SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – It’s Friday night and that means high school football.
T-Mobile is sponsoring a 5G Friday Night Lights Challenge for small schools all across America with a chance to win $1 million dollars.
Fourteen South Dakota Schools are in the running, including the small town of Hoven.
The Hoven High School football team has sort of played in the shadows as it had to co-op with other area towns for 25 years.
But not anymore.
Hoven broke away and started its own 9-man football team this year; the Hoven Greyhounds.
“We have a purple jersey and a white jersey and we have white pants with a purple and gray stripe on the side and a football helmet with a gray stripe down the middle and a paw print on the left side,” Hoven’s quarterback and linebacker Xavier Hobert said.
The fans are just as excited as the players.
“I think it goes without saying any community, you know comes sports season, it’s a good way to rally everyone together and show some support to the kids who are involved,” hometown Hoven fan Jeremy Stoecker said.
Those players, once playing in the shadows of others, are now in the national spotlight with T-Mobile’s 5G Friday Night Lights Challenge.
“I received an email about the Friday night lights competition through T-Mobile and looked into it further and then talked to our booster club about applying for it and decided to go for it,” Superintendent April Hobert said.
And so far so good.
They’ve made it past the first round, winning $5,000 and will now compete against over 400 other schools to receive $25,000.
Hobert says T-Mobile’s selection process will be based on their story.
Don Jorgensen: Don’t you think you have a pretty good story?
April Hobert: We are definitely a Cinderella story, we had our high school burn down over 11 years ago and this community and this school and students are resilient and rise to the occasion time and time again.
Then, if they are selected to receive the $25,000, they’ll then compete for the $1 million dollar prize.
Hobert says if they win the $1 million, the money will go toward fixing up the football field, bleachers and track.
Because they are fielding such a young team this year, Hoven only plays Junior Varsity games.
