AHOSKIE – The W.H. Basnight Pigskin Preview is set for Wednesday evening.

The event, hosted by Hertford County High School, will be a football scrimmage that will see the Bears welcome Bertie High School, Gates County High School, Northwest Halifax High School and Southern Vance High School.

“We’re very excited about the group of teams that are coming to the scrimmage,” HCHS Athletic Director Charles Simmons said. “Having Bertie and Gates County here gives us a local flavor and we’re excited about that.”

The scrimmage is slated to kick off at 6 p.m. with a rules presentation followed by a chance for each of the five teams to scrimmage.

Bears’ second-year skipper Diego Hasty said the program would be one that would allow each team to play 10 plays on offense and 10 plays on defense against the same club.

He said the event is something that he believes will be beneficial to the football coaches, teams and fans.

“It’s good to go against other people,” he said. “We’ve had a chance to scrimmage against ourselves, but you don’t know much until you get another team across the line of scrimmage.

“I also think it’s good that we have the local teams coming,” he said. “I think it’s beneficial to the entire area to see us, Bertie and Gates County all at one scrimmage.”

Bertie High Head Football Coach Tony Hoggard said he was looking forward to coming to Ahoskie, but didn’t feel like his team was really ready for a scrimmage.

“The good thing about it is I don’t have to go far,” he said. “That and that we need a test against someone besides our own guys.

“The scrimmage itself is a little earlier that we’re ready for, but it is what it is,” he added. “We’ll see where we are and then try to make some adjustments before we head to our next scrimmage on Friday.”

Gates County second-year coach Matt Biggy said he was looking forward to the event.

“I’m excited about it,” he said. “We’ll get to scrimmage against guys we won’t see during the season and that’s important to me.

“We’ll also see some great competition,” he added. “Some of the best teams in the eastern part of the state are going to be there and that gives us a chance to get a big time test really early.”

Simmons said the opportunity was made possible by Mike Basnight agreeing to be a corporate sponsor.

“We are appreciative to Mike and W.H. Basnight for sponsoring this event,” he said. “They helped make it possible for us to provide this opportunity.”

The gates will open at 5 p.m. Wednesday with an admission price of $4.