“Friday Night Live” kicks off its sixth season this week of bringing live high school football to your PC, smartphone or tablet with a double dose of local action.

First, Bulloch Academy plays host to St. Andrews to open the 2013 season Thursday at Gator Alley, and then Portal and Southeast Bulloch open their seasons Friday with an inter-county matchup at Fred Shaver Field in Brooklet.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. for both games, but if you can't make it to BA or SEB, the Statesboro Herald and statesboroherald.com will feature the matchups on “Friday Night Live.”

Go to the statesboroherald.com website at 7:20 Thursday evening, click on the News Alert for the St. Andrews-BA broadcast, and you can watch the Gators play live over the Internet. You can do the same Friday night to watch the Yellow Jackets take on Portal.

Statesboroherald.com is one of only a few websites in Georgia broadcasting live high school football every week.
Thursday’s game is the first of nine “Friday Night Live” regular season games. All Bulloch County schools will be featured in the broadcasts.

“We know nothing's better than watching a high school game in person – sitting in the stands,” said Jim Healy, the operations manager for the Herald and executive producer for statesboroherald.com. “But if you can’t make it to the game, ‘Friday Night Live’ is a great way to make sure you don’t miss the game. I want to thank all the school principals, athletic directors and football coaches for working with us to make ‘Friday Night Live’ possible.”

Also, the Portal-SEB game will be rebroadcast on Northland Cable Channel 99 at 8 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. After next week, all “Friday Night Live” games will be shown again on Channel 99 on Monday and Tuesday nights at 8. Replays of all “Friday Night Live” games also are available on demand on statesboroherald.com.

For the broadcast, Jim Healy will handle the play-by-play announcing, and Mike Anthony, the Statesboro Herald's prep sports writer, will provide color commentary at all Statesboro High games.

The “Friday Night Live” pregame show begins at 7:20 p.m., with the kickoff at 7:30 p.m.