Former Philadelphia Eagles teammates Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson will be on opposite sidelines when Vick’s Norfolk State Spartans faceoff against Jackson’s Delaware State Hornets at Lincoln Financial Field Thursday night.

The Eagles legends are in their first year as head coaches. Jackson took over a DSU program that had won only two games over the last two seasons. In the Jackson era, the Hornets sit atop of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) with a 5-3 record.

Vick’s first season at Norfolk State has been more turbulent. The Spartans are at the bottom of the conference with a 1-7 record. Vick recently dismissed several defensive coaches after a four-game losing streak.

On Wednesday night, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker gifted both coaches with commemorative Liberty Bells ahead of the historic matchup.

The game is set to kick off at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $35 to $400.

Healing from tragedy

Thursday’s matchup has drawn support from across the HBCU community, including Lincoln University alumni still reeling from a shooting that killed one person and injured six others during their homecoming last weekend.

Just days after the mass shooting shook the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU, many say they are putting the tragedy behind them and choosing to celebrate the legacy’s of HBCUs.

Lincoln’s Athletic Director Harry Stinson III said the game represents far more than a meeting between two programs.

“This game, Norfolk State versus Delaware State, is kind of putting us back into that mantra and that thought process of, ‘These games are meant to bring together excellence, Black culture, [and the] Black experience on a national platform,'” Stinson said. “It’s great to have that culmination come together, where people — no matter what their HBCU connection is — are able to come and experience a great game highlighted by two great coaches, especially at a time when America, Philadelphia and HBCUs need something to rally around.”

That spirit of solidarity is why some Lincoln alumni plan to come out to Thursday night’s game.

“Despite what happened on Saturday, we’re not trying to let that get in the way of our support of other HBCUs,” said one Lincoln graduate from the Class of 1985 who plans to attend the game.

HBCU football in Philly

The city’s ties to HBCU football stretch back as far as the 19th century, when Lincoln University and Howard University first met in the 1890s at Shibe Park, later known as Connie Mack Stadium.

By the 1920s, their annual matchup had evolved into “The Classic,” a Thanksgiving Day game that alternated between Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, later known as Connie Mack Stadium, Washington, D.C., and occasionally Atlantic City until 1959.

In 1975, Franklin Field hosted a huge matchup between Howard and Florida A&M. Howard won 6-0.

Northeast High School became home to The Wade Wilson Classic/Battle of the Firsts, featuring Lincoln and Cheyney University, the nation’s two oldest HBCUs.

In 2000, Veteran’s Stadium hosted the Richard Allen Classic, a meeting between North Carolina Central and Morris Brown College. NC Central won 19-16.