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First-round matchups are set
by By Kevin Eckleberry - Sports Editor
Nov 09, 2008 | 165 views | 0 0 comments | 5 5 recommendations | email to a friend | print
The lights of Callaway Stadium will be shining bright next weekend.

For the first time since 2003, the stadium will host two state-playoff games in the same week.

Callaway will host Greater Atlanta Christian Friday night in a first-round Class AA game, and LaGrange will welcome Dougherty on Saturday in a Class AAA matchup.

The Troup Tigers, meanwhile, will travel to the southern part of the state to face the Cairo Syrupmakers in a Class AAA game Friday night.

The Cavaliers earned their home playoff game by winning the Region 5-AA championship with Friday’s 21-14 win over Pike County.

Greater Atlanta Christian brings a modest 4-6 into the game, but the Spartans have gone 4-2 since opening the season with four straight losses.

The Spartans tied for the fourth spot in Region 6-AA with a 4-3 record, but they beat fellow fourth-place finisher Blessed Trinity to take the tiebreaker.

“They had some injuries early, and they played some pretty tough competition,” Callaway head coach Pete Wiggins said of GAC. “They have a good football team. They’re very physical. It’ll be a heck of a game.”

For LaGrange, the opponent will be unfamiliar, but the visiting coach won’t be.

Dougherty’s head coach is Charles Flowers, a Troup County native who turned the Shaw Raiders into a state powerhouse.

Dougherty (6-4) went 4-3 in Region 1-AAA to finish third.

The Grangers (8-2), who finished second in Region 2-AAA with a 5-1 record, will try to regain their playoff swagger after losing in the first round to Perry a year ago.

Despite that disappointment, the Grangers are 22-5 in the playoffs since 2000, and they won state championships in 2001, 2003 and 2004, and they lost in the semifinals in 2005.

The most difficult playoff assignment next week belongs to Troup, which plays the state’s top-ranked Class AAA team.

Cairo, which had one game canceled because of weather, is 9-0.

The Syrupmakers fell to the Carver Tigers in last year’s Class AAA championship game.

Troup (4-6) went 3-3 in Region 2-AAA to earn the No. 4 seed.

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