It’s time for region football
Published 10:13 pm Monday, September 17, 2018
By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY
Daily News
Another week, another showdown against a fellow unbeaten team for the Troup Tigers.
Last week, it was an electric atmosphere at Callaway Stadium as Troup and Callaway met in a highly-anticipated matchup between teams with 3-0 records.
It was tied early in the second half, but Troup pulled away for the 37-20 victory.
Troup will be back at Callaway Stadium this week to face a Chapel Hill team that has been impressive so far on the way to a 4-0 start.
While there might not be the same level of buzz around this game, it is a critically-important one for Troup since it’s the Region 5-AAAA opener for both teams.
Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Callaway Stadium.
“That was a good football team. I’m proud of our guys,” Troup head coach Tanner Glisson said following last week’s win. “But we said all week long this is about bragging rights. Now, our non-region’s over, we’re 4-0, and now it’s time to get ready for a really good Chapel Hill team.”
Also this week, the LaGrange Grangers and Callaway Cavaliers will be on the road for the start of their region schedules.
LaGrange, which didn’t play last week, will visit Central-Carroll in its Region 5-AAAA opener.
LaGrange (1-2) beat Hampton 8-6 on Sept. 7 before taking last week off.
Callaway (3-1) will look to bounce back from the Troup loss when it visits Temple on Friday in its first Region 5-AA game.
In private-school football on Friday, Lafayette Christian will visit rival Central Christian, and Unity Prep will be in Marietta to play King’s Academy.
The only home game involving a local team this week is a big one.
Chapel Hill opened the season with a 10-7 win over Newnan, and it has blown out Ola, Starr’s Mill and Whitewater the past three weeks to move to 4-0.
Chapel Hill has one of the region’s top play-makers in senior quarterback K.J. Burton, who is a legitimate two-way threat.
Burton has thrown for 257 yards with two touchdowns, and he leads the team with 386 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
For Callaway, it’s all about bouncing back from an emotional loss to Troup.
That’s something Callaway has done a nice job of over the years under head coach Pete Wiggins.
Only once since the start of the 2012 season, in fact, has Callaway lost more than one regular-season game in a row, and that came in 2014 when it dropped back-to-back games to Harris County and Troup.
Callaway will look to continue that trend with a win over a 1-3 Temple team this week.
Temple has beaten Kendrick, but it lost to Putnam County, Mount Zion and Northwest Whitfield.
“We’ve got to learn from our mistakes,” Callaway head coach Pete Wiggins said. “I told the kids after the game, we’ve learned a lot from losses in the past, and that’s what we have to do. We have to keep moving on and get ready for the region.”
LaGrange ended a 17-game losing streak with a hard-earned 8-6 win over Hampton, and now it will try to win two consecutive games for the first time since late in the 2015 season when it beat Shaw and Harris County.
LaGrange’s opponent this week is Central-Carroll, which beat South Atlanta in its opener before dropping three straight games.
Last week, Central-Carroll lost at Heard County 45-0 last week.
Lafayette Christian School (3-2), which ended a two-game losing streak with last week’s 48-12 win at Covenant Academy in Macon, will be in Sharpsburg on Friday for a showdown against Central Christian.
The two have had plenty of hard-fought games over the years, most notably the Georgia Independent Christian Athletic Association state-championship game in 2015.
Lafayette Christian won that game 41-30.
Unity Preparatory Academy of West Georgia, which is 3-1 after last week’s win over the SC Titans, will be in Woodstock to play The King’s Academy.
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Chapel Hill at Troup, 7:30 p.m.
Callaway at Temple, 7:30 p.m.
LaGrange at Central-Carroll, 7:30 p.m.
Lafayette Christian at Central Christian, 7:30 p.m.
Unity Prep at The King’s Academy, 7:30 p.m.