TIFTON, Ga. — Travel times will be short this week for everyone in the area.

While non-region schedules sometimes send teams far away for games, Tift County, Fitzgerald, Irwin County and Turner County merely have to cross a single county line for their games.

Irwin and Fitzgerald continue what is in some cases, a family feud. Fitzgerald head coach Jason Strickland said even though the teams in the rivalry suit up in different colors, many had relatives playing for the other side. Several, he said, even played recreational sports for the same teams. The game will be in Fitzgerald.

The feud has been kind to Fitzgerald lately, as they have won 15 of the last 16 played. The only exception was a tie in 2013. Prior to their streak, the Indians won five straight. The two began playing one another in 1922, which was Ocilla’s first year of the sport. It didn’t come long after the they were part of the same county. Ben Hill County was created in 1906, mostly from Irwin. The original football rivalry was played nearly annually through 1933, which was Ocilla’s last until 1946.

Tift matches up with Cook in Tifton in another game of neighbors. Unlike Irwin and Fitzgerald, the two have not been common opponents in recent years. They played annually from 1950-65, with the Blue Devils amassing a 12-3-1 record over that span. In 1966, Tift’s schedule grew more hectic after jumping to Class AAA and the schools did not meet again until 1990. Cook has been shut out in the last three games of the series and has only scored seven points in the last seven.

The Hornets tied Tift in 1963 and recorded their last victory in 1962, 13-7, at Adel. Like Fitzgerald and Irwin, their series stretches back into the 1920s — the first game was played in 1929.

Turner County meets Worth County in the other matchup between neighbors.

Since Worth’s consolidation and formation in 1960, there have been 36 meetings between them, but this is the first since 2011. The Rams have won the last five and 15 of the past 18. Fortunately for the Rebels, if the pattern holds true, this will be a year of victory. Worth’s last three win streaks over Turner have all gone five games each.

The overall record is nearly even. The Rams have 21 wins and the Rebels have 15. Most games have been close over the years with 14 decided by 12 points or less. That game will take place in Ashbury.

Tiftarea Academy will be the only team traveling any great distance as they meet up with Southwest Georgia Academy in Damascus. Tiftarea is 9-15 in the series and will be attempting to turn around a four-game losing skid. None of the four games have been decided by more than two touchdowns. Damascus has been a tough place to play, however, as the Panthers last won there in 2001.

The first week of the season was kind to four of the five teams. Tift defeated South Effingham, 41-0, in Statesboro. Irwin won 42-7 over Berrien, Turner took a 34-32 victory over Dougherty and Tiftarea using late heroics to defeat Georgia Christian, 15-7. Fitzgerald, the lone team out, was idle for the first week.

Of their opponents, Worth County ran into a Thomas County Central buzzsaw, 48-7, Cook fell in overtime to Brooks County (21-14) and SGA dropped a 34-12 game to Northside Methodist Academy of Dothan, Alabama.