Helmets. Jerseys. Footballs.

East Meck’s football team has all of those, but thanks to a national FNF magazine and Russell Athletic contest the team now owns six pairs of Russell CarbonTek shoulder pads.

The 2016-2017 budget for East’s football team limited their ability to update the team’s equipment. The money they were given was spent on team conditioning and replacing helmets, which meant there was not enough left over for new shoulder pads. So football coach Barry Shuford entered the school into the Russell CarbonTek Shoulder Pad Sweepstakes

Forty schools entered in a chance to win more than $3,000 worth of shoulder pads. FNF magazine staff chose East Meck as the winner and awarded the football team the six pairs of shoulder pads in early August.