Eastwood High School Football Game Against Plano High School To Be Broadcast Locally

On August 3, 2019, El Paso became the scene of a mass shooting at the Cielo Vista Walmart. 22 people were killed and 27 others were wounded. In the days that followed, we got an outpouring of love from so many people that when the school district where the shooter came from said that they did not want to play a local high school in football, it came as a huge shock.

Social media blew up on August 15 when word got out that Plano ISD had canceled a scheduled football game between Eastwood High School and Plano Senior High School because of the Walmart massacre. The Plano school district said that the game was canceled in order to "prioritize the safety of the participating players, students, families and communities." It got a lot of people pretty hot under the collar, including me, and the subsequent uproar forced PISD's hand and they reset the game.

The game between Eastwood and Plano will now be played on Thursday, September 5, at 6 p.m. El Paso time at the Ford Center, which is the practice field for the Dallas Cowboys. The bad news is that the game is being played hours away from El Paso, but the good news is KVIA-TV has partnered with the ABC affiliate in Dallas, WFAA-TV, to broadcast the game. The stations will be preempting their primetime programming to broadcast the game. It will also be available on their digital platforms.

Both school districts say they are comfortable with the level of security that will be offered at the Ford Center.

Go Troopers!