By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

It’s game week.

While the regular season doesn’t begin until Aug. 17 when LaGrange hosts Heard County, each of the local high-school teams will be on the field for a preseason game this week.

Troup and LaGrange will be at home, and Callaway, Lafayette Christian and Unity Prep will all be on the road.

First up will be Thursday’s game between Troup and Northside-Columbus at Callaway Stadium, with kickoff set for 7 p.m.

Lafayette Christian, which is making the transition to 11-man football this season, also has a preseason game on Thursday at Skipstone Academy in Griffin.

Lafayette Christian’s opponent will be Central Fellowship, the team it will play in the season opener the following week.

On Friday, Callaway, LaGrange and Unity Prep will each play a preseason game.

LaGrange will be at home against Kendrick, with kickoff set for 7 p.m., while Calllaway will visit Starr’s Mill.

Also on Friday, Unity Prep will be in Douglasville to play the Dallas Knights.

Thursday’s game at Callaway Stadium will be a showdown between teams coming off successful 2017 seasons.

Troup went 9-3 and reached the second round of the Class AAAA state playoffs.

Northside-Columbus, which has a new head coach in Dave Nurnberg, went 8-3.

“They made the playoffs last year, so it’ll be a good test for us,” Troup head coach Tanner Glisson said.

Lafayette Christian will be part of a preseason jamboree at Skipstone Academy, and it will play Central Fellowship.

It will give the Cougars to get some game action before playing their first official 11-man game on Aug. 17.

“We want some live football before week one,” Lafayette Christian head coach Nate Shaw said.

On Friday, LaGrange will be at Callaway Stadium against Kendrick as it prepares for a challenging opening two games of the regular season against Heard County and Callaway.

Callaway will visit Starr’s Mill for its preseason game pitting two teams that went 11-2 last season and reached the state quarterfinals in th