Psst. Hey you. Guess what. Your friends and neighbors have been winning gift cards by correctly predicting the winners of high school football matchups this season.

Have you?

Can you believe we’re already nearing the halfway point of the high school football season? This is week five of 11, and our local teams have been hard at it on the gridiron. Whether you’ve been to a game or not, chances are good you have been impacted in some way by Friday night lights.

Here in Franklin County, we take pride in our high school teams. We hope you have a local team you are cheering on this season. Whether you’re a Tiger, Red Devil, Wildcat, Bobcat or Golden Tiger, high school football brings our communities together, and supporting your team is a great way to encourage and lift up our young people.

Getting in on the high school football scene is also a good way to win a gift card for some yummy food from 306 BBQ.

We know many of you are already faithful weekly participants, but for those of you who aren’t, here’s the scoop.

Each week we put out a lineup of games for YOU to choose which teams will be the winners. Our lineup typically includes all Franklin County teams – barring a bye week or a Friday night game – plus a selection of area match-ups.

All you have to do is circle your choices from the list on page B8 – or, if you’re taking advantage of our new online version of the contest form, select the circle next to your choice.

In case we need a tiebreaker, we also choose one game and ask you to predict the score.

Give us your name, phone number and address – and that’s it! Make sure your submission gets to our office by the deadline, and you might be this week’s winner.

Every week the contest form can be found on page B8 of the paper and on our website at www.franklincountytimes.com – just click the “Football Play and Win” button on the homepage.

It’s easy and fun, and you can play even if you can’t make it out to a football game – although you definitely should. What’s fall without football?

The contest is made possible in part by local sponsors, and we encourage you to support these businesses.

We still have half of the regular season left, plus – hopefully – a few weeks of play-off games, and that means there’s still time for you to get in on the fun.

There’s also still time to support our local students. Players at our schools would love to have a great crowd cheering them on as they take the field – and it’s not just the players you boost with your support. It’s also the band members, the dancers, the color guard, the cheerleaders and more, plus the adults who are coaching and mentoring these young people.

Members of all these groups endure early mornings, late nights – countless hours practicing to entertain fans throughout the fall.

We want to commend these students for their school spirit and show them how proud we are of their hard work and good attitudes, and we hope you’ll join us in cheering them on. Please show your support of their hard work by coming out to help root them to victory.

There are plenty of opportunities left to don your team’s colors and spend Friday nights at home or on the road, losing your voice cheering for your team.