By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Callaway Cavaliers and Troup Tigers both found themselves among the top 10 teams in their respective classifications when the Georgia High School Football Daily released its preseason poll this week.

Callaway is fourth in Class AA, and Troup is ninth in Class AAAA.

Both teams are joined by a handful of the teams they’ll share regions with this season.

Region 5-AA and Region 5-AAAA, in fact, both have three teams in the top 10.

From Region 5-AA, Heard County is ranked second, Callaway is fourth, and region newcomer Bremen is ninth.

Defending state-champion Hapeville Charter, which beat Heard County 28-21 in the state semifinals, is ranked first in Class AA.

From Region 5-AAAA, Cartersville is ranked third after winning two of the past three state championships.

Troup and Cedartown, who hope to challenge Cartersville for region supremacy, are ranked ninth and 10th, respectively.

Blessed Trinity, which won the state title last year, leads the way in the Class AAAA rankings.

Callaway and Troup, clearly, will have their hands full as they look to chase down a region title.

Callaway and Heard County were the clear top dogs in the region the past two years, and now they’ll have to contend with a formidable Bremen team as well.

“I feel like our region will be one of the best regions in the state,” Callaway head coach Pete Wiggins said. “There’s some really solid football teams, and great coaching, and some really good players.”

In addition to the challenging region schedule, Callaway also plays Troup on Sept. 14 in a top-10 matchup.

Troup has three ranked teams on its schedule, including Cartersville and Cedartown, which finished first and second, respectively in the region last season.

Troup also plays fourth-ranked Callaway this season, and it opens the season against Ridgeland, which is ranked in some preseason polls.