The old saying is true &8212; time flies when you are having a good time. It is hard to believe this is the final night of regular season for the &8216;privates&8217; and the final week of conference (region) play for the public schools. Tonight and next Friday is when a lot of guys will put on the jersey for the last time.

Before we all tear up let&8217;s jump right into our games for tonight shall we:

Demopolis (7-1, 5-1) at Brookwood (1-7, 1-5)

Putting this together is eerily similar to last week&8217;s game against Dallas County. Review my logic and validate the accuracy if you will.

Brookwood beat Dallas County earlier in the season; Dallas County beat Wilcox Central a couple of weeks back; Last week Wilcox Defeated Brookwood; Demopolis has torched both Wilcox and Dallco; Thereby, Demop should wipe out Brookwood tonight. Right?

Well, since 1990 DHS leads the series 7-2, with the last Brookwood win coming in 1991 regular season (33-14). Matter of fact, the last time the Panthers had a winning season was 1999 (8-3) under coach Kermit Jones. Since 1999 BHS has not won more three games in any year. The last time they won three games was last year. Thus, if Brookwood is going to match their record, it has got to come tonight against the River City Bengals and next week against Holt.

The hard-core truth is the only mystery about Brookwood&8217;s record is they might win against Holt but tonight against DHS? Unh-unh, only in a dream.

Dreams some times do come true but unless the Royal Blue and White fall asleep on the bus then lapse into a coma, DHS should wrap up region play with a 6-1 record.

Demopolis has more athletes and coaching, plus they are on a roll.

Brookwood is not necessarily known as a football juggernaut. Their claim to fame (before Mercedes Benz set up shop just across I-59) was coal mining. This catfight will not be a subterranean shoveling duel. It may very well turn out to be a track meet with DHS staking their claim as the &8216;big cats&8217; in this tussle and doing &8220;The Stray Cat Strut&8221; on the way back home.

John Essex (1-7, 0-5) at Sweet Water (7-0, 5-0)

John Essex claimed sole possession of the cellar by way of a lopsided loss to Akron last week.

Sweet Water rolled up South Lamar 61-0 last Friday night.

I am thinking this might be the week that a good number of the Bulldog eighth and ninth graders get a significant amount of playing time. Otherwise this game will get out of hand early on.

Yes, &8216;The Sweeties&8217; need this game to be officially designated as the alpha dog of 1A Region 4. &8216;Da Dawgs&8217; need to be concerned about looking past this game and to next weeks score-a-rama in &8216;Smelley land&8217; with American Christian. To counter the counter point, they are playing at home in the &8216;Dog Pound&8217; and it doesn&8217;t appear the Hornet sting is very potent this year.

Linden (6-2, 4-1) at A.L. Johnson (5-2, 3-2)

Check the records, you will see this is a biggie.

Linden wins they are No. 2 in the region behind Sweet Water. A.L. Johnson wins, they are No. 2. The loser falls to No. 3. This is the only spot that will be firmed up by way of direct competition in Week 9. Sweet Water has locked up the top spot and Sunshine is No. 4.

This will be a good one.

Perhaps the key to this one is who establishes themselves early on and forces the other side to play catch up.

Bessemer (9-0) at Southern (8-0)

Final week of the regular season for Alabama Independent School Association and you get the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams having at it in Greensboro.

In my humble opinion, this game very well represents the private school championship game. True enough, Bessemer is 3A and Southern is 2A therefore this is the only time they will meet.

Last year, in the Steel City outskirts Bessemer worked over the Cougars pretty good in the regular season finale. Bessemer went on to claim the big school trophy and Southern rebounded for their three-peat championship.

My antenna picks up some strong retribution waves coming out of Hale County as tonight approaches. Both teams are playoff bound and this game does not affect their seeding. However a Southern win tonight and assuming a run through the PO would truly highlight this season and establish this team as one of the best of the best that ever played for the Cougars.

Marengo Academy (6-2) at Cottage Hill Christian (7-2)

The answer to the spotlight question of last week: Is it possible for Jackson to score on Marengo this week? Yes, Jackson scored, but it was so late, they were already shutting down the concession stand and the majority of the Longhorns were already in the showers. Just the elementary kids who weren&8217;t even in uniform were left playing, OK, maybe I am taking a liberty or so here or there but conceptually it is accurate.

Marengo is on a five game win streak since the shutout loss to Southern.

Cottage Hill opened their season with a 61-0 pasting of the above referenced Jackson Academy Eagles. CHC is a 3A school that looked extremely strong in the early part of the season but in their last four games they are 2-2.

Next year, Cottage Hill goes to the Alabama High School Athletic Association so this will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Longhorns to make history by being the last team to beat Cottage Hill in regular season AISA play.

Notables from last week

Pancake of the week: Spain Park 69, Carver-Birmingham 0

Left the Defense on the Bus: R.C. Hatch 62 Shades Mountain 34

Low Ball of the week: Huffman 8, Clay Chalkville 6

If we only had a kicker: Providence Christian 19, McKenzie 18

Longest game of the week: Chilton County 35, Bibb County (3 OT)

Remember, Demopolis on the road to Brookwood for the last region game of 2007. Come to the game and do some tailgating, and of course, wear blue. It would be great to have more fans at the game than home standing Brookwood.

Until next time, play hard, play for fun, play to win.

Mike Grayson is contributing columnist to the Times.