Time Warner Cable SportsChannel is launching a series of Thursday night high school football broadcasts for the 2015 season and the first game in the series is set for Thursday night.

       It is one of the state’s storied rivalries as A.L. Brown of Kannapolis plays host to the Spiders of Concord in what is known as The Bell Game.

       The game will be aired at 7:30 p.m. from Memorial Stadium in Kannapolis on Time Warner Cable channel 323. A pre-game show will start at 7 p.m.

       The Bell Game, named for the Southern Railroad Victory Bell awarded to the winning team, is touted as the longest-running high school football rivalry in the state. This year marks the 85th consecutive meeting, with Concord holding a 42-38-4 edge in the series.

       Concord has won 42 of the games, including the past three, while Kannapolis has 38 victories. There have been four ties.

       According to Jason Lockhart, director/general manager of Time Warner Cable SportsChannel Carolinas, TWC began televising live North Carolina High School Athletic Association state championship games in 2006 as the NCHSAA’s television partner and has expanded to a variety of NCHSAA championships throughout the academic year.

       TWC received approval from the Board of Directors of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association this year to do live regular season games. But one of the NCHSAA’s stipulations is TWC will air games played on “non-traditional nights,” meaning live broadcasts won’t compete with the regular Friday night high school schedule.

       This week’s game is the first of 12 regular season TWC Thursday Night Football broadcasts. Here is the Time Warner Cable schedule for the regular season in football:

Aug. 20      Concord at Kannapolis Brown

Aug. 27      Garner at Cleveland

Sept, 3       Mount Airy at Elkin

Sept. 10     Chapel Hill at Southeast Raleigh

Sept. 17     Northern Guilford at Reidsville

Sept. 24     Orange at Southern Durham

Oct. 1         Washington at Plymouth

Oct. 8         Western Harnett at South Johnston

Oct. 15       West Rowan at East Rowan

Oct. 22       Northeastern at Pasquotank

Oct. 29       Ragsdale at East Forsyth

Nov. 5        Charlotte Vance at Cornelius Hough