Dierks football in the running for T-Mobile’s $1 million football facility upgrade

DIERKS, AR (KTAL/KMSS) – For the fifth year in a row, T-Mobile is offering up $1 million to small-town football programs to put towards improving their facilities.

This year over 2,000 schools across the nation applied for the contest. It’s now narrowed down to the top-25, with Dierks being the last Ark-La-Tex school in the running.

“In a small community, a lot of your identity in the school building and in the community, your billboard, so to speak, is your football program,” head coach Paul Ernest said.

Dierks football is a lifeline to the community.

“It’s always been a big part of my life growing up, about this time of year, outlaw games are the center of everything,” senior Mason Smith said.

Friday nights provide entertainment, but football and other school programs prioritize building these young students into contributing members of the community.

“We have kids that miss football practice, miss baseball practice, to go to land judging and showing and things because to be honest with you, none of these kids are probably going to the NFL and make their living there,” Ernest said. “But we have a kid that already owns several heads of cattle, so when he has to leave to go do judging or showing, we have to understand, football might be my life, but it’s not the kid’s life. So how do we accommodate that so everything that we do is really about what is the total package with the kid so we won’t do anything that disrupts what our true community is about.”

“It’s not all just about football, it’s about how you conduct yourself out of high school and how you go throughout your life as an adult, as a man in your household and in the world,” Smith said.

Upgrading the Outlaw facilities would ensure that the future generations are on the same path.

“You can see the kids kind of light up at the thought of a great stadium to play in in the future and then some of these younger kids on the high school and the junior high team, having the opportunity to to have a life changing moment to play in a really updated setting is awesome.,” volunteer Pee Wee/Jr/Sr coach Dave Nichols said.

An upgrade wouldn’t just benefit football players, but many groups throughout the school system.

“If we can upgrade this practice facility that’s located right here on campus, it does benefit our football team, but now our band can have a full, won’t be a full field, but it’ll be big enough for them to come out and march on,” Ernest said. “Our cheerleaders will be able to practice on it. If our elementary needs to go somewhere and kind of have a little bit better facility, maybe their playground is too wet, we’ll be able to come out here as long as we’ve made the upgrades that we need to make here.”

Everyone in the school and community has gone above and beyond supporting the cause. From putting signs up around town, to posting on social media, and using all the influence they have to draw attention to the contest.

“We have been showing our spirit, promoting T-Mobile, showing our like how much we, really need this new stadium upgrade,” cheerleader Arely Salgado said.

The outpour of support defines what the Dierks community is about.

“Expected. Being here, we have a great community, great people,” senior Alex Roberts said.

With everyone rallying together, the school and team will continue feeding into the town for years to come.

“I’m not gonna get to play on it, I’m a third generation, fourth generation, outlaw football player. That’s for my kids and all these people behind me, their children to play on it,” Smith said.

The winner of the T-Mobile contest is decided by votes and social media challenges. If you would like to help Dierks get their field and facility upgrade, you can vote through the link below.

You can vote once a day from now up until October 24.

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