Are You Ready 4 Some Football? 2011 Style

Courtesy Don Callahan

We are less than 24 hours away from the official start of the 2011 high school football season in North Carolina and local schools are gearing up for the push towards that first day of full-contact, quickly followed by scrimmages and before we all know it - the first Football Friday on August 19th.

Schools in the area have been hard at work throughout the summer in non-mandatory summer workouts and competing in a number of passing leagues [Hillside, Jordan, Southern Durham, Northern Durham, Person, East Chapel Hill, Wakefield, Leesville Road] in an effort to be ahead of the curve when midnight strikes this evening and the NCHSAA officially allows schools to begin the process of official practice.

Some schools, including Northern Durham and Riverside will take to the field literally at midnight.  The Knights have coined their start to 2011 under returning head coach Gary Merrill - MidKnight Madness.  According to their school athletic website for football, they'll get underway at Northern at 12:00 AM on Saturday (7/30/2011).  As for the Pirates, another PAC-6 school under new leadership, they'll have a cook-out on Friday evening and then hit the turf in earnest at midnight. Riverside will be looking to rebound in 2011 under new head coach David Hackney, a Jordan graduate that led the Falcons, years ago, as the starting quarterback [Pirates Suit-Up for Midnight Practice].

Southern Durham and Hillside are slated to start the season on Saturday, July 30th, with the Spartans beating the heat with an early morning practice according to their football-centric site.  Person will also begin the season on Saturday morning with an 8-11 AM practice [Person Athletic Site].  The Jordan Falcons will also try to beat the heat with a morning practice on Saturday beginning at 8 AM [Jordan Practice Announcement].

HighSchoolOT.com will be holding their pre-season get-together [Link to article on this event] with area head coaches and players from local schools later today to discuss what the site, WRAL and 99.9 The Fan and 620 The Buzz will be doing this upcoming 2011 season to support the Football Friday scene.  Representatives from each of these entities will be in attendance to give a break-down of what to look forward to this season.  Of course you can find all of the information about this event and any news that breaks at the event at HighSchoolOT.com.