AUGUSTA () – High school football action returns to the CSRA on August 15th, marking another season of Sports Game Night Live. Catch the high school football game of the week broadcast live across our family of networks and +.

This season spotlights several leading teams and standout players from both sides of the Savannah River. Once again, John Hart will provide the play-by-play commentary, joined by color analyst Ashley Brown and statistician Nathan Edwards. New to the GNL team in 2025, former Colorado State University football player and current Good Morning Augusta reporter, Ellison Hubbard, will be reporting from the sidelines.

The 2025 Game Night Live schedule begins in Harlem on August 15th on NewsChannel 6. Here, the Bulldogs are looking to build on their record-setting fourth consecutive playoff appearance and recent regional championship, as they face a Greenbrier squad aiming to continue their resurgence under second-year coach Sean Tiernan. 

“The key for us is to play just like any other game and treat it like any other game and not make it any bigger. Obviously, it’s a big game. The kids are excited,” Tiernan said.

“It’s always good to hit on somebody else,” said Harlem head coach Mark Boiter, entering his sixth season as head coach. “You hit on each other so much throughout the summer and throughout the season. It’s nice to go up against somebody else.”

The Bulldogs are coming off of their second ten win season in three years, while the Wolfpack won four games during Tiernan’s first season in 2024 after winning just one the previous two seasons combined. Both Tiernan and Boiter are graduates of their respective schools.

In week two Game Night Live returns to North Augusta for a border battle between the Yellow Jackets and Thomson. The two powerhouses meet for the second year in a row, but just the seventh time in history. The Jackets advanced to the state semifinals last year, while the Bulldogs season culminated in the quarterfinals.

“We’re gonna push ourselves condition-wise,” said North Augusta head coach Richard Bush, entering his third season in charge of the Yellow Jackets. “We focus on our conditioning throughout the summer, throughout the season and we think that’s a big part of our success.”

Week three brings another border battle as South Aiken hosts Lakeside and new head coach Brett Johnson, who was most recently defensive coordinator under previous head coach Steve Hibbitts, now at Aiken. The Panthers must replace 24 seniors including All-CSRA Player of the Year Ty Jones, while the Thoroughbreds lost running back Jevon Edwards, who rushed for more than 2,400 yards and 28 touchdowns during his senior season.

“We’ve heard it over and over again that this is a rebuilding year and I hate that term,” Johnson said. “I tell our guys that we’ve got enough talent to go out and compete this year, compete for a region championship. Our coaches believe it, our players believe it.”

Week four brings one of the most heated rivalries in our area. The 58th meeting between Barnwell and Bamberg-Ehrhardt. Last season’s matchup was a meeting between two teams ranked in the top five, a 21-7 Barnwell victory en route to a state championship game appearance for the Warhorses.

Week five again features the Warhorses on the road at South Aiken. In 2024, the matchup between the two was decided by five points, a thrilling 31-26 Barnwell victory on Game Night Live.

In week six the GNL crew heads back to the Peach State for a Richmond County showdown between Westside and Aquinas. The Patriots enter their first year under new head coach Cedric Mason, who spent the last six seasons as defensive line coach at Lakeside. Westside is coming off of an eight win season and its third playoff appearance in five years. Aquinas must replace several key seniors as the Irish try to make the postseason for the fifteenth consecutive season, including the 2013 state championship.  

“We always have high expectations,” said Aquinas head coach James Leonard, who has guided the program to 104 wins during his 13 seasons. “I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to have high expectations for yourself. We’ve lost some good players, got a lot of turnover on the staff, so we’ve been telling the guys there’s a lot of noise in the community with other teams thinking we’re gonna fall off because everything we’ve got going on, but I think all that’s done is elevate us.”

Week seven Game Night Live visits Walton Way for a Georgia Region 4-AAA showdown between Richmond Academy and Harlem. The Musketeers enter their second full year under head coach Keenan Grissett. 

“Anytime you get under the lights on Friday night it’s the greatest feeling in the world,” said Grissett. “I played college ball and there’s still nothing like high school football on Friday night, right? So, super excited. We’ve got a young group that’s returning. Got some experience coming back.”

October begins with one of the biggest rivalries in the CSRA and the state of Georgia, the annual battle for region supremacy between Burke County and Thomson. This year’s showdown will be broadcast from the historic Brickyard on NewsChannel 6. 

The Bears currently own a four game winning streak in the storied series, including a two-game sweep in 2024, the last of which occurred during the quarterfinals of the Georgia High School Association Class-AA state playoffs. Burke County would eventually advance to the state championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

“I like our energy and our attitude and how we’ve been doing,” said Thomson head coach Michael Youngblood, a Burke County graduate and former assistant who has won three region championships and a state title during his first seven seasons with the Bulldogs. “Everything isn’t perfect. Let’s not put that out there, but we are working on some things that I feel like we need to get better at.”

Week nine is a Thursday night special in Columbia County as Lakeside makes the trip north on Washington Road to face Greenbrier.

“You can’t worry about the cameras being on and what’s going on with interviews and everything else,” said Tiernan of both teams’ second GNL appearance of the season. “It’s what’s happening between the lines and that’s what we preach to the kids every single day.”

Once again in 2025 the final three weeks of the Game Night Live season will be “flex” weeks, when the game with the biggest postseason implications will be chosen for broadcast. Those matchups will be announced the week prior to the games.