds resulting from Ivan. Nice call.

Even though it was reported that games might possibly be made up on Saturday or Monday, those plans were nixed as well. Why complicate the season by having some teams playing in week five and others playing in week six? That would have been a real mess to try to figure out, which would in turn make everybody's job a lot harder.

Officials reported that all games, which were to be held or were rescheduled between Sept. 16-18, all of which are region games, will be moved to the tenth week of the season, Oct. 28-30.

The games of Oct. 28-30, all non-region games, will be moved forward a week to Nov. 4-6.

Due to the rescheduling, all playoff games have been moved forward a week and will be held Nov. 12, 19, 26 and Dec. 3. The Super Six Championships, to be held at Legion Field in Birmingham, have also been bumped up a week to Dec. 8-10.

Alabama Independent School Association (AISA) member school football games have also been moved forward. AISA games will also be rescheduled through week 11 and the playoffs will begin on week 12.

Since this prognosticator was playing storm chaser last week, it's only fair that last week's picks be gimmes. But being honest, the pick for the Crenshaw Christian/Lowndes Academy game would have been in favor of the Cougars. Brantley proved dominate once again and Luverne picked up a win as well.

With one loss, last week's record was 2-1 upping the season total to 11-3 or 79 percent.

This week's big game will be between Luverne and G.W. Long at Glenn Daniel Stadium.

The No. 7 Tigers (3-1, 2-0) picked up a win over archrival Elba last Friday night in a non-regional contest. The G.W. Long Rebels also picked up a win last week after edging Wicksburg 27-21.

Luverne will have to continue to improve from week to week in order to have a shot to return to Legion Field in December. Penalties and turnovers have proven to hurt Luverne, but the players have managed to bounce back.

The Rebels will test the Tigers' bite and make them earn a win. This will be the biggest test so far for Luverne in region play.

This could be a close one.

Prestridge's Pick: Luverne.

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Fourth-ranked Brantley will

attempt to remain perfect on the season this Friday night against Kinston.

The Bulldogs could capture their fifth win of the season with a region win over Kinston, which lost to Class 2A Samson last week, 35-6. The hosting Bulldogs are hoping to once again keep a leash on the visiting Dawgs.

Brantley (4-0, 2-0) had a bit of trouble last week against 2A Highland Home, but was able to adjust and run away with a win. The Bulldogs were able to give their quarterback some valuable reps, which should pay off down the road.

The Kinston Bulldogs won't roll over and let Brantley pet them, but as long as the coaching staff will continue to mix things up a win is almost definite.

Prestridge's Pick: Brantley.

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Highland Home will pack up and hit the road this week to take on Lanett in a region battle.

Lanett suffered a huge 60-14 loss to Class 3A Lafayette last week and will be searching for redemption. Unfortunate for the Bulldogs, the Flying Squadron will also be seeking to avenge its loss to Brantley.

Highland Home has shown a lot of promise this season, but just hasn't been able to finish off the win. Turnovers, mental errors and penalties have sent them back pedaling in the second half eliminating hopes for a win.

The Squadron will have to jump out quick on the Bulldogs, play hard all four quarters and never give up in order to win.

Prestridge's Pick: Highland Home.

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Crenshaw Christian Academy, coming off a disappointing loss to Lowndes Academy, will host a tough Autauga team tomorrow night.

The Cougars (2-2, 2-1) only have a .500 wining percentage, but are in the hunt for the area title. In order to win that title, penalties will have to be limited.

If the Cougars want to pick up a win this week, each player will have to give 100 percent and not give Autauga anything. Everything must be earned on each side of the ball.

Prestridge's Pick: Autauga.

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