Last weekend was such a whirlwind. Friday night was the rehearsal dinner for my and the lovely Bethany Garmon’s wedding, held on Saturday at the breathtaking Red Barn in Hokes Bluff.

When our rehearsal dinner was over late Friday evening, I scurried home to get information on all our area high school football games. There were a couple of eyebrow-raising results that I didn’t see coming, which pulled me from the undefeated ranks the past couple of weeks down to a 5-2 mark.

Oh well, it was the last weekend before Halloween, so I’ll blame it on that.

For the year, I’m 48-10 – an 83-percent picking percentage – with one week remaining in the regular season.

Five area teams are in action this weekend, including tonight’s battle between Collinsville and Valley Head.

Let’s see if our area teams and I can close out the regular season strong or limp into the postseason.

Collinsville (7-2) at Valley Head (7-2): This was one of the best games from the 2022 regular season, won by the Panthers 27-22. I expect another battle tonight between these two DeKalb County rivals.

And I expect a similar result.

The pick: Collinsville.

Talladega County Central (2-7) at Gaylesville (1-8): Both of these teams are playing for pride in this one. The Trojans have shown some flashes throughout the season. I feel like tonight they finally put it all together for a win on the field and head into the off-season on a positive note.

The pick: Gaylesville.

Donoho (0-8) at Cedar Bluff (4-5): The Tigers posted an impressive 21-16 victory over Appalachian last week, particularly on defense. Cedar Bluff registered seven sacks and two interceptions. Hunter Jenkins also had an impressive night running the football with 165 yards on 19 carries and a pair of touchdowns.

To top it off, the Tigers also managed to qualify for the Class 1A state playoffs. They’ll get a tune-up for Wadley next week by hosting winless Donoho.

Here’s thinking Jenkins and the Tiger defense turn in another stellar performance to even their record at 5-5.

The pick: Cedar Bluff.

Sylacauga (1-8) at Piedmont (4-5): Much like I mentioned with Cedar Bluff, Piedmont scratched and clawed its way to the playoffs with a thrilling 23-22 overtime win against Hokes Bluff last week.

And, much like Cedar Bluff, they’re hosting a team that hasn’t had much success throughout the regular season. I expect Piedmont will carry the momentum over from its win last week into this one and close out the regular season strong before traveling to J.B. Pennington in the playoffs next week.

The pick: Piedmont.

Fort Payne (5-4) at Cherokee County (9-0): Speaking of strong, the Warriors have been just that all season. They can do something tomorrow night that only a select few Cherokee County High School teams have done before, and that’s go undefeated in the regular season with a win over Fort Payne. The last two times that’s happened, the Warriors played for state titles in 2008 and 2009.

They can also exact a little revenge from last season’s 35-16 loss to the Wildcats. Here’s thinking the Warriors do just that in this week’s Foothills Tractor Game of the Week before hosting Central of Florence to open the playoffs next week.

The pick: Cherokee County.