The U.S. Army Strong Friday Night Live Football Tour headed back to Delaware for Week 11, and we certainly saved the best for last!

Baynard Stadium in Wilmington was host to a classic rivalry between the number 1 ranked Spartans of St. Marks and the number 2 ranked Sallies.  Over 7,000 people came out to this game and the US Army was on hand to entertain fans of both teams.  Recruiters had plenty of giveaways on hand, ranging from clothes and apparel, to flashlights and even Army branded “Tank Fuel” Hot Sauce!

The game certainly lived up to it’s billing as the fans were treated to a back-and-forth battle all night.  St. Marks scored two early touchdowns, but the Sallies scored off of the strength of Ryan Kilpatrick’s kickoff returns.

St. Marks stingy defense held Salesianum scoreless in the second half, and the Spartans ended up winning 28-14.

It is sad to see the tour end but we had a lot of fun, saw some great football, and gave away a lot of Wiis!  See you next year!

Too big, too strong, too fast!

This week’s exciting Friday Night Football Live game involved a gridiron match that could only be described as too big, too strong and too fast. The bout between two recognized Broward County schools of St. Thomas Aquinas and Cypress Bay was an extremely anticipated showdown in Weston, FL.

St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders (10-0) travelled all the way to the home turf of the Cypress Bay Lightning (8-2) to defend their undefeated record against a great Lightning team who were determined to send the Raiders with their first loss of the season.

This game was obviously labeled as a “hot one” so just like Dunkin’ Donut’s coffee it seemed appropriate that Friday Night Football, along with Dunkin’ Donuts, was in attendance to witness and serve up some action.

Four thousand fans packed the house to watch all the action being stirred up on the field while we definitely stirred up a heap of action off the field. The kids all fell in love with our corn hole game and free donuts while the students loved our free FNF magazine. Meanwhile the adults we just as ecstatic for our Dunkin’ Donuts free donuts/coffee beverage coupons.

With news paper headlines reading “Raiders set mark in 60-14 win over Cypress Bay: St. Thomas Aquinas becomes first Broward County team to go unbeaten in three consecutive regular seasons.” It was clear that the Raiders were definitely too much for the Lightning.

Kudos to Jarvis Simpson for winning our exciting football game of Back Breaker for PS3.

The State Farm Friday Night Football Campus Tour entered playoff mode and visited Sandy Creek High School.

Sandy Creek had a fabulous tailgate event that we were a part of. The fans were already amped before we made our way over to the festivities, so when we began to give out magazines that brought more excitement. Everyone was happy to take one!

Back by the tent, we had a State Farm representative manning the tent and doing a great job interacting with the crowd. The State Farm whistles were the crowds favorite for sure.

Overall, it was a great night for some playoff football.

The Dunkin’ Donuts FNF Live Campus Tour visited senior night at Alonso High School. It was a great night for football even though Alonso was going up against Tampa Bay’s top team Armwood High School.

The Campus Tour featured Dunkin’ Donuts, the U.S. Army and Allstate along with what is becoming a huge fan favorite — the TradeWinds Beach Resort giveaway.

Additionally, the Campus Tour team surprised the fans with not one, but two t-shirt guns. The team pumped Blue Bunny t-shirts into the crowd at halftime. Young and old alike rose to their feet to try to snag a BB t-shirt.

The Tampa edition of the tour has now concluded and we would like to give a huge THANK YOU to our sponsors: Dunkin’ Donuts, U.S. Army, Allstate, IKEA, Our Team, TradeWinds Resort, Wells Dairy/Blue Bunny, McCormicks, and Reebok. Thank you one and all and see you next year!

The Dunkin’ Donuts FNF Live Campus Tour visited the area’s top matchup of the week as Hillsborough visited King High School. The Campus tour team had a great time on its first visit to the King High School campus.

The team also introduced their new t-shirt gun to the crowd and were able to snag some television footage as well … click on this link to see the coverage.

As the Mississippi State Farm Friday Night Football Live Campus Tour ends its season at is final destination in Grenada, the tour team sends a big “Thank You” to everyone for making this an absolute amazing journey.

Tonight started out with a ceremony for the Seniors with about 2,000 fans watching. The temperture dropped in the low 30s. Local State Farm agents Nathan Burnett, Emily Petty, and Holly Boyd joined the fun in the Fan Fest area. They played games, talked, and had a great time interacting with the fans. These fans loved the action as they moved around to stay warm.

As the temperature fell, so did the Vikings with a final score of Grenada 15-Vikings 10.

