Here are five games to watch in the Birmingham area this week as region play continues.

RELATED: Vote for the Birmingham area player of the week.

There are only four spots open for playoff action in each region and some teams have already clinched one of those spots. The final weeks of play will determine the top four teams and seeding for each region. The top two seeds host first round games while seeds No. 3 and No. 4 are on the road.

The complete schedule follows.

PELHAM (4-2, 1-2) AT BENJAMIN RUSSELL (4-2, 2-1) — 6A REGION 3

Time/location: Thursday, 7 p.m., Martin-Savarese Stadium, Alexander City

Last week: Pelham beat Calera 35-6 and Benjamin Russell beat Chilton County 50-7.

The skinny: Pelham leads the series 4-2 with a three-game winning streak, including a 30-20 victory last year. Neither team is ranked. Pelham scores 23.7 points a game and allows 17.2 (13th best in class) while Benjamin Russell averages 35.9 points (11th best in class) and gives up 21.2. Coach Mike Vickery (34-46, 8th season) took over at Pelham (10-8, 2nd year) last season and guided the Panthers to the playoffs. Vickery’s first head coaching job was at Northridge (24-38, 6 years). Smitty Grider (137-70, 19th season) took Benjamin Russell (12-5, 2nd season) to the playoffs last year. He also coached at Dothan (14-16, 3 years), Hazel Green (4-7, 1 year), started the program at Park Crossing (38-9, 4 years) in 2014, Beauregard (64-28, 8 years) with seven playoff appearances and earned his first head coaching position in 2005 at Central Coosa (5-5, 1 year).

PELHAM players to watch: Offense —QB Clayton Mains, WR CJ Tolbert, RB Mike Grayson, OL Cash Tatum, OL Tyler Mason. Defense — 3-star LB Will Felton (South Alabama commit), 2-star LB Bishop Rellah (Navy commit), DL James Schmucker, DB Markell Bell, DL Uriah Barginere.

BENJAMIN RUSSELL players to watch: Offense — 4-star WR Malcolm Simmons (Auburn commit), QB Gabriel Benton (offers from Austin Peay, North Alabama, Alabama State, more), WR Cedarian Morgan, RB TJ Wilson, WR Chris Foster, OL Chaden Allen. Defense — LB Jy Hicks, DE Kalib Spivey (Auburn offer), LB Caden Hyde. CB Chris Wyckoff, S Quay Marbury.

CORNER (6-0, 4-0) AT OAK GROVE (4-2, 3-1) — 4A REGION 5

Time/location: Friday, 7 p.m., Tiger Stadium, Oak Grove

Last week: Corner beat Northside 32-27 and Oak Grove fell to Haleyville 41-12

The skinny: Corner leads the series 37-32-1 with five straight wins, including 20-12 last year. Corner was ranked No. 8 last week while Oak Grove was unranked. Corner scores 41.8 points a game (7th best in class) and surrenders 16.8 (7th best in class) while Oak Grove averages 27.5 points and allows 19.8 (16th best in class). Trent Campbell (6-0, 4-0, 1st season) has his first head coaching job, guiding the Yellow Jackets to a program-tying six straight wins (also in 1964) to start. Corner has never won seven straight games since the program was started in 1946. Chris Musso (80-83, 16th season) took over Oak Grove (8-8, 2 years) last season and has coached at Haleyville (15-17, 3 years), Locust Fork (34-29, 6 years) with three playoff appearances and John Carroll (23-29, 5 years) with two playoff appearances.

CORNER players to watch: Offense — QB Brendan Conner, TE Brodie Dunlap, WR Nick Dyer, RB Spencer Unruh, TE/WR Tyson Hill. Defense — S Jace Boyd, S Max Hill, CB Cannon Eubank, LB Carlin Austin, LB CJ Brown, LB Rhett Cofer, DE Austin Reid, DE Jared Black, CB/Return specialist Carson Hurley.

