Two home games on tap this week

Published 12:00 am Monday, August 24, 2015

By Kevin Eckleberry

keckleberry@civitasmedia.com

The Troup Tigers will play the LaGrange Grangers on Friday night in the second of two games at Callaway Stadium this week. Kevin Eckleberry | Daily News

http://lagrangenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/37/2015/08/web1_8-24-troup.jpgThe Troup Tigers will play the LaGrange Grangers on Friday night in the second of two games at Callaway Stadium this week. Kevin Eckleberry | Daily News

LAGRANGE — The Callaway Cavaliers don’t have long to lick their wounds.

After Friday’s 45-20 loss to LaGrange in the season opener, Callaway will be back at Callaway Stadium on Thursday against another quality opponent, B.E.S.T. Academy.

That will be the first of two games at Callaway Stadium this week, including Friday’s annual showdown between LaGrange and Troup.

It will be the season opener for B.E.S.T. Academy, which is looking to make it two in a row against Callaway.

A year ago in Atlanta, B.E.S.T. opened its season with a 14-7 win over Callaway.

It was a scoreless game at the half, and Eddie Culpepper had a touchdown run in the third quarter to give Callaway a 7-0 lead.

After pulling even, B.E.S.T. drove for the winning touchdown with less than a minute remaining.

In 2012 and 2013, Callaway and B.E.S.T. were in the same region and they played both years, and the Cavaliers won both games.

This will be the second of Callaway’s five non-region games.

Next week, Callaway will be in Heard County for its first true road game, and it will complete its non-region schedule with games against Harris County and Troup.

Callaway opens Region 5-AAA play on Oct. 8 against Cedartown.

Troup, meanwhile, is looking to beat LaGrange for a third consecutive season.

A year ago, Troup surged to a 36-0 halftime lead on the way to a 36-14 victory.

Troup scored touchdowns on its final five possessions of the first half to build the commanding lead.

In 2013, when the two teams were in the same region, Troup beat LaGrange 27-8.

LaGrange comes into this year’s game riding high following last week’s big win over Callaway, although head coach Dialleo Burks cautioned that there’s plenty of work to do.

“It’s just a start,” Burks said. “We had way too many penalties, and we had some substitution situations. But we’ll get it together.”

Troup has played two preseason games, but Friday will mark its first regular-season game.

In last week’s game, Troup got a late touchdown in the first half to tie Upson-Lee 14-14, and that’s the way it ended since the game was called early because of weather concerns.

It will be the first of five non-region games for Troup.

The Tigers also play Northgate, Harris County, Carver and Callaway before jumping into Region 5-AAAA play on Oct. 9 against Woodward Academy.

LaGrange will play four games before opening Region 1-AAAAA play on Oct. 24 against Hardaway.

After the Troup game, LaGrange will play Spalding County and Mary Persons.

In private-school football, Lafayette Christian will play its first road game of the season when it visits Solid Rock Academy on Friday.

Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports