The first high school and college football games of the season are slated for Thursday night.

For the second straight year, Leader Publications is going to make those games just a little more interesting as it has begun its Football Blitz and Pro Football Challenge.

Each week, fans will be asked to pick the winners of 10 high school and college games. Prizes will be awarded.

The first week’s winner in both contests will get a pair of Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma football tickets. Second and third place finishers will receive a large, one-topping pizza from Pizza Transit in Niles or the Wounded Minnow in Dowagiac.

There will be a random drawing for a pair of Notre Dame vs. Temple tickets for anyone registered by Wednesday at 9 a.m.

With games slated to start in less than a week, join today to make sure you do not miss out on this chance to show off your skills to your friends.

This contest is completely local, so you will be competing against friends, family, neighbors and co-workers. You can even set up your own leagues and compete against people you know from around the country. The more people you get to compete against, the more fun you will have.

Here is how you play:

Each week you will pick the winners of 10 games. There will also be a tiebreaker that allows you to predict the final score of one of those games.

For each correct pick you earn five points. The person who correctly picks the tiebreaker gets 10 points.

There will be a grand prize at the end of the college football regular season.

To enter, go to leaderpub.com and click on the “contests” tab. You sign up through any one of our Facebook pages.