Shannon Brown didn’t taper expectations for his Ardmore High football team, even though the Tigers’ roster was one of the youngest in the area.

With two region games remaining, Ardmore (5-2, 3-2 in Region 7), needs to beat either Madison County or DAR to clinch a playoff spot.

“We’re really young, but I saw this group had a chance to do well on the first day of practice,” Brown said. “This group believes in what they do, and because they’ve been willing to go through the weekly grind, they’ve put themselves into a tremendous position.”

Sophomore quarterback Garrett Miller has played well, throwing touchdown passes in most of Ardmore’s wins. The Tigers have also gotten strong performances from running backs Tyler McCarley and Zach Ellis.

Brown said he is pleased with how this young team has developed.

“It’s been a fun group to coach,” Brown said. “And with so many young players, it’s going to be a fun team to coach for a while. With the players we have coming up, there are good things coming down the pipe for Ardmore football. We have some young bucks with bright futures.”

Ardmore travels to Class 4A No. 7 Madison County on Friday.

Region titles within grasp: Key games are on the horizon for two area teams.

Through seven weeks, Austin (7-0) and Falkville (6-0) have breezed through their respective schedules and are in contention for region titles, but both have major hurdles ahead.

Fourth-ranked Austin (7-0) has Class 6A, Region 8 games remaining at Florence and Bob Jones — arguably the Black Bears’ most difficult challenges in the region.

Falkville (6-0) has a similar path to the Class 1A, Region 6 title. The Blue Devils have tough region games remaining at Addison and at home against Ragland.

Falkville has not won a region title since 1996. Austin’s last region title was in 1999.

More playoffs: With the season winding down, the postseason picture for area teams is becoming clear.

Don’t expect playoff brackets to be filled with teams from Lawrence, Limestone and Morgan counties, either. Of 20 local football teams, only Austin, Hartselle, Falkville and Tanner have clinched postseason berths, and all but 10 teams have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Along with Ardmore, R.A. Hubbard and Hatton are one win away from clinching a playoff spot. R.A. Hubbard has region games remaining against Waterloo (1-6) and Decatur Heritage (3-4), while Hatton plays Tanner (7-0) and Sheffield (3-4).

Decatur needs to win its final two games against Sparkman (1-6) and James Clemens (0-7) to clinch the final playoff spot in Class 6A, Region 8.

Road warriors: Falkville is enjoying its best start since 1992, but unfortunately most of this run hasn’t played out in front of a home crowd.

Because of the scheduling difficulties of being in a nine-team region, Falkville heads into Week 8 having played two home games. The Blue Devils travel to Addison this week.