A former player’s passion for the game is paying off for Vicksburg High’s football program.

Vicksburg was picked as one of 25 winners nationwide of the “Got Milk? Refuel your school contest” and will receive a $1,000 grant, $1,000 in merchandise from adidas, and a school-wide pep rally on Tuesday.

The winners were selected through an essay contest. Andrew Rodgers, who played defensive back for the Gators from 2005-07 and graduated earlier this year, submitted an essay about the VHS program and coach Alonzo Stevens.

“Andrew Rodgers wrote about the team, and its accomplishments, and it won out,” Stevens said. “I’m excited. Good things happen sometimes. It brings another little thing to the program.”

The pep rally will include free chocolate milk for the entire VHS student body, and will be Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. in the school auditorium.

With the grant money and merchandise, Stevens hopes to upgrade a few things around Vicksburg’s fieldhouse. The merchandise from adidas is essentially a shopping spree through the company’s catalog, Got Milk? spokesperson Laura Wilson said, and Stevens added that he hoped to use it for new warmup suits for the team.

The $1,000 grant will go toward improving the Gators’ weight room.

“We just bought 2,000 pounds of weights, and every time we get a little money I want to do something with that weight room. I’d like to buy some rubber mats, because the carpet in there is getting torn up,” Stevens said. “I’d like to get some team warm-ups with the adidas money. It’s definitely going to help us do some things. We want to continue giving our guys the best stuff we can give them.”

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com.