Wishing all the teams luck in the playoffs. Remember to “Drive Safe” and “Honk if you LOVE High School Football”. Farewell to fans, schools, sponsors, and to the tour- Until Next Year- See you all then!!!

Orlando, Florida’s, Dunkin’ Donuts Friday Night Football Tour went to Deland this past Friday night where the Deland Bulldogs hosted Mainland Bucs for the Class 6A, District 2 football title.

De’Ante “Pop” Saunders (referenced on Page 30 of Florida’s FNF Magazine) carried the ball 22 times for 116 yards and one touchdown, and his interception in the final minute sealed DeLand’s 17-10 victory against Daytona Beach Mainland for the Class 6A, District 2 football title.

The Bulldogs, improved to 8-2 overall and finished 4-0 in 6A-2. No. 8 Mainland, the district runner-up, fell to 5-4, 2-1.

In a defensive battle, it was the Bulldogs’ running game that made the difference. Saunders’ 12-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter erased Mainland’s 3-0 lead. The Bulldogs built their lead to 17-3 on David Taylor’s 9-yard scoring run with 5 minutes, 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter.  DeLand, which lost in the 6A state final last season, has completed its regular season. Mainland will face Daytona Beach Seabreeze next Friday night at Municipal Stadium.

We would like to thank  Assistant to the Athletic Director, Rick Calkins,  and friends  who were extremely gracious, hospitable and helpful throughout the entire evening.  The Orlando team travels to its last tour stop on Friday when the Fightin’ Edgewater Eagles,  who now possess a 6-3 record,  play next when they host Boone High School for a non-league battle on Friday, November 12. Edgewater will play a Braves squad coming off a 35-7 league win over Cypress Creek (Orlando, FL). The Braves record now stands at 4-5.

Orlando’s FNF Team looks to an exciting night of football next Friday, November 12, 2010.

Peach County packed the house for the regular season finale versus Baldwin. More than 12,000 fans came out to watch their team.

The State Farm Friday Night Football Georgia Campus Tour was there to take in the action and mingle with the fans, fans, fans. Everywhere we looked there were fans!

This was a great way to end the season. Thank you State Farm, participating high schools and fans for a terricfic season. Until next year!

Gateway Conference Championship Game

On this cold fall night here in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, the FNF Live Tour: Jacksonville Edition made its way to Fletcher High School as the Senators took on the undefeated First Coast Buccaneers. With Fletcher coming in with only one loss, with their only loss being a non-conference game against Nease, this game was going to decide the Gateway Conference Championship. After already seeing both teams play previously during the tour, needless to say we were extremely excited to be a part of this game.

The game delivered just as we had anticipated; with First Coast jumping out to a 14-3 lead at halftime it appeared that First Coast may pull away with the game in the second half. Fletcher however still had something up their sleeves. Led by running back Mitchell Hester and great defensive play Fletcher took the lead with only 2:46 left to go in the game. Up 15-14 with less than a minute in the fourth, Fletcher only needed one more stop to become district champions. It was First Coast that would respond under pressure, with quarterback Herman Tapley connecting on a long pass that put First Coast all the way on the Fletcher 3 yard line. The following play First Coast would score and pull away winning the game by a final of 27-15 becoming the Gateway Conference Champions of 2010.

Being right on the corner of the south end zone, the FNF Live Tour had a perfect view of the game and what it game it turned out to be. This being our first trip to Fletcher High School many of the hometown Senator fans really enjoyed all of our giveaways. With winter right around the corner, coupons for coffee courtesy of Dunkin’ Donuts will come in handy. During halftime many of the fans from both teams enjoyed looking up their resistive schools in the FNF Magazine, and look up some of their favorite players stats. For the third week in a row the U.S. Army joined the FNF Live team adding to already fantastic atmosphere.

With this game being our last trip on this year’s tour, I would like to thank all of our wonderful sponsors for making this tour possible; it has truly been an entertaining tour.

This week the U.S. Army Strong Tour traded Friday Night Lights for Saturday Afternoon Sun.  It was a beautiful fall day in Columbia, MD, as the Hammond Bears played host to county rival Reservoir High School.

It was an exciting afternoon at Hammond, as the Bears celebrated Homecoming and Senior Day.  The US Army Tour brought their full armament of fun and games.  Kids tested their throwing arms at the US Army branded QB Toss, and fans young and old challenged each other to pushups and pullups throughout the afternoon.

