Abilene High and Cooper High schools will square off Sept. 1 in the 63rd edition of the Crosstown Showdown at venerable Shotwell Stadium, which has undergone a dramatic makeover in the offseason.
Kickoff for the game is set for 7 p.m., with gates opening at 6 p.m. Cooper is the home team this year, and its fans will sit on the west side of the stadium. Abilene High’s fans will sit on the east side of Shotwell Stadium.
Cooper enters the game at 0-1 on the season after a season-opening loss at Keller last Thursday night. Abilene High is 1-0 after going to Odessa last Friday and knocking off Odessa Permian. Cooper has a 36-25-1 lead in the all-time series against. Abilene High, although the Eagles won last year’s game to snap a three-year losing streak in the series.
Shotwell Stadium – which opened in 1959 and has been the home stadium for both schools since 1960 – has undergone several upgrades in recent years, including the installation of Field Turf’s high-performance Revolution synthetic turf, state-of-the-art Musco field lighting, dressing room renovations, and the addition of two new restroom complexes. In 2022, a new Daktronics video board was installed for the last part of the season, and when the season ended, the old press box was torn down after 60 years of use, and a new, two-story tower rose in its place.
The press box includes improved areas for working media, radio / online broadcasts, TV broadcasts, coaches, game day production, and VIPs. The press box should be fully functional for the AHS-CHS game, except for the elevator, which will be installed later in September.
The west parking lot – which has been used as the staging area for construction materials while the press box was being built – will be open. However, district officials will ask that fans to avoid walking on newly installed grass outside the stadium. Those areas will be roped off and not available for foot traffic.
Live Broadcast
Abilene High and Cooper football games will be produced and broadcast online all season by the Abilene ISD Digital Media team. You can watch and listen to home games on live.abileneisd.org, or you can listen to road games using the same URL. Abilene ISD will stream live video of selected road games where allowed.
Jimmy Pogue and Rick Cason return in 2023 to call Cooper games for the 21st season, while Chuck Statler and Cody Coil are back for their third season together, broadcasting Abilene High football.
Pogue is in his 33rd year calling games for the Abilene ISD and has been calling Cooper games exclusively since 2001. Statler started calling games for the Abilene ISD in 1990, calling both AHS and Cooper before moving full-time to Abilene High in 2001.
Ticketing
For the second straight season, the Abilene ISD is partnering with HomeTown Tickets for online ticket sales at all Shotwell Stadium and Shotwell Annex events.
To use the online ticketing function, download the HomeTown Fan app to your smartphone and set up an account. Tickets for events at Shotwell venues can also be purchased on the AISD website via the Ticket Prices and Information page or in-person at the gates with a credit card.
Online ticketing for home games will follow the schedule below:
Varsity home games: 8 a.m. Monday of game week through 12 p.m. on game day.
JV & 9th grade home games: 8 a.m. on game day.
Middle school games: 12 p.m. on game day.
High school volleyball, basketball, softball, and baseball games: 8 a.m. on game day.
Ticket prices for varsity games at Shotwell Stadium are as follows:
$10 for reserved seating (good through 10 p.m. Friday)
$8 for adult general admission (sales end Friday at 12 p.m.)
$3 for student general admission (sales end Friday at 12 p.m.)
$10 for game day general admission (sales begin at 12 p.m. Friday, and the price is for adults and students).
Shotwell Stadium event tickets will no longer be sold on campuses. Out-of-town game ticket procedures for all teams will be posted weekly on the Athletics website. Tickets for annex games can be purchased at the gate with only debit and/or credit cards.
Shotwell Rules
Parents, please note that elementary and middle school students can only enter Shotwell Stadium with a paying adult. High school students cannot enter Shotwell without a school-issued student ID.
Alcohol, tobacco, and firearms are not allowed at Shotwell Stadium.
YEAR RESULT | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||