Friday nights just got more important.

Here’s a couple of key tidbits about a few of Friday’s bigger playoff match-ups.

Ridgeway-Germantown (at Halle)….After missing three games due to a high ankle sprain, Roadrunner senior RB Aaron Crawford is back. That could be bad news for Germantown, though Charlie White did a fantastic job of gameplanning for Crawford’s brother, Jocques Crawford, in a first-round playoff win over Cordova last season, limiting him to 48 rushing yards in a 37-0 shutout.

Wooddale-Millington (at Cordova)…My pick for game of the week. Both teams have outstanding atheltes on both sides of the ball - Wooddale with senior QB Jeremy Perry, senior receiver Roderick Davis and junior receiver Sean Armstrong and Millington with junior running back Travis Simpson, one of the area’s top rushers this season with over 1,150 yards. The difference here will be special teams and turnovers.

White Station-Cordova (at Fairgrounds) …. White Station is talented, yes, but without junior quarterback Jeff Link at the helm, the Spartans come down a couple of notches. While junior Martin Haaga is certainly capable at quarterback (he split time with Link at QB last year before moving to TE this season), he doesn’t have much time to develop much chemistry between himself and the receivers, having started at QB for the first time this season last Friday.

Raleigh-Egpyt at Munford …… Did you really think former East High coach Wayne Randall would get it turned around at Munford this quickly? No way.

Mitchell at Dyersburg…..Last year Dyersburg, at 10-0, was asking first-round opponent Sheffield what it knew about Mitchell, which Dyersburg assumed it would face in the second round. Sheffield, with just two wins last season, ended up knocking off top-seeded Dyersburg in one of the biggest upset in recent playoff history. Think Dyersburg will look past Mitchell to its second-round opponent this year?

Washington at Trenton Peabody……Find me one quality win on Washington’s schedule. Take your time. I can wait.

Eight games into a difficult season and Tiger coach Tommy West continues to be impressed by freshman receiver Duke Calhoun.

Before the season began, Calhoun was the incoming freshman getting most of the ink because of his ability. West asked several members of the media to back off and not hype the ex-Raleigh-Egypt receiver too much, especially before he had played a game.

But it’s apparent with four games left, Calhoun has made an impact. He leads the team in receiving yards (420) and receiving touchdowns (4). While West admits Calhoun “has a long way to go without the ball”, he is accomplished with it.

And if there was a team ESPY award for catch of the year, Calhoun would have several receptions nominated, including a one-handed TD grab at East Carolina.

Tonight marks the start of another NBA season. And with that comes the start of my new gig as The Commercial Appeal’s new NBA writer. As part of my new duties, on our Sunday NBA page, we will feature a mailbag section where readers can send me their NBA-related questions and I’ll do my best to give you answer. In order for this to be a success, though, I need for you all to do me a favor and keep the mailbag full. Send your questions to morgan@commercialappeal.com. Then, be sure to check out our new, revamped NBA page, which makes its debut this Sunday.