The action on the field was tense, as the Gators from Reservoir tried to stop Hammond’s rise to the state playoffs.  The Gators trailed 21-7 in the second half, but fought back to tie the game at 21.  Hammond scored on their next possession, and took the lead 28-21.  With three minutes left in the game, Reservoir marched downfield as they looked to tie.  With 30 seconds on the clock, Reservoir scored to make the score 28-27.  Going for the victory on the road, Reservoir chose to go for the 2 point conversion.  Hammond’s defense came through, and deflected the pass away to seal the victory in front of a record crowd.

The U.S. Army Strong Friday Night Football Tour heads north to Carroll County, where the Liberty Lions will try to put an end to arch-rival South Carroll’s undefeated season.

This week’s edition of the FNF Live Campus Tour made its way to Orange Park High School as the Raiders battled against Bartram Trail.

Having covered Bartram Trail previously on the tour we knew we were in for a good game. This week’s game was easily the most exciting game so far on the tour. Trailing at halftime 17-7, Orange Park put together a second half comeback led by a great running attack and a relentless defense that would not let Bartram dominate as they did in the first half. In the end Orange Park defeated Bartram Trail 51-31, and stayed alive in their district.

This week we once again had the privilege of having the U.S. Army come out and join the tour making what was already a great football atmosphere that much more exciting.  With Halloween right around the corner, Daily’s and Cadbury provided some early treats for all the fans of both teams, passing out free samples of gum and Swedish Fish.  In between eating all the free samples they could get their hands on, many of the fans enjoyed reading some of the articles in the FNF magazine and checking out the U.S. Army tent enjoying all of the free giveaways they had to offer.

Next week we hit the road for one of the biggest games not only in Jacksonville, but in the state of Florida as undefeated First Coast High School hits the road to take on the Senators of Fletcher High School who only have one loss on the year. If anyone is looking to see some of the future stars of college football play, this is the game to attend and FNF Live is excited to say we are going to be a part of this game which could determine who the best team in Jacksonville is.

We look forward to seeing some new faces and hope that this game will be as entertaining as our previous game, see everyone next week!

This week the State Farm Friday Night Football Live Campus Tour visited Tunnel Hill, Georgia, for a match-up between the Johns Creek Gladiators and the Northwest Whitfield Bruins. All of the pieces came together to make it a great night for football and the fans were all geared up for a great game.

Northwest Whitfield came into this game having won three of their last four games and were looking for a win over the Gladiators to extend their winning streak to three games. The defenses from both teams have been playing very well in the last several weeks and the fans were expecting a hard fought game.

Neither team disappointed in this contest and points were at a premium as the Bruins were just able to edge the Gladiators by a final score of 14-12. The game came right down to the wire and had the Northwest Whitfield fans glued to their seats until the very end!

Thanks for coming out and being with Friday Night Football Live from Tunnel Hill Georgia!

What a great night for football and for the last game of the season!

The stadium was not the most impressive or the largest that we have seen, but the fans were fantastic. The stadium was packed, but the crowd attendance was approximately 1,500, but you would not know it from the school spirit.

The hospitality of Rockwood and their principal, Mr. Reed, was overwhelming.

We knew on arrival that this was going to be a special night!

After 57 years at the microphone, Maurice Grief called his last regular-season home game as Rockwood High’s public address announcer Friday night. The Tigers gave the local icon a winner to call, rallying for 34-12 District 3A victory over Harriman. The victory secured a playoff spot for Rockwood (7-3, 4-1).

Coming into the game we wondered if any school could beat the Seymour Eagles at 331 entrees in the Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union’s Spirit Contest.

Mr. Reed told me that Rockwood was going to win, but I had my doubts. We had been to larger schools with double and even triple the attendance. However with only 429 students that attend Rockwood the fans definitely displayed their school spirit. They not only beat the 331 number, but they CRUSHED it coming in with 611 entrees! The over all entrees from both teams were 809, which was over half of the crowd that was present.

I believe everyone would agree that we could not have planned a better way to end the season!

Thanks Rockwood and congratulations in winning the Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union’s Spirit Contest!

This week in Atlanta the State Farm FNF Live Campus Tour had a abrupt weather change…… & along  with the change came wind & along with the wind came the Raging Peachtree Lions. Tonight’s matchup was the Peachtree Ridge  Lions vs. the Mill Creek Hawks. Not only did the FNF Tour take place but there was also a celebration for the Cancer Survivors, so many of the fans (including males) wore Pink! As the game goers came down the hill towards the football field, they were given there first gift; which was our Magazine! And the friendly folk out here were happy to receive it.