By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Callaway Cavaliers have won three consecutive games over the LaGrange Grangers, and they’ll try to make it four in a row on Friday night at Callaway Stadium.

The two teams have played seven times overall, and this will be the fifth consecutive year they’ve faced off.

LaGrange won three of the first four games in the series, including a 44-20 victory in 2015, but Callaway has dominated things the past three years.

In those three games, Callaway has won by a combined score of 77-6, and it hasn’t allowed a point the past two seasons.

LaGrange’s defense played well in last year’s game, but Callaway won 14-0 to take an overall 4-3 lead in the series.

Also this week, Troup will try to improve to 2-0 when it visits the Columbus Blue Devils on Thursday night.

In private-school football, the Lafayette Christian School Cougars will be at home after playing three straight road games to start the season.

Lafayette Christian (2-1 overall) will host Fullington Academy on Friday.

LaGrange and Callaway were both off last week after playing tough season openers.

Callaway opened its season with a 10-7 loss at Opelika, while LaGrange overcame a slow start to beat Heard County 24-9.

It was an impressive win for LaGrange over a Heard County team that won the Class AA state title last season.

Now, LaGrange will face another Class AA powerhouse in Callaway, which made it to the state semifinals last year.

LaGrange hosts Hampton next week before opening Region 5-AAAA play on Sept. 27 against Central-Carroll.

LaGrange head coach Chuck Gibbs figures playing opponents like Heard County and Callaway will help his team prepare for the grind of region play.

“To me, that’s what playing great non-region games is all about, how do we answer, and who are we,” Gibbs said. “When we get into region play, who can we hang our hat on.”

Callaway is also facing a challenging non-region schedule

Opelika is a powerhouse in Alabama, and it followed up its win over Callaway by beating Auburn.

Callaway plays Cross Keys next week, and it closes non-region play with a showdown with Troup on Sept. 20.

“Opelika, LaGrange, Troup, all those teams are in larger classifications, and they’re very talented, and they’re very physical and well-coached,” Callaway head coach Pete Wiggins said. “So we have to be prepared. We always look at it as you have to play good people to get better. That’s what we do.”

Troup, like its counterparts in the county, has some big-time challenges in non-region play.

Including last week’s win over Ridgeland, each of Troup’s non-region opponents made it to the playoffs, and three of them won at least one game at state.

After Thursday’s game at Columbus, Troup plays Harris County and Callaway before its Region 5-AAAA opener at Chapel Hill.

Lafayette Christian will be glad to play at home on Friday after going on the road for three straight weeks.

Lafayette Christian opened the season with a loss to Central Fellowship before beating Lanier Christian and Sherwood Christian to improve to 2-1.

THIS WEEK’S GAMES

THURSDAY

Troup at Columbus, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY

Callaway vs. LaGrange, 7:30 p.m.

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