OAK GROVE players to watch: Offense — RB Collin Pate, RB Jay Fuller, OL Zayden Kyzer, WR Seth Fox, QB Noah Thompson. Defense — LB Collin Pate, LB Connor Brooks, DL Bain Morris, LB Ethan Jones, DB Kyler Pollastrini.

HEWITT-TRUSSVILLE (5-2, 3-1) AT VESTAVIA HILLS (5-1, 3-1) — 7A REGION 3

Time/location: Friday, 7 p.m., Buddy Anderson Field at Reynolds Stadium, Vestavia Hills

Last week: Hewitt-Trussville lost 40-14 to Thompson and Vestavia Hills beat Chelsea 45-21.

The skinny: Vestavia Hills leads the series 13-5, but has lost three straight, including 45-37 last season. Hewitt-Trussville was ranked No. 6 and Vestavia Hills was No. 5. Hewitt-Trussville averages 36.3 points a game (7th best in class) and allows 19.4 (11th best in class) while Vestavia Hills scores 29.7 (13th best in class) and gives up 11.2 points (4th best in class). Josh Floyd (177-62-1, 20th season) moved from Arkansas to take over at Hewitt-Trussville (78-33, 10th year) in 2014. The Huskies have advanced to the playoffs eight of the previous nine seasons. In Arkansas, Floyd coached at Shiloh Christian (99-29, 10 years), leading the Saints to four state championships and another trip to the title game. Robert Evans (12-6, 2nd season) is the only eighth head coach since the Vestavia Hills program started in 1970. Evans played for the Rebels under legendary coach Buddy Anderson and guided the team to the playoffs last season.

HEWITT-TRUSSVILLE players to watch: Offense — TE Donovan Price (offers from UAB, Tulane, Austin Peay, more), QB Peyton Floyd, WR Jacob Serena, WR Jadon Loving, OL Trevor Pruet. Defense — DB Riggs Dunn, DL Tyrell Averhart, DE Ayden Moore, DE Drew Ollis.

VESTAVIA HILLS players to watch: Offense —QB John Paul Head (UAB baseball commit), RB William Tonsmeire, WR Keown Richardson, TE Bruce Littleton, OL JD Livingston. Defense — LB Jacob Watson, LB Gibson Bean, S Spence Hanna, 5-star DE Jordan Ross (Tennessee commit).

HUEYTOWN (3-3, 3-1) AT MCADORY (4-2, 3-1) — 6A REGION 4

Time/location: Friday, 7 p.m., McAdory Stadium, McCalla

Last week: Hueytown beat Paul Bryant 69-20 and McAdory beat Northridge 35-17.

The skinny: Hueytown leads the series 27-13-1 and has won seven straight, including 32-27 last season. Neither team is ranked. Hueytown scores 32.5 points a game (17th best in class) and allows 16.7 (12th best in class) while McAdory averages 32.8 (16th best in class) points and surrenders 21.5. Greg Patterson (54-43, 9th season) led Hueytown (40-17, 5th year) to the playoffs each of the previous four seasons, including playing in the Class 6A title game in 2021. Patterson also coached at Sumiton Christian (14-26, 4 years). Aryvia Holmes (17-11, 3rd season) has guided the Yellow Jackets to the playoffs the previous two seasons. It’s his first head coaching job.

HUEYTOWN players to watch: Offense — QB Jebron Ellington, WR Dacorian Thomas, RB/WR JaKhael Rowser, OL Gerald Owens. Defense — DE Keith Green, DT Cole Caldwell, DT Christian Williams, LB Jacob Hanberry, 3-star DB Kam Kynard (Marshall commit), DB Jaquarius Brooks.

MCADORY players to watch: Offense — QB Jacob Clopton, 3-star WR Tavaris Coles (offers from Arkansas State, Austin Peay, more), 3-star WR Jacorey Whitted (Mississippi State commit), OL Christian Miller. Defense — LB J’Quan Mason (Troy commit), CB Nate Nwagwu (Alabama State commit), DB Jack Sewell, OL Marquese Brown, LB Erik Lessars.

