By Ross Johnson

Sports Writer

For Callaway High, tonight’s game against Crawford County will be business as usual.

It doesn’t matter that the Cavaliers are in line for their second straight Region 5-AA title.

It doesn’t matter that Callaway could win its 16th straight region game dating back to the 2007 season.

All that matters to the Cavaliers is notching win No. 6 on the season.

Callaway (5-2) has built quite a lead in region play at 5-0.

The next two teams in the standings - Manchester and Lamar County - are both victims of the Cavaliers with one loss each.

With a win tonight over the Eagles (2-6, 2-4 Region 5-AA) at Callaway Stadium, the Cavaliers would be one step closer to another region title.

But first things first for head coach Pete Wiggins and his team.

“We’re going to take each game step by step and prepare just like we have for everyone else,” Wiggins said. “All year, we’ve stressed taking the next step each week. Our kids are ready to play Crawford.”

The Eagles haven’t exactly been an easy opponent for the Cavaliers traditionally.

Last season, the 6-1 Cavaliers went to Roberta and struggled for the first time against a region opponent all year, but squeaked out a 32-26 victory.

Callaway also beat the Eagles 16-6 in 2007, but lost 24-19 in 2006.

The reason, Wiggins said, is because of Crawford head coach Tony Byram’s defense.

“Last year, they played a 6-1 front and were good,” Wiggins said. “They had six guys on the line of scrimmage and one linebacker. They had guys that presented us problems on the line of scrimmage.

“I feel like our offensive line is better than last year, and I feel like we’ll be able to handle those guys, but we’ve still got to have a solid game because they’re going to come in here ready to play.”

Byram and the Eagles won’t have any problems with motivation tonight, according to Wiggins.

Crawford thrives on being the underdog, and will bring its best game against Callaway.

“We’ve won five games in a row, and the kids are excited, but we’re facing a good Crawford County team (tonight),” Wiggins said. “We’ve got to go out and execute and play physical and not turn the ball over. We’ve got to have a complete game.”

While the Eagles have given the Cavaliers problems in the past, the team hasn’t had much consistency this season.

Crawford managed to defeat region foes Macon County and Jordan, but had bad losses to Spencer and Pike County, which have combined for four region wins all season.

Crawford has been plagued with injuries throughout 2009, but Wiggins doesn’t know how much that will effect the team tonight.

“They’ve had injury problems, but every team has them,” Wiggins said. “We went through that at the beginning of the season. I don’t where (Crawford) is at right now (injury-wise).”

The Cavaliers have managed to improve every week, including a 44-0 pummeling of Lamar County in their last outing before last week’s bye.

There won’t be any looking ahead toward next week’s rivalry showdown with Heard County, either.

“Right now, the focus is on Crawford, and once we take care of business we can move on,” Wiggins said