Kameron Brown scoots through gap made by his offensive line.

CHULA — After seven games, Erik Soliday’s Tiftarea Academy Panthers are finally playing in a region football contest. Homecoming is tonight at the Panther Pit as Tiftarea takes on Brookwood.

“It’s crunch time now,” said Soliday. “This is when you have to be playing really good ball.”

Brookwood brings a 2-5 record to match up against Tiftarea’s 3-4. The visitors’ record may look a little iffy, but it’s not. Brookwood has won its last two games, 38-26 against Edmund Burke Academy and 49-27 against Southwest Georgia Academy. Both, however, were in Thomasville.

“They’ve got some pretty good athletes,” Soliday said, highlighting the play of quarterback Rodge Waldrop and Brookwood’s receivers, among them, Destin Moore.

The Warriors’ early woes were a product of their schedule, he said. “Everybody kind of figured out their roles, I think. They’ve put things together.” The SGA win was particularly impressive because of their physicality.

Tiftarea slipped to 3-4 after a loss to Terrell Academy last week. Soliday believes Terrell has a shot at the GISA Class AA state championship.

While they were not able to top Terrell, things are looking up, personnel-wise. Kameron Brown returned to the lineup in Dawson after a stint on the injured list. Soliday brought him along slowly, but expects Brown to play a much bigger role in the offense this week.

“We’ve been careful with Kam, trying to ease him back in. But we’re ready to turn him loose now, see what he can do.”

Brown and John Austin Lee will provide a nice 1-2 punch for Dylan Harbort, who continues to rack up big yardage. At the rate Harbort is throwing, he could end up with 1,000 yards in the regular season. He threw for 1,223 yards a year ago.