Inola plays in new stadium after national competition win

After winning T-Mobile’s national Friday Night 5G Lights competition, Inola is ready to put its new football stadium to use.

Before the Friday night lights turned on, Inola was testing out its video board.

Everything about their stadium is new, and Inola’s athletic director and football coach, Brett Thomas, couldn’t be prouder of the students who made this happen.

“It’s just unbelievable what it brought this community together and what they have accomplished with kids.”

Carrie McIlveen heads up the national T-Mobile program that Inola competed in and won.

“We started this program a year and a half ago, and our focus was on supporting small towns, and we knew how passionate they were about their Friday night football,” she said.

After a successful social media campaign, the school of 2,000 people got a prize that included an entire field and weight room makeover.

Other small towns across the country can now compete for this same prize. Applications for the Friday Night 5G lights campaign are open until September 12.

Six local schools have been awarded $5,000 each as part of this year's competition, with Bristow joining the list this week.