By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Troup Tigers have had their hands full with the Cedartown Bulldogs the past two years.

In 2016, Cedartown had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to win, but Troup held on for a 23-20 victory.

A year ago, Troup was riding high with a 7-0 record, but it went on the road and lost to Cedartown 21-18.

Those two Region 5-AAAA foes will meet again this week, with Troup hosting Cedartown on Friday at Callaway Stadium.

That’ll be a part of a busy and important week for the local football teams.

Callaway will visit Heard County on Friday with a chance to win the Region 5-AAAA championship.

There’ll also be a game on Thursday this week, with LaGrange hosting Sandy Creek in a Region 5-AAAA game.

In private-school football, Lafayette Christian School will return to region play with a road game against Fullington Academy on Friday.

Also on Friday, Unity Preparatory Academy of West Georgia will be in South Carolina to play the SC Titans.

Troup, just as it was a year ago, is unbeaten heading into the showdown with Cedartown.

It’s a critical game for both teams.

Troup (7-0 overall) is 3-0 in Region 5-AAAA, and it likely would either finish first or second in the region with a win.

Cedartown (4-3 overall) is 2-1 in the region, and it would have a great chance to finish second with a win.

Troup remained unbeaten with last week’s 35-14 victory over rival LaGrange.

Troup head coach Tanner Glisson said “we’re glad to have that one behind us, and we can move on, and (the Cedartown game is) a big one because it’s for home-field advantage. If we win, we’re pretty much sitting at one or two. So we’ll see what happens.”

Callaway (6-1 overall) is 4-0 in Region 5-AA, and if it beats Heard County, it will be the region champion no matter what happens in the regular-season finale against Jordan.

Heard County (5-2 overall) beat Jordan 58-6 last week to improve to 3-0 in the region.

Callaway was in this same situation a year ago, and it lost to Heard County 35-28 in Franklin.

It’ll be a short week for Callaway, which beat Spencer 30-7 on Saturday in a game that was played two days later than originally scheduled.

“The kids will have to handle the situation,” Callaway head coach Pete Wiggins said following Saturday’s game. “We’ll go to work Sunday, and we’ll get ready for Heard County in Franklin on Friday night. We’ll need to have a good week of preparation.”

LaGrange (1-6 overall) is 0-4 in Region 5-AAAA, and its chances of earning one of the region’s four playoff spots are long.

LaGrange is still mathematically in the playoff race, though, and it would stay alive with a win over Sandy Creek on Thursday.

Sandy Creek (4-3 overall) is 1-2 in the region, and it desperately needs to beat LaGrange to bolster its playoff chances.

Lafayette Christian (4-4 overall), which lost to Calvary Christian 36-6 last week, will end the regular season with back-to-back games against region opponents.

Lafayette Christian visits Fullington Academy on Friday, and it finishes the regular season at home against Hancock Academy on Nov. 2.

Lafayette Christian is 2-0 in the region, and if it finishes second or higher, it will qualify for the Georgia Independent Christian Athletic Association state playoffs.

THIS WEEK’S GAMES

THURSDAY

Sandy Creek at LaGrange, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY

Cedartown at Troup, 7:30 p.m.

Callaway at Heard County, 7:30 p.m.

Lafayette Christian at Fullington Academy, 7:30 p.m.

Unity Prep at SC Titans (South Carolina), 7:30 p.m.