By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

It was his breakout game.

LaGrange wide receiver Jordan Ogletree missed the preseason game against Kendrick and the regular-season opener against Heard County while he recovered from offseason surgery.

Ogletree made his season debut against Callaway, and he had one catch for 21 yards that night.

Ogletree was limited to single

It was his breakout game.

LaGrange wide receiver Jordan Ogletree missed the preseason game against Kendrick and the regular-season opener against Heard County while he recovered from offseason surgery.

Ogletree made his season debut against Callaway, and he had one catch for 21 yards that night.

Ogletree was limited to single catches against Cedartown and Hampton, and he had three receptions and a touchdown against Central-Carroll.

So in his first four games, Ogletree had six catches for 95 yards with the lone touchdown.

Ogletree is a gifted player, and the feeling was that he would have a breakthrough performance at some point, and it came in last week’s game against Troup.

Ogletree had four catches for nearly 100 yards with a pair of touchdowns in the 35-14 loss.

“With the labrum surgery, he was out all spring and summer,” Troup head coach Chuck Gibbs said. “We’re in game seven, but he’s like in game three as far as conditioning and everything. He still cramps up, so we have to keep subbing him.”

While Ogletree may not be at 100 percent, he showed last week how dynamic a player he can be.

LaGrange was trailing 21-0 late in the first half when Ogletree made a 33-yard catch to put the ball on the LaGrange 19-yard line.

Two plays later, Ogletree went up and caught a 19-yard pass from Charles Crawford in the end zone to put the Grangers on the board.

Late in the third quarter, Ogletree struck again, this time for a 38-yard scoring catch from Crawford.

Ogletree also played significantly on defense, and he had an interception in the second half.

PASSING STRONG: The strength of the Callaway offense is its running game, with junior Cartavious “Tank” Bigsby leading the way.

Bigsby is one of the state’s top running backs, and he has 1,238 yards on 92 carries with two regular-season games remaining.

While the Cavaliers are a run-first team, they have the ability to make things happen in the passing game, as they showed in Saturday’s 30-7 victory over Spencer.

Junior Jacob Freeman, who has started every game at quarterback this season, threw for 136 yards with touchdown passes to Markus Morman and Nathan Sapp.

The touchdown pass to Morman covered eight yards, and Sapp’s scoring catch went for 53 yards.

In the previous game against Lamar County, a 45-6 victory, Freeman threw a scoring pass to Drelin Poss, and Demetrius Coleman tossed a touchdown pass to Jymere Jones.

Freeman, who was a wide receiver the past two seasons, knows what playing that position is all about, and he tries “to get everyone involved.”

“I play wide receiver, so sometimes you can get frustrated watching everybody else eat,” Freeman said. “I just want to let everybody know, I’m with you until the end.”

While Freeman has excelled at quarterback, he takes nothing for granted with Coleman waiting in the wings.

Coleman, a sophomore, has shown what he can do when presented with the opportunity to play.

“I have to stay on my Ps and Qs, because Demetrius is pretty good, also,” Freeman said. “Any set time it can take your spot. It’s whatever is best for the team.”

KEEPING IT GOING: One of the breakout performers for the Troup Tigers this season has been senior  wide receiver Joko Willis.

Before this year, Willis was best down as a play-making linebacker, and he was a two-year starter at that position.

Willis was moved to wide receiver for his final season, and all he has done is lead the team in receptions.

Willis had his best game at wide receiver in last week’s 35-14 win over LaGrange when he had nine catches for 153 yards.

In seven games, Willis has a team-leading 25 catches for 490 yards with four touchdowns.

Willis was one of six players who caught passes from quarterback Kobe Hudson in the LaGrange game.

Sophomore Trea Mitchell, like Willis a newcomer to the wide receiver corps, had four catches for 38 yards with a touchdown.

Running back Trey Williams added three catches for 56 yards, Ja’Rell Smith had four receptions for 42 yards, and Jamari Thrash caught two balls for 49 yards.

While Hudson struggled a bit in the turnover department with three interceptions and a lost fumble, he continued to put up big numbers.

Hudson completed 22-of-31 passes for 340 yards with a touchdown, and he also led the team with 59 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Williams contributed 53 rushing yards on 14 attempts, and Tyree Carlisle had 19 rushing yards with a touchdown.