JACKSONVILLE, Texas — The Under the Lights Kickoff Show will be live at the historic Tomato Bowl Friday for a 5A district matchup between Whitehouse and Jacksonville.
On Friday night, the Indians and the Wildcats will go head-to-head in the third week of district play.
"We're always excited to play at home," said Jacksonville Head Coach Jason Holman. "I'm from here, and graduated from here, and I played in Tomato Bowl and my dad played in Tomato Bowl."
The stadium has hosted some of the most iconic games in East Texas history, and she has a lot of respect when teams come to visit.
"I've been here. This was going on year four for me, and I've had the opportunity to play there," said Whitehouse Head Coach Kyle Westerberg. "It's a great place to play, and with it being, close to Whitehouse, it makes everything a lot of fun."
Jacksonville has had a tough couple of years trying to find their footing. Since 2020, they've only won five games. They hired Holman away from Tatum as the head coach and athletic director in 2022.
Holman has faith in his team because he sees the potential and appreciates their fighting mentality.
"We need to learn how to win games," Holman said. "We've been close in a couple. We've got one win on the season, but we've been close in a couple where we had great opportunities to win and couldn't get it done from an execution standpoint, or had a turnover."
On the other hand, Whitehouse football has had a surprisingly tough year since going 7-4 last season.
"We lost our quarterback back in week two against Kilgore, so that was pretty big blow to us, but we've had some guys step up in those roles," Westerberg said. "We've had really three guys that have that have kind of filled in, kind of a rotational deal."
Kickoff between Whitehouse and Jacksonville is 7:30 p.m.