Mission Viejo High Football Classic Kicks Off Friday Night

Are you considering kicking off the 2011 high school football season by attending the Mission Viejo High School Football Classic on Friday and Saturday? I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the return of the pigskin, but if you are planning on attending, there are a few things you should know.

The classic is a series of six varsity and one junior varsity football game that will be played in the football stadium at , which is located at 25025 Chrisanta Drive, on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 2-3.

Friday’s game schedule:

• 4:30 p.m. -- Cypress vs. Garces (Bakersfield)
• 8 p.m. -- Mission Viejo vs. Centennial (Bakersfield)

Saturday's game schedule:

• 8 a.m. -- Junior varsity game between teams from Alta (Sandy, Utah) and Timpview (Provo, Utah)
• 11:15 a.m. -- Bakersfield vs. Timpview
• 2:20 p.m. -- Crenshaw (Los Angeles) vs. Alta
• 5:25 p.m. -- Orange Lutheran vs. Bingham (South Jordan, Utah)
• 8:30 p.m. -- Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) vs. Bellevue (Wash.)

The late games each day will be televised by FSN Prime Ticket. Tapes of the games will also be shown beginning 11 p.m. on Friday and 11:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Tickets for the Mission Viejo-Centennial game on Friday will only be available at the stadium box office, which opens on Friday at 3 p.m. Prices are $8 for adults, $6 for students with ID cards. The stadium will be cleared between Friday's games.

No tickets for any other individual games will be sold. To see one or more of the games, a two-day pass must be purchased from the event promoter, Hercules Sports Management, either online here through Thursday or at the stadium box office, which also opens at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.

If purchased online, passes for adults are $20 and $15 for students, plus a $1.20 transaction fee for each. A VIP sideline pass for both days is being sold for $175. But again, no two-day passes will be honored for the Mission Viejo-Centennial game on Friday.

Parking is available in the school lots around the stadium and in the surrounding streets, but it gets crowded, so plan on arriving early.

Later this week, Patch will preview all of the games of the classic as well as look at other local games being played the first full week of the 2012 high school football season.