Just 33 days after a former Plano Senior High School graduate is accused of perpetrating a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso that left 22 dead, El Paso’s Eastwood High and Plano Senior High continue the healing process Thursday night when the two schools meet in a non-district football game at the Ford Center at The Star.

“We want to send a message of reconciliation and show our two communities, Texas and the world how we persevere after the horrific event that we went through,” El Paso City Manager Tommy Gonzalez said in an interview with Dallas Morning News. “Playing the game is also a way to heal our communities. What better way to do this than to play? It’s Texas, and it’s football.”

The two schools were originally scheduled to take the field at Kimbrough Stadium in Murphy on Friday. However, Plano ISD had safety concerns in light of recent events and canceled the game.

This decision was quickly called into question by people throughout the state, but then Frisco ISD Superintendent Dr. Mike Waldrip offered a helping hand by offering the use of the Ford Center.

“Frisco ISD was happy to assist one of our neighboring school districts and provide a solution for these teams,” Waldrip said in a news release.

Lebanon Trail High School was originally scheduled to play Fort Worth Arlington Heights Thursday at the Ford Center, but moving the game to Frisco’s Toyota Stadium was a quick process with the facility open. 

“This was such an easy decision for us to be able to support these schools and their kids,” Lebanon Trail principal Jacob Duce said in a Frisco ISD news release. “Whatever inconvenience this may cause us, it’s much better than students from two high schools, including football players and all the students in band, dance and color guard, missing out on that week’s opportunity to play and perform.”

Beyond the game, Eastwood High School football coach Julio Lopez says getting the game back on the schedule is about more than what happens on the field.

“We never want to feel like the terrorist won,” Lopez said in a KERA News article. “If we can’t play a high school football game out of fear, I just feel like it was sending the completely wrong message. … So we’re very happy that it got reinstated.”

He’s not the only one that feels that way. Plano Senior High School junior Mackenzie Ridley is sympathetic toward El Paso and ready to help the healing.

“I’m excited that we are playing El Paso because I want to support them,” Ridley said via text. “I think the dynamic might be a little tense because of the shooting but I’m hoping that we can get past that and just play it like a normal game.”