PARKER (6-1, 4-0) AT MOUNTAIN BROOK (5-1, 3-0) — 6A REGION 5

Time/location: Friday, 7 p.m., Spartan Stadium, Mountain Brook

Last week: Parker beat Woodlawn 40-8 and Mountain Brook was idle, beating Hoover 34-24 the previous week.

The skinny: Mountain Brook has won all six games in the series, including 35-6 last season. Parker was ranked No. 7 last week and Mountain Brook was No. 6. Parker scores 41.1 points a game (6th best in class) and allows 14.7 (9th best in class) while Mountain Brook averages 31.7 points (19th best in class) and surrenders 12 points (3rd best in class). Frank Warren (30-13, 4th season) earned his first head coaching job at Parker in 2020 and has guided the Thundering Herd to the playoffs each of the past three years. Chris Yeager (175-82, 22nd season) led Mountain Brook (150-62, 18th year) to the Class 6A title game last season and has 13 playoff appearances in 17 previous seasons. Yeager coached at Jasper (5-15, 2 years) and West Blocton (20-4, 2 years) with two playoff appearances. Coach Wade Waldrop (112-81, 18th season) led the Bucs (12-6, 2nd year) to the semifinals last season and has coached at Chelsea (41-34, 7 years), James Clemens (54-35, 8 years) and one year at Florence (5-6).

PARKER players to watch: Offense — QB Malik Muhammad, RB A’mari Brundidge, RB Martavius Purnell, WR Jeremiah Jelks, OL Jamarcus Smith. Defense — 4-star DL Jeremiah Beaman (Alabama commit), 4-star DL Jourdin Crawford (offers from Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Clemson, Michigan, more) DL Phillip Davidson, DL Jeremiah Hall, LB Davion Lake, LB Carlton Duncan, 5-star DB Na’eem Offord (offers from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Clemson, USC, more), DB Eric Tarrant, 4-star DB Timothy Merritt (offers from Kentucky, Ole Miss, LSU, Clemson, Penn State, Texas, more).

MOUNTAIN BROOK players to watch: Offense — 3-star RB Cole Gamble (offers from UAB, Navy, UNA, more), WR Clark Sanderson (Samford offer), RB Jack King, QB John Cooper (New Mexico State offer), TE JC Adams. OL Watts Alexander (offers from Cornell, UT-Chattanooga, Richmond, Samford). Defense — DB Tucker Crawford, DB Clyde Beavers, DB Hampton King, LB William Grier McDuffie, LB Drew Widener, DL James Hard, DL Rickey Whitworth.

BIRMINGHAM AREA SCHEDULE

(All games at 7 p.m. unless noted)

THURSDAY

Hayden at Wenonah

Pelham at Benjamin Russell

FRIDAY

Alexandria at Leeds

Banks at Jackson Academy

Briarwood at Calera

Carver at Jasper

Center Point at Pinson Valley

Chelsea at Spain Park

Chilton County at Homewood

Clay-Chalkville at Huffman

Coosa Valley at Abbeville Christian

Corner at Oak Grove

Fairfield at Pleasant Grove

Fort Dale at Bessemer Academy

Fultondale at Cherokee County

Hewitt-Trussville at Vestavia Hills

Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa at Bessemer City

Hoover at Tuscaloosa County

Hueytown at McAdory

Jackson-Olin at Woodlawn

Midfield at Tarrant

Minor at Gardendale

Montevallo at Bibb County

Parker at Mountain Brook

Ramsay at John Carroll

Selma at Shelby County

Shades Valley at Pell City

St. Clair County at Moody

Thompson at Oak Mountain

Woodland at Vincent

Some information provided by the Alabama High School Football Historical Society website.