East Carolina's football team gets a much needed weekend off before their big three game finale that will determine if the Pirates have a winning season, or a fourth straight losing season. A lot of the Pirate players will take advantage of the Saturday off and go watch their alma mater Friday night. And they have some great games to check out.

The last night of the high school football regular season in eastern North Carolina features eight different games that pit the top two teams teams in their respective conferences battling for the league championship.  It's a high school football fanatics dream.

There are several marquee match ups; one of the best has undefeated JH Rose traveling to New Bern to face the 9-1 Bears. These two programs have sent a lot of players to ECU, and the Pirate coaching staff is interested in players on both sides including New Bern WR/DB Daryl Reynolds (he is mulling over a scholarship offer from ECU, but said he is no hurry to make a decision). If you can't make it to the game, just tune in to Pirate Radio 1250 & 930 for coverage of the game. Kickoff is 7:30 pm.

The Pirates already have a verbal commitment from Southwest Onslow star Dakota Marshall. He and his Stallion teammates will play at Clinton (alma mater of ECU Athletics Director Terry Holland, and former football stars Jaris McPhail and Leonard Henry), with the East Central Conference title on the line. Just down the road at James Kenan High School in Duplin County, undefeated Wallace-Rose Hill will face a red hot Tiger team that has won 8 in a row. The winner gets the Super Six Conference title.

Undefeated Beddingfield will play host to Hunt. One of these Wilson schools will bring home the Eastern Carolina Conference title. Just down the road in Snow Hill, Greene Central will entertain North Lenoir. The winner will hold the Eastern Plains title. And just down the road from there, Ayden-Grifton will host undefeated North Johnston with the victor getting the spoils that come with the Carolina Conference crown.

Those are just a few of the great games scheduled for Friday night. There are many more contests that have playoff implications. So get out and watch some high school football in Eastern North Carolina (or where ever you live), and support football at its finest grass roots level, under the bright Friday night lights. And don't forget to watch the high school football shows for all the hi-lites and scores (I recommend the Blitz on Newschannel 12!!!).