Call it Football Fever or Football Frenzy. The F word is on thetongues of young and old alike as this weekend’s football playoffaction approaches.

Expect to see a lot of out-of-county vehicles cruising BrookwayBoulevard on Friday and Saturday. Friday night’s high schoolfootball playoffs will draw a large convoy of visitors asBrookhaven hosts Wayne County and Brookhaven Academy welcomesCentreville Academy.

Local restaurant owners should be salivatating at the prospectsof their cash registers ringing or beeping up additional sales.Yes, there will be a few extra-thousand hungry and thirsty folksroaming the area.

WELCOME FOOTBALL FANS!

On Saturday night, Co-Lin hosts Pearl River Community Collegefor the MACJC State Football Championship. This game will drawanother exceptional crowd to Stone Stadium in Wesson. Many peoplewill stop in Brookhaven, either before or after the game, and spendsome money, either on gas or food. Strange, in some cases, food cancause gas, too.

In Class 3A, Franklin County in Meadville is hosting Carthage.Naturally, those folks will pull over and pause for a visit inBrookhaven before continuing the pilgrimage to Meadville.

For sure, we wish all of the local teams much success in theplayoffs.

Meanwhile, Professor Hoopla, B.S. was cleaning out his deerhouse in preparation for the upcoming season. He has visions of atrophy buck tip-toeing in front of his scope.

He predicted the winners of 27 games last weekend and missed 8.Special congratulations to the MSU Bulldogs.

At last Thursday’s MSU Alumni Southwest Chapter meeting, localgolf expert Henry Hamill boldly predicted a Bulldog victory overthe Alabama Crimson Tide. “I feel good about Saturday’s game.”

Some folks in the audience snickered at Hamill’s partisanprediction. We thought he was suffering from dehydration andexposure after battling the cold northerly wind during thatafternoon’s scramble tournament at the Brookhaven Country Club.Henry also was on the winning team.

Hoopla’s latest list of predictions was neatly printed on acamouflaged sheet of paper. He’ll start with Friday’s playoffaction.

Wayne County at Brookhaven: Looks like atitanic struggle on King Field. Panthers by a whisker. Brookhaven28-27.

Centreville Academy at Brookhaven Academy:Cougars claim their 11th win of the season by shaving the Tigers.Brookhaven Academy 30-21.

Bogue Chitto at Puckett: Unbeaten Wolves willmanage to pull out a narrow win over the Bobcats. Puckett32-26.

Carthage at Franklin County: Beefy Bulldogs areon a state championship mission. Franklin County 21-10.

Copiah Academy at Riverfield, La.: Colonelsfall short of victory on the road. Riverfield 19-17.

In other area action, Hazlehurst will ambushRaleigh 31-21, Picayune will dump McComb 16-10 and Tylertown willclip Southeast Lauderdale 26-21.

Pearl River at Co-Lin: Both teams have improvedsince September. Wolves win their first state title since the 1985campaign Saturday night. Co-Lin 24-21.

Southern Miss at Tulane: Golden Eagles find acomfortable roost in the Superdome. Southern Miss 34-14.

Prairie View at Jackson State: Tigers pull outof their tailspin in a tuneup for the Alcorn State Braves. JacksonState 38-21.

Alabama A&M at Alcorn State: Braves won’thave enough offense to pull out a victory. Alabama A&M42-20.

Trinity at Millsaps: Streaking Majors have wonsix in row. Make it seven. Millsaps 21-14.

Cumberland at Belhaven: Not to be outdone, theBlazers capture a sixth straight victory. Belhaven 27-19.

Valley State at Alabama State: Hornets apply asevere sting to the Delta Devils. Alabama State 38-14.

Sul Ross State at Mississippi College: Choctawsend their season with a 4-game losing streak. Sul Ross 30-20.

Arkansas-Monticello at Delta State: FightingOkra conclude their season with a win over the Boll Weevils. DeltaState 38-19.

Ole Miss and Mississippi State have open dates to prepare forLSU and Arkansas respectively.

In the SEC, LSU over Alabama 29-10, Arkansasover Tennessee 23-14, Auburn over Georgia 21-7, Florida over SouthCarolina 28-14, and Kentucky over Vanderbilt 24-21.

Write to sports editor Tom Goetz, c/o The DAILY LEADER, P.O.BOX 551, Brookhaven, MS 39602 or e-mailsports@dailyleader.com