The task will be a lot tougher this week.

After overwhelming Alexander 49-7 to get their first win of the season, the Troup Tigers now turn their attention to one of the state’s best teams in recent years, the Sandy Creek Patriots.

Troup (1-3) and Sandy Creek will face off at Callaway Stadium on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Sandy Creek won back-to-back state championships in 2009 and 2010, and it made it to the quarterfinals a year ago.

This season, the Patriots are 4-0, and they’re ranked first in Class AAAA.

The Patriots remained perfect with Friday’s 55-14 victory over Fayette County in their Region 5-AAAA opener.

Sandy Creek has outscored its four opponents by an average score of 44-8.

Troup does come into the game with some momentum, though.

After nearly beating Class AAAAAA stronghold Newnan two weeks ago, Troup returned from an off week and hammered Alexander to move to 1-0 in Region 5-AAAA.

Daryl Dunlap had touchdown runs of 46 and 32 yards, Ricky Frazier scored on runs of 30 and 28 yards, Devonte Carter had a 13-yard touchdown run, and Bruce Danford had a 2-yard scoring plunge.

Hadley also returned a punt for a touchdown.

Troup’s defense hurled a shutout until Alexander scored late when it was down 49-0.

Also this week, the LaGrange Grangers (2-2 overall) will try to move to 2-0 in Region 5-AAAA when it visits Columbus for a Thursday-night showdown.

The teams will square off at Kinnett Stadium at 7 p.m.

Columbus (0-4 overall) was hammered by Carrollton 66-0 in its first region game last week.

LaGrange kicked off its region schedule with a 31-14 win over Shaw.

The Grangers trailed 7-0 late in the first half, but they scored 31 unanswered points to soar past the Raiders.

LaGrange head coach Donnie Branch feels the victory sets his team up nicely for the upcoming games.

“This was a huge game,” Branch said. “I was hating to put too much emphasis on it because it’s one region game. But I think there are five teams that are leading candidates for four (playoff) spots, and (Shaw) is one of them. We needed this one. This puts us in pretty good shape for these next three or four games.”

Down 7-0, the Grangers got a safety late in the second quarter to get on the board.

LaGrange then marched down for a touchdown off of the free kick, with Demoton Boyd scoring on a 3-yard run.

Zach Giddens hit Benny Gray for the two-point conversion, giving LaGrange a 10-7 lead at the break.

In the third quarter, LaGrange got a 17-yard touchdown pass from Giddens to Corey Perkins, Gray scored on a 47-yard run, and Giddens found Tavone Rivers for a 16-yard score.

Taylor Stanford made two of the extra points in the quarter, and Michael Ward made one.

Shaw scored a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, but the outcome had already been decided.

Callaway will also play on Thursday this week, and it will be at home against Region 4-AAA foe Chapel Hill.

The Cavaliers (3-1 overall) are 1-0 in the region after Friday’s 38-18 win over Jackson-Atlanta.

Chapel Hill (2-2) beat Rockmart 23-14 last week in its region opener.