The flames of a once sizzling rivalry will rekindle when two local high school football teams clash on the gridiron to kick off the 2024-2025 high school football season.

Northern Lehigh will host Lehighton football on Friday for the first time in 31 years in a varsity football game.

To make the occasion even more memorable, the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 193rd Special Operations Wing will have a flyover just before kickoff as the Northern Lehigh Patriot Club presents Military Appreciation Night.

The flyover is subject to weather and mission constraints.

The day also marks the 70th anniversary of the first flight of the C-130 Hercules aircraft. The C-130 Hercules aircraft is the longest, continuously produced military aircraft in history.

The schools are only 10.6 miles apart (5 miles “as the crow flies”) and separated by only Blue Mountain, noted by Bryan Geist, athletic director, Northern Lehigh School District.

The Northern Lehigh Patriot Club will present our nation’s colors during pregame.

Alumni Maj. Eric Barnett with Senior Master Sgt. Amber Pinto will be on site to provide information about the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.

The halftime show will honor the 1999 Northern Lehigh Championship Football Team.

Geist said two C-130s have been assigned to do the flyover, and explained how it came together.

“Maj. Barnett, one of my former students, he’s part of the Air National Guard, I ran the idea past him back in April,” Geist said. “He helped work with me, and we have the Patriot Club who is a military-based club who tries to assist and give flag etiquette and give support of the military, they’re supporting this.”

Geist added that the district had to get FAA approval, Pentagon approval, Air Force approval, and Air National Guard approval, and added there’s crews that have volunteered for this.

“We thought this would be a neat thing since we haven’t played in 31 years,” he said. “We’re pretty excited about it; took about four months to put this together.”

Geist said that the weather outlook for Friday’s game looks great.

“There’s a big buzz in the district at this point, a lot of people are looking forward to this, and just kind of renew the rivalry with Lehighton,” he said. “You have two young teams that are kind of going after it and see what happens.

“I think you’re going to see a really good football team. I think everybody’s going to enjoy it and get to see some people from the past.”

Geist added that even though Lehighton is now part of the Colonial League, plans for this game have been in the works for some time.

“This agreement was set up prior to that, and the schedule makes sense,” he said. “The geography makes sense for us to play.”