By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

When the season began, there were three teams in Region 5-AA that figured to have the best shot at winning the championship.

Two of those teams will face off at Callaway Stadium on Friday night when the Callaway Cavaliers host the Bremen Blue Devils.

Callaway (4-1 overall) opened its region schedule with a 49-0 road win over Temple last week, while Bremen (4-0) will be playing its first region game.

Callaway, Bremen and Heard County are the three favorites to capture the region title.

The first of three games involving those teams will be this week, and Callaway will visit Heard County on Oct. 19.

On the final night of the regular season, Bremen will host Heard County on Nov. 2.

Under head coach Pete Wiggins, Callaway has won six region titles since 2008, and it has only finished lower than second in a region one time since the start of the 2007 season.

Callaway could take a big step toward another region title with a win over a formidable Bremen squad.

Under head coach Davis Russell, who is a former assistant coach at LaGrange High, Bremen’s program is thriving.

Bremen went 11-2 last season before losing to Lovett in the state quarterfinals, and it has some quality wins this year on the way to a 4-0 start, including a 13-9 victory over Cedartown on Sept. 7.

Callaway has been impressive as well this season, with its only loss coming to Troup.

Callaway had no trouble with Temple, dominating on both sides of the ball.

Callaway’s defense delivered its third shutout of the season while scoring three touchdowns.

Antinius Barnes and Charlie Dixon both returned interceptions for touchdowns, and Curmondre Bray scooped a fumble and scored a touchdown.

Offensively, quarterback Jacob Freeman threw scoring passes to Dre Potts and Markus Morman, and Cartavious “Tank” Bigsby had two touchdown runs.

Also this week, the LaGrange Grangers will look for a bounce-back win after losing to Central-Carroll 13-10 last week in its Region 5-AAAA opener.

LaGrange will host Cedartown on Thursday.

Cedartown (2-3 overall) nearly pulled off a stunning upset of Cartersville last week before losing 21-20.

Troup (5-0), which overwhelmed Chapel Hill 56-24 last week in its first Region 5-AAAA game, will visit Sandy Creek on Friday.

This will be the region opener for Sandy Creek (3-1).

Troup was unstoppable offensively last week, with quarterback Kobe Hudson leading the way.

The junior quarterback completed 25-of-33 passes for 537 yards with six touchdowns, and he ran for 81 yards on five attempt with a touchdown.

Joko Willis had three catches for 133 yards with two touchdowns, and Jamari Thrash caught six passes for 131 yards, and he had two touchdowns.

Ja’Rell Smith caught five balls for 129 yards, averaging 25.8 yards per reception, and he had an 82-yard touchdown.

Tyree Carlisle had a 55-yard touchdown run.

In private-school football this week, it’ll be homecoming for Lafayette Christian School on Friday when it hosts Sherwood Christian.

Lafayette Christian improved to 4-2 with last week’s road win over Central Christian.

Unity Preparatory Academy of West Georgia will host the Georgia Force on Friday.

THIS WEEK’S GAMES

THURSDAY

Cedartown at LaGrange, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY

Bremen at Callaway, 7:30 p.m.

Troup at Sandy Creek, 7:30 p.m.

Sherwood Christian at Lafayette Christian, 7:30 p.m.

Georgia Force at Unity Prep, 7:30 p.m.