In small-town Texas, high school football isn’t just a game—it’s the heartbeat of the community. On Friday nights, entire towns come alive, gathering in the stands to cheer on their kids, their neighbors, and their hometown pride. For Sunray, that heartbeat was shaken in August when a violent windstorm ripped through its football stadium, leaving behind a trail of destruction. But today, despite the setback, Sunray ISD is fighting back with grit, resilience, and a chance at a million-dollar transformation.
A Storm That Changed the Season
Just before the start of the school year, high winds tore through Sunray’s football stadium, destroying the press box, leveling the visitor bleachers, and damaging the home stands. The storm hit on the eve of two-a-days—the crucial kickoff to football season. Superintendent Erin Boatmun recalled the moment the district realized the extent of the damage.
“So we’ve had, we’ve had our neighboring schools have asked us if they could host a game for us,” Boatmun explained. “We have used and utilized some of those fields throughout the season, and we’ve played away games, so we just had to kind of make do up until this point.”
The devastation meant Sunray’s athletes, coaches, and fans were without a true home field. What should have been a season filled with Friday night traditions was instead spent on borrowed turf, leaning on the generosity of neighboring districts. Yet, in true Texas spirit, Sunray adapted. The Bulldogs kept playing, and the community kept rallying.
A Million-Dollar Opportunity
In the midst of challenge came an unexpected opportunity. Sunray ISD is now one of 25 finalists in T-Mobile’s nationwide “Friday Night 5G Lights” contest, a program created to support small towns and highlight the role high school football plays in rural America. For Sunray, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The winning school will receive a $1 million stadium upgrade, a renovated weight room, expert stadium design consultation, and even an all-expenses-paid trip to the SEC Championship Game.
Sunray has already secured $30,000 in earlier contest rounds, which helped install new stadium lights. This season, for the first time since the storm, the Bulldogs will play at home under those lights. But the community’s eyes are on the ultimate prize—a complete rebuild that would restore their stadium and bring Friday nights back to Sunray in full force.
Matt Cantu, a T-Mobile representative, explained why Sunray’s story stands out.
“It’s more than a contest. It’s a multi-million dollar opportunity. It’s a nationwide movement to really fuel school pride, performance and possibility,” Cantu said. “It’s a T-Mobile program specifically that provides more support for small towns, and it’s a chance to showcase their community spirit, how they tend to gather for Friday night football, which we know is a huge deal, especially in Texas.”
The Power of Community Spirit
The contest winner will be determined by online voting, and for Sunray, that has turned into an all-hands-on-deck campaign. Students, staff, and families are pushing hard to spread the word and encourage every possible vote.
“The kids are thrilled. They are calling their friends, their family, and the staff. Everybody’s really on board,” Boatmun said. “We’re trying to rack our brains to think of all the ways that we can share out that information and just really get everybody rallying for us. What we’re trying to do is create a ripple effect, so everybody shares that information with, you know, 10 people, and asks those 10 to share with another 10, and just really push that information out and get as many people on board with us as we can.”
It’s a grassroots effort that feels familiar in rural towns—neighbors leaning on neighbors, spreading the word by phone calls, text chains, and conversations at the grocery store. The ripple effect Boatmun describes is exactly how small communities find strength: together.
A Star’s Endorsement
Sunray’s fight has also drawn support from beyond the Panhandle. Country music artist Aaron Watson, who has performed across Texas for years, is lending his voice to the cause.
“I’ve been out to Sunray a lot of times, back in the day, but I know that they lost their field,” Watson said. “There are a lot of great schools around the state trying to get that million dollars, but Sunray, with them being from the Panhandle, the nature in which they lost their field, they’ve got to be at the top of the list. I’ve really got my fingers crossed for Sunray. That’s a wonderful community, you know. So I’m rooting for Sunray. Just keep pushing it, keep promoting it and, you know, get those kids to that stadium.”
Watson’s words echo the sentiment many in Sunray already feel: this contest isn’t just about winning—it’s about restoring something the town lost through no fault of its own.
Looking Ahead: Magenta Night and Beyond
Sunray will host its first game of the season under the new lights this fall, a symbolic step forward. To keep momentum alive, the district announced a “Magenta Night” on October 10, with T-Mobile sponsoring the event. It’s a chance to celebrate how far they’ve come, even while the biggest goal still hangs in the balance.
Voting for the contest runs until October 24, and the winner will be announced October 30. For Sunray, those dates mark more than just a deadline—they represent the possibility of restoring Friday nights for generations of Bulldogs to come.
Why It Matters
High school football in Texas has always been about more than touchdowns. It’s about community identity. It’s about grandparents sitting in the same stands they cheered in decades earlier, about little kids dreaming of one day running onto the field, and about entire towns standing together under Friday night lights.
When the storm tore through Sunray’s stadium, it wasn’t just metal and concrete that were lost—it was the gathering place where those traditions lived. Winning the T-Mobile contest wouldn’t simply repair bleachers and press boxes. It would restore the center of community life, giving the people of Sunray a place to gather, cheer, and celebrate their kids once again.
The Call to Action
The story of Sunray ISD is one of resilience. Faced with destruction, the community refused to give up. They borrowed fields, they leaned on each other, and now they’re rallying nationwide support for a chance at renewal.
But whether Sunray wins the million-dollar prize or not, the town has already shown the country what small-town pride looks like. In the words of Boatmun, it’s about creating a ripple effect—neighbors helping neighbors, families pulling together, and a community proving that even when the winds blow hardest, their spirit stands strong.
