High school football is in the air for Mississippi as local teams, friends, families and fans are excited to start the season in week one of the Friday Night Lights football frenzy.

For this Friday night, local fans will have plenty of excitement to choose from around the area as Brookhaven welcomes Franklin County to King Field, Brookhaven Academy hosts Centreville, Bogue Chitto visits Loyd Star to battle for the Possum Bowl, West Lincoln entertains Salem, Resurrection invades Enterprise and Wesson travels to Monticello to take on the Lawrence County Cougars.

In other games of local interest, Parklane hosts Simpson Academy, Hazlehurst invades Murrah and Copiah Academy visits Leake Academy.

All games are schedule to start at 7 p.m.

Brookhaven, coached by Tommy Clopton, are excited to start the season as they prepare to welcome the Franklin County Bulldogs to King Field.

All eyes will be on the Panthers as their returning starters and upcoming young talent get ready for a very busy season.

In last week’s scrimmage game at Pearl, the Panthers had a great outing against a very talented Pirates ball club. The contest gave the Panthers a look of themselves on what needed to be fixed before Friday night’s contest.

Franklin County, coached by first-year coach Anthony Hart, will be experiencing a rebuilding year.

In last week jamboree game at Monticello, the Bulldogs were hammered in the opening round of scrimmage 20-0 but rebound quickly to beat Lawrence County 8-0 in the second scrimmage.

Brookhaven Academy, will have a new coach at the reigns as Blake Purvis makes his first official regular season debut Friday night R.M. “Red” Stuard Field.

The Cougars participated in two different scrimmages in the past two weeks, which gave the coaches and players a good look on what needed to work on before opening season Friday night.

Bogue Chitto, coached by Gareth Sartin, will be experiencing a rebuilding year as they try to replace several key holes as they look to defend their Possum Bowl title reign.

The Bobcats will be relying on their seniors: kicker Cameron Price (5-8, 130), center-defensive end Will Fauver (6-4, 200) offensive guard-linebacker Devin McEwen (5-10, 190), linebacker, offensive guard and running back Bo Smithers (5-11, 210), defensive tackle Devaris Bullock (6-5, 360, sr.) and defensive tackle Seth Hodges (6-4, 330, sr.) to provide motivation and leadership.

Loyd Star, will have a new face helm for Hornet football as Adam Cook takes over the program.

Cook and his players have worked really hard all summer long to get ready for the big rivalry game. The Hornets will be depending seven offensive starters Peyton Flowers (6-0, 200, sr.), Brett Calcote (6-1, 210, sr.), Zac Arnold (5-9, 175, So.), Hayden Brownlee (5-10, 165, sr.), Shay Hodges (6-3, 190, jr.), Cole Moak (5-10, 200, sr.) and Braden Brister (5-11, 230, so.) to provide the leadership needed to have a great year.

On defense, the Hornets have eight experienced players back for the 2014 season. Cameron Smith (5-10, 175, sr.), Tevin Lackland (5-9, 185, sr.), Willie Brown (5-10, 165, jr.), Flowers, Calcote, Brownlee, Moak and Brister.

West Lincoln, coached by Willie Brumfield, looks to be competitive in Region 2A. The Bears will welcome the Salem Wildcats to Perry Miller Field in their season-home opener.

The Bears will have 12 returning starters to guide West Lincoln to a successful season.

The returning starters are Kodie Carroll (5-8, 170), Matthew Elkins (5-6, 170), Anthony Ferrell (5-7, 175), Ty Forman (5-8, 170), Bryce Temple (5-9, 165), Jaden Rushing (5-8, 180), Nathanael Addison (5-8, 130), Jade Use (5-8, 155), Bryce Temple (5-9, 165) and Julian Anderson.

Other returning players who will be expected to be big contributors include Matthew Allred (5-9, 150), Nicholas Burns (5-10, 220), Liam Rutland (5-9, 150), Lofton Sills (6-3, 200) and Alex Wilson (6-3, 250).

Enterprise, coached by Brook Burns, is ready to start the season as they prepare to welcome the Resurrection Eagles to Harry Cole Field.

The Jackets will be depending on eight offensive starters to lead the way: quarterback Austin Coleman (5-11, 170), wide receiver Jeffrey Daniels, tight end Lane Brown, running back Braxton Thompson (5-10, 170, jr.), lineman Dylan Nelton (5-7, 190, jr.), lineman Jonathan Britt (6-2, 230, jr.), lineman Adam McGee and lineman Drake Allen (5-10, 190, soph.).

On defense, Enterprise brings back a lot of experience with cornerback-free safety Jeffrey Daniels (5-10, 160, soph), safety Austin Coleman (5-11, 170, sr.), defensive end Layne Brown (6-0, 170, sr.), linebacker Braxton Thompson (5-10, 170, jr.), linebacker Devon Kirtfield (5-10, 190, soph) and lineman Adam McGee (5-10, 240, jr.).

Wesson, coached by Ronald Greer, had a successful outing in last week’s scrimmage game against the Bogue Chitto Bobcats.

The Cobras will be looking to continue their success this week as they prepare to travel down to Monticello to take on the Lawrence County Cougars.

Wesson has plenty experience returning back with senior quarterback Tyler Christmas and wide receiver Farrod Green leading the attack.

The Cobras will have four returning starters on offense and eight on defense.

Michael Hauer (5-9, 165) and Dartavious Dixon (6-1, 170) combined to run for almost 300 yards in 2013. And Dixon is expected to be among the teams leading receivers. He had 14 receptions for 235 yards and three TDs last year.

Two other returning offensive players the Cobras will be counting on this year will be linemen Justin Boone (5-9, 205, sr.) and Mathew Craft (5-10, 210, soph.).

Defensively, the Cobras return their leading tackler from 2013. Kendrick Brown, a 6-2, 210-pound junior, had 46 tackles and an interception last year. Among the other returning defensive starters are: linebacker Blake Burns (6-0, 195, sr.), linebacker Cornelius Barlow (5-7, 160, jr.), Jerimiah Stapleton (5-8, 165, jr.), lineman Enrique Smith (5-9 220, sr.), lineman Bobby Pritchard (6-1, 225, soph.), defensive back Jermaine James (5-7, 160, soph.) and linebacker Timothy Craft (5-9 175, sr.)

Lawrence County, under the direction of first-year head coach Jaymie Palmer, is ready to begin a new season. The Cougars will host the Wesson Cobras this Friday.

The Cougars have plenty of talent and depth to have a great season. Players returning back for the 2014 season is Charltez Nunnery, Brandon Armstrong, Noah McLaurin, Jesse Hedgepeth and John Rutland.

Duke Tanksley, LaDerrick McCray and Marcus Atterberry are among the leading contenders at the receiver positions.

Defensively, linebacker/defensive end Cedric Rhodes is Lawrence County’s top returnee. Cole will split time between safety and linebacker. Defensive linemen Damien Doughty and Jaylin Madison showed considerable promise during the spring. Brown, McCray and Atterberry will also pull defensive duty.

Junior Joshua Stephens returns as place-kicker. McTaggart and Tanksley will serve as long-snappers.