Ellis County Sports Your source for Ellis County Sports News
By Travis M. Smith | Ellis County Sports
IRVING — The always-heated Battle of 287 between Waxahachie and Ennis rarely needs bulletin board material. A national TV syndicate has officially provided a shot of adrenaline ahead of the 102nd meeting between the two storied high school football programs.
Bally Sports Southwest will broadcast the game slated for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Lion Memorial Stadium on Friday, Aug. 28.
The broadcast could prove to be beneficial for many fans and supporters of the two programs, too.
Both programs are coming off of encouraging seasons with playoff appearances. The Waxahachie faithful filled nearly every seat and standing-room opportunity in this past season’s showdown at Stuart B. Lumpkins Stadium, located just 15.9 miles northeast on US Highway 287.
By eyesight only, there were easily more than 10,000 fans, Charmers, Lionettes, cheerleaders and casual grazers of high school football in attendance when the Indians defeated the Lions 42-2 in 2022. Waxahachie scored all 44 points in the game, as a bad snap on a punt attempt led to a safety early in the first quarter and accounted for the only Lion points.
Since-graduated quarterback Jackson Gilkey led the Lion offense to 358 yards. The now-University of Texas at San Antonio gunslinger completed 16-of-his-37 passes for 231 yards and one interception. The Tribe amassed 431 total yards of offense with 239 of those coming on the ground.
Prior to the 101st meeting, the Lion offense had not been shutout in the historic rivalry since 2012 — and had only failed to reach the end zone or split the uprights five times since 1958.
The Lions do, however, lead the all-time series, 50-49-2.
Due to questionable record-keeping and spotty newspaper coverage during the early years of the rivalry, there are a couple different “official” records for the series. The 50-49-2 overall mark is the recognized record by Waxahachie ISD Athletics. The fine folks at EnnisFootball have a slightly higher number of meetings. There’s honestly no wrong answer — this is the best rivalry in Texas high school football.
Lion Memorial Stadium has an alleged maximum capacity of 10,000. Get there early or tune in.
Bally has not officially announced its broadcasting schedule for the upcoming Texas high school football season. The station’s kickoff coverage to the 2022 season featured hall-of-fame broadcaster Craig Way with play-by-play alongside two-time Super Bowl champion Gary Reasons. A presentation of the Texas Football Days trophy was then made to Shadow Creek following a 32-13 win against Manvel.
The cable and streaming provider has featured a weeklong “Texas Football Days” series to preview the upcoming season for the past six seasons. Bally also produces the weekly Friday night recap show “High School Scoreboard Live” featuring Greg Tepper of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, Erin Hartigan and Craig Way.
Updates to the Bally Sports Southwest broadcasting schedule or changes will be provided as they become available. Individual tickets were not on sale as of Aug. 9.
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Travis M. Smith, @Travis5mith
tsmith@elliscosports.com
