AHOSKIE – Five teams will invade Bear Stadium Thursday afternoon.

Those five football squads will compete in a rotating basis along with host Hertford County High School in the W.H. Basnight Pigskin Preview.

The Preview will begin at 5:45 p.m. with a rules meeting at the center of the field. It will be divided into three sessions and play will be going on at both ends of the football field.

Session one will consist of each team paying a series of 10 offensive and defensive plays on a rotating basis.

On the scoreboard end of the field, Hertford County will open up with Southern Vance. That will be followed on that end of the field by Southeast Halifax meeting Hertford County and then Southeast Halifax squaring off with Southern Vance. The final session will see Hertford County meet Beddingfield.

On the other end of the field, Northampton-East and Beddingfield will being play, followed by Northwest Halifax and Beddingfield. East will the meet Southern Vance before Hertford County and Northwest Halifax finish the session.

Session two will be third down situations with teams competing against an opponent they did not meet in session one. The situations will be third-and-12, third-and-10, third-and-eight, third-and-six, third-and-four and third-and-two.

The scoreboard end will be Southeast Halifax against Beddingfield followed by Northwest Halifax and Hertford County. On the other end of the field will be Northampton-East and Southern Vance.

The final session will be a Goal Line Challenge. The first round will pair teams together that have not competed against each other.

After the first round, the losing teams will redraw to see who advances to the semifinals.

The scoreboard end of the field will see Southeast Halifax against Southern Vance while Hertford County will meet Northampton-East on the other end. Northwest Halifax will meet Beddingfield in the second round on the scoreboard end.

The finals of the challenge will be held on the scoreboard end.

&uot;I really got the idea from you guys (the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald),&uot; Mike Basnight said. &uot;I liked the way you sponsor the Christmas tournament to showcase talent in basketball.

&uot;I wanted to do the same thing in football so coaches can come here and see the kids play,&uot; he continued. &uot;I grew up in the area and have always thought we didn’t get the coaches in here to look at our athletes. Our athletes can play with anybody.&uot;

Basnight said he hoped having LaMarcus Bond sign with North Carolina State University and the four Division I prospects on the 2006 Hertford County team would help improve recruitment from the region.

&uot;Hopefully this will help build on that,&uot; Basnight said. &uot;We’re in this for the long haul.&uot;

Admission to the Pigskin Preview will be $3.