It will be a fun evening for football Friday when Southeast Bulloch and Portal open the 2012 season at the Portal Athletic Complex.
    Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., and the Panthers are expecting a large and loud crowd to give them an even bigger home-field edge over in-county rival Southeast Bulloch. But if you can't make it to Portal, the Statesboro Herald and statesboroherald.com will feature the matchup in the premiere of the fifth season of “Friday Night Live.”
    Go to statesboroherald.com Friday evening at 7:20, click on the News Alert for the SEB-Portal broadcast and you can watch the Yellow Jackets play the Panthers live over the Internet.
    Statesboroherald.com is one of only a few Web sites in Georgia broadcasting live high school football every week.
    It will be the first of 10 “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, 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.”
    Coming back for his fifth year behind the microphone is Don Wilson. Wilson handles the play-by-play, and he will have Mike Anthony, the Statesboro Herald's prep sports writer, providing 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.
    “Watching these young men and these fine coaches is a lot of fun,” Wilson said. “I get to watch high school football every Friday night. What could be better than that?”