West Henderson’s Aug. 25 home game against Hendersonville will be shown on live TV.
Ten high school football games involving Western North Carolina teams will be carried on local television next season.
Special thanks to WLOS/WMYA-TV for this information:
This August My40 will air ten high school football games involving schools from nine Western North Carolina Counties as part of Bojangles Thursday Night Lights. We produced and carried four games in 2015, and the reaction from viewers, parents and school officials was so positive that station General Manager Jack Connors extended the schedule to ten games over an eleven week period. The first game for TNL—August 25th—will pair Hendersonville High School against West Henderson. Buncombe County games will include appearances by Asheville High School, North Buncombe, Enka, Christ School, Reynolds and Erwin.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association has mandated that TV games all be played on Thursday evenings, and WMYA will begin each broadcast with a half hour pre-game show starting at 6:30 pm. The kickoff for all games will be at 7:00 pm.
The pre-game will feature interviews with the Principal of the home school, the head football coach, the Teacher of the Year and an outstanding Scholar/Athlete that each school will select. Both the visiting and host school will pick their own Scholar/Athletes, senior class members who have excelled in the classroom, on the playing field and in the community. The Scholar/Athlete competition, sponsored by the Wired Mouse and open to senior class boys and girls who have participated in any sport, will provide the winning student with a $3,500 college scholarship to the university of their choice.
Eight of the WNC schools that will be on TV this fall (Reynolds, Asheville, West Henderson, Pisgah, Mitchell, Franklin, Robbinsville, Christ School) each won at least eight games last year. The combined enrollment for the schools on the 2016 schedule is more than 18,200 students. The combined 2015 records of the Bojangles Thursday Night Lights schools was 131 victories and 107 losses.
Jason Patterson will handle the play-by-play duties for Bojangles Thursday Night Lights while long time coaching legend Kenny Ford provides the color commentary and Mark Keady adds sideline reporting for every game.
In addition to the ten games set for WMYA’s Thursday Night Lights lineup, My40 will carry six Upstate South Carolina high school contests in Year Nine of Friday Night Rivals.
THURSDAY NIGHT RIVALS SCHEDULE
Aug. 25 Hendersonville at West Henderson
Sept. 1 Asheville at Pisgah
Sept. 8 Robbinsville at Christ School
Sept. 15 Cherokee at Smoky Mountain
Sept. 22 North Buncombe at Enka
Sept. 29 Brevard at TuscolaOct. 6 Polk County at Mitchell
Oct. 20 East Henderson at FranklinOct. 27 Roberson at Reynolds
Nov. 3 Asheville at ErwinFRIDAY NIGHT RIVALS SCHEDULE
Sept. 2 Hillcrest at Dorman
Sept. 16 Byrnes at Broome
Sept. 30 Clinton at Chapman
Oct. 7 Chapman at Woodruff
Oct. 14 Landrum at Christ Church
Oct. 21 Greer at Union County
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