The Post-Searchlight Publisher Jeff Findley and I attended the Georgia Press Association conference last month at Jekyll Island.

The conference lasts for two days and is a gigantic meet-up of all the newspapers in Georgia. Panels and meetings are held to exchange ideas and generate discussion on subjects that newspapers are dealing with on a daily basis: “fake news”, advertising campaigns, drone journalism and others.

The one panel that I enjoyed the most was the sports writing one. From it came an idea that I have been tinkering with and trying to find a way to make work for our newspaper and community.

Millions upon millions of folks around the world sign up for fantasy football every NFL season. They pick a roster via an online draft of players throughout the league, then earn points when those players do good things on the field. The more points, the better. The goal is to win among others in your group. Some put a little money on the line (OK, sometimes a lot, too), while other groups just do it for fun.

One of the ideas presented at the GPA conference was fantasy football, but with high school players. The Savannah Morning Times had developed a system where the local players were picked by fans, then given points based on what they did on the field. Much like real fantasy football, a touchdown would be worth so many points, and an interception, or a tackle.

Apparently the fans really enjoyed picking players and customizing a team based on the schools around Savannah. The players really got into it as well and actively kept up with how they were doing, all while giving them an additional incentive to make big plays.

I would love to bring this idea to Bainbridge and our newspaper, but the trick is finding a way to make it work. Since we only have one school, would we create a bigger pool of players by including the rest of our Region (Harris County, Warner Robins, Veterans and Thomas County Central)?

Maybe we could develop a system where only Bainbridge players are used.

Either way, it won’t work or be worth it if the fans don’t buy in and take part in the game. If you’re interested in interacting with Bainbridge football in a different way than ever before with our own version of fantasy football, shoot me an email at powell.cobb@thepostsearchlight.com.