WEEK 4 LACKS SURPRISES

There were a lot of predictable outcomes in the fourth week of the season.
Shaw won.
Carver remained unbeaten.
Brookstone won its Region 4-A opener.
While there weren't a lot of upsets, it was still an interesting week of football. Here's a quick look at the week:

Flying under the radar
Smiths Station and Hardaway are quietly winning football games. The Panthers and Hawks both are 3-1 this season.
In 2005, they each only won one game.
The Panthers won by the narrowest of margins – 10-9 against Dothan on Thursday night. Trailing 9-7, Jeffrey Carrero kicked a 27-yard field goal with 3:48 to give the Panthers their third straight win.
Smiths Station is now 3-0 in Class 6A, Region 3 and tied for first with Opelika and Auburn. The Panthers have to probably win two more region games to make the playoffs for the first time since 1997.
Hardaway is also trying to make the playoffs for time this century.
If the Hawks continue to win the close games, they will make the playoffs for the first time since 1999. Hardaway has won all three games by a touchdown or less.
Still, first-year coach Morgan Ingram has them playing hard and making enough plays to win.
That was the case Saturday night against Harris County. Nick Burks and Kelcie McCray found running lanes in the first half, and the defense kept Harris County out of the end zone in the fourth quarter.


Plenty of points
Glenwood didn't have any problem running the ball on Friday.
The Gators rushed for more than 400 yards and scored 70 points against Tuscaloosa. They scored three touchdowns in both the first and second quarters, and they added four more in the third quarter.
Tuscaloosa hadn't really stopped anyone this season, surrendering 54 points a game in its first four. Glenwood's 70 points raises Tuscaloosa's average points allowed to 57.2.
The Gators had eight different players score a touchdown, including William Tanzie, who scored on a 99-yard run.

Must wins
With losses this week, Kendrick, Harris County and Northside can't afford to lose many more games and still make the playoffs from Region 2-AAA.
The Cherokees were competitive but still lost 13-0 to LaGrange, falling to 1-2. The Patriots were shutout 22-0 by Carver and are 1-2. Harris County's 27-20 loss to Hardaway drops the Tigers to 1-3.
Kendrick has a good chance to get 2-2 when it plays Spencer this week, while Northside and Harris County play each other.
The loser of that game will have an extremely difficult road to the playoffs.