It’s hard to say where I’ll wind up Friday night — probably Cleveland or Soddy-Daisy because I’m sure Stephen Hargis, one of our other assistant sports editors, will likely opt for South Pittsburg against Boyd-Buchanan.

It’ll probably be McMinn County at Soddy-Daisy or Red Bank at Cleveland and both of those games should be most entertaining because of the players and because of the playoff implications.

It will be hard, though, to top the games I have seen the last two weeks. A couple of weeks ago Boyd-Buchanan got its first win over Red Bank with a late touchdown and this past Friday I saw Howard hold off Polk County — yes, I drove more than 100 miles to watch a game — in a key Region 3-3A game.

It’s easy to see why Howard is 6-0. The Tigers, always athletic, displayed tremendous discipline against Polk. They don’t show you the same defense on consecutive plays, they have a tremendous athlete in receiver/cornerback Jahron Reynolds, three capable running backs, balance on the offensive and defensive lines and a quarterback (Michael Bryant) that actually reads defenses and doesn’t just throw his passes up for grabs with hopes that Reynolds or Chris Deloney will run under it.

Just as easily as I see why Howard is 6-0, I question how Polk could be 5-1. These guys are undersized and there are a only a couple that run better than a 4.8 in the 40-yard dash.

But they play with a lot of heart, hustle and desire.

Before the game, Howard coach Alvin Tarver said his biggest concern was how his Tigers would contend with Polk’s discipline. He spoke of how the Wildcats play as a unit, how they keep their mistakes to a minimum, and how they never give up.

I’d like to have his crystal ball. His Tigers had to hold on for the second year in a row, winning in the final minute only when a Polk running back slipped trying to turn the corner on a two-point conversion that would have tied the game.

It gets no easier for the Tigers this week. The only relief is that they’re stepping out of region play. But the challenge is Tyner and the stakes include the often unspoken inner-city championship between those two and Brainerd.

Meanwhile, Cleveland looks to end several years of misery against Red Bank, and the Blue Raiders should be favored in a battle of teams still unbeaten in Region 4-4A.

And at Soddy-Daisy, first-year coach E.K. Slaughter has created a stir in the community. The Trojans, off to a 5-1 start, are at home against resurging McMinn County, which last week knocked off Oak Ridge, a Region 2-5A favorite to make the postseason. That would be a great game to see, although it is likely to run longer than most because both teams love to throw the ball in their spread offenses. They have two of the area’s best quarterbacks in Scott Parrott (Soddy-Daisy) and Cy Ables, and Soddy-Daisy has two of the area’s best receivers in Bubba Haney and Donovan Barnes.

I might like to have seen East Ridge-Notre Dame, a game that could decide whether either will get into the postseason, but Notre Dame lost its quarterback (Bradley Stephens, who withdrew from school), and the Irish may struggle offensively.

I have seen most of the good teams, or the teams that were expected to be good, but I still have a few on my wish list including Ooltewah, Rhea County, South Pittsburg and Tyner. The good thing about those teams, though, is that each seems likely to extend its year into the postseason, giving me more time to get there.

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