{"id":494263,"date":"2026-10-13T03:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T03:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/494263\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T03:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T03:42:14","slug":"long-beach-high-school-named-a-finalist-in-national-stadium-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/494263\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach High School named a finalist in national stadium contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONG BEACH, Miss. (WLOX) \u2014 Long Beach High School is one of 40 finalists out of nearly 2,500 applicants nationwide in T-Mobile\u2019s Friday Night 5G Lights competition, which could bring major improvements to the school\u2019s athletic facilities.<\/p>\n

\"Students,Students, athletes and fans have gathered at Long Beach High School’s Lumpkin-Magee Stadium for decades.(WLOX)<\/p>\n

Students, athletes and fans have gathered at Long Beach High School\u2019s Lumpkin-Magee Stadium for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, don\u2019t have a whole lot of expectations when it comes to winning it when you\u2019re talking about every school in the country who could apply for this. So when you get a call like that, just a little bit of shock,\u201d athletic director Bob Reeves said.<\/p>\n

\""Our“Our coaching staff, our kids are working really hard. And so I feel like an improvement to our facilities would just be just icing on the cake,” Reeves said.(WLOX)<\/p>\n

Reeves said the 50-year-old stadium needs new bathrooms, concession areas and a weight room.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur coaching staff, our kids are working really hard. And so I feel like an improvement to our facilities would just be just icing on the cake,\u201d Reeves said.<\/p>\n

School already guaranteed $25,000\"IfIf Long Beach wins, the school will earn $250,000 and move closer to the competition’s $1 million grand prize.(WLOX)<\/p>\n

The school earned $25,000 for making the top 40 and could bring home more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like a million dollars, I mean that goes a long way, that\u2019s a lot of money. So I think overall it would just help boost the conditions. Be a big game changer for the community. For all sports, not just even football,\u201d senior Landon Thode said.<\/p>\n

\"SeniorsSeniors Landon Thode and Gavin Sutherlin use the stadium’s equipment to train for games.(WLOX)<\/p>\n

Seniors Landon Thode and Gavin Sutherlin use the stadium\u2019s equipment to train for football games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had the same weights for, I don\u2019t know, decades. It\u2019s been a long time,\u201d senior Gavin Sutherlin said.<\/p>\n

Voting open through Oct. 25<\/p>\n

T-Mobile spokesperson Jonathan Adams said Long Beach is one of two Mississippi schools in the top 40.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re currently ranked number six in the South Division with about 3,593 total votes. And so every vote matters. We\u2019re encouraging supporters in the community to keep voting through the 25th,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n

\"VotingVoting is open, and the Bearcats hope to advance as South Division champion.(WLOX)<\/p>\n

Voting is open, and the Bearcats hope to advance as South Division champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnter your phone number. All you\u2019ve got to do is hit vote. Very simple, very easy. A good way to help out your community, football team, local sports in Long Beach,\u201d Thode said.<\/p>\n

If Long Beach wins, the school will earn $250,000 and move closer to the competition\u2019s $1 million grand prize.<\/p>\n

Fans can vote for Long Beach High School once a day through Oct. 25 at Friday Night 5G Lights<\/a> or through the T-Life app.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammar error in this story? Report it to our team HERE<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WLOX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONG BEACH, Miss. (WLOX) \u2014 Long Beach High School is one of 40 finalists out of nearly 2,500…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[192249,131,133,67606,132,192248],"class_list":["post-494263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-friday-night-5g-lights-competition","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-high-school","tag-long-beach-news","tag-lumpkin-magee-stadium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}