High school football hits the airwaves

"It's a Friday night and the wind and rain is pounding too hard to warrant a trip to a high school football game.This year spectators will not miss out for staying home.Megatalk 1400 AM KITZ will broadcast a high school game of the week throughout the regular season, with playoff games to be determined later.The nine broadcasts will consist mostly of prep teams in Kitsap County.Russ Nichols, sales manager of the Port Orchard-based radio station, said new ownership of the station is working hard on bringing back community interest.This is a reach-back-into-the-community thing, Nichols said. New ownership came in last year and we are re-focusing where we belong. High school football is part of the change.Though plans were to have local broadcasters for the football games this year, owner Allan Gottlieb, of Bellevue, has hired Wild Hair Productions to do the play-by play.Nichols said making the decision to broadcast prep games was so sudden there wasn't time to put together a local broadcast team.We're going to try and go with local play by play next year, Nichols said. We're excited about what we're trying to do and I think we have a pretty balanced schedule.All but one of the broadcasts will be of teams out of the new Narrows League Bridge Division, which includes the now-defunct Olympic League teams of Bremerton, Central Kitsap, North Kitsap, Olympic, and Port Angeles.Not including the playoffs, South Kitsap will hit the airwaves four times with games against Gig Harbor, Central Kitsap, North Kitsap, and Port Angeles.North Kitsap will broadcast games against Olympic, Bremerton, and South Kitsap.Central Kitsap and Olympic will each have two games broadcast on the radio. Central Kitsap games will include games against South Kitsap and Olympic. Olympic games on the radio include battles against North Kitsap and Central Kitsap.Bremerton's lone game on the air will be a home game against North Kitsap.The opening broadcast on Sept. 7 will be a non-league rivalry game between Peninsula and Gig Harbor.The final regular season game will be an Oct. 26 contest between Klahowya and Vashon.SK football coach D.J. Sigurdson said having games on the radio will be a positive influence for everyone in Kitsap County.I think it's a great way to promote high school football and it's good for the kids, Sigurdson said. Sigurdson said he's not sure how many listeners there will be but the new Bridge Division should create more interest.There are more rivalries that are a lot closer, Sigurdson said. Hopefully (KITZ) will promote that further because this is definitely regional and specific to our area.All games kickoff at 7 p.m. Broadcasts hit the air 30 minutes prior to kickoff. All games are Friday night except for the Oct. 25 (Thur.) game between Port Angeles and South Kitsap.Sept. 7 Peninsula at Gig HarborSept. 14 Gig Harbor at South KitsapSept. 21 North Kitsap at OlympicSept. 28 South Kitsap at Central KitsapOct. 5 North Kitsap at BremertonOct. 12 South Kitsap at North KitsapOct. 19 Central Kitsap at OlympicOct. 25 Port Angeles at South KitsapOct. 26 Klahowya at Vashon "

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