During the 2011 football season, students from some high schools within the local Pepsi service area will have the opportunity to toss their way into receiving a $500 scholarship, which will be given by the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company of Atmore.

The Dr. Pepper Football Toss will be conducted during the football season at various football games in the area.

According to David Strawbridge, spokesperson for Pepsi, contestants will be chosen at random from a list of eligible high school seniors who attend the high school in which the scholarships will be given.

“Escambia Academy and Escambia County High School will receive two scholarships each and the others in our area will receive one scholarship,” Strawbridge said.

Each school will arrange to have a preliminary contest to determine the two contestants who will compete for the eligible scholarships. All contestants will throw a football from the five-yard line on the football field in an attempt to hit the target, which will be an inflatable Dr. Pepper can.

Contestants who do not hit the target will be eliminated.

Contestants will throw again increasing the distance from by five yards until the competition is narrowed to two people.

These contestants will be given the opportunity to compete against each other at half time during a game of Pepsi’s choosing.

These two students will compete for the scholarship of $500 by passing 10 footballs from the five-yard line through a 18 inch hole. They will be given 30 seconds to throw the ball. At the end of the 30 seconds, the student with the most footballs to successfully go through the hole, or the first to land all 10 balls in the inflatable Dr. Pepper can, will be declared the winner.

In the event both contestants have the same number of balls in the can, a tie-breaker will be held with the same rules as before, but from the 10-yard line with only five balls and 15 seconds to land the most footballs inside the can.

The $500 College Scholarship Football Toss schedule will be Aug. 19, Escambia Academy at Sparta Academy; Aug. 26, Flomaton High School at W.S. Neal High School; Sept. 9, T.R. Miller at Excel High School; Sept. 16, Mobile Christian at Flomaton High School; Sept. 23, Patrician at Escambia Academy; Sept. 30, Thomasville at Escambia County High School; Oct. 7, Mobile Christian at J.U. Blacksher; Oct 14, Monroe County at Escambia Academy.