Philomath High School has won $5,000 through a national contest built around small-town football pride — and separately, the school remains in contention for a shot at $1 million toward athletics facility upgrades.
The $5,000 comes from the “$5K Fridays” sweepstakes portion of T-Mobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights promotion. Philomath is one of 1,000 schools nationwide winning that prize, and one of at least seven in Oregon. Baker City, Crescent Valley, Knappa, Neah-Kah-Nie, Perrydale and Redmond high schools were also among the Oregon winners in that round.
Philomath Athletic Director Mike Hood confirmed the $5,000 win. In a written submission to T-Mobile, Hood had outlined three possible uses for the money — a utility vehicle to help the athletic trainer move equipment and injured athletes around practice and game fields; to offset recurring costs for the video streaming and player-development platform, Hudl; and general equipment and gear upgrades for the football program.
Hood said last week that there had been no final decision on how the money would be spent.
According to the program’s official rules, the $5,000 award is part of a sweepstakes — a random drawing conducted separately from T-Mobile’s judged “contest,” which is what determines the schools competing for $25,000, $250,000 and the $1 million grand prize. The rules state that the outcome of one has no bearing on the other.
The sweepstakes runs in eight entry periods between April and September with 100 to 300 schools nationally winning $5,000 in each round. Philomath’s win came in a mid-August round.
Separately, the judged contest will name 40 division finalists based on the strength of schools’ applications and community engagement. Finalists each receive $25,000 and a T-Mobile-hosted celebration event. One school from each of four divisions — East, Midwest, South and West — will then be named a division champion, worth $250,000, a weight room upgrade from Gronk Fitness, and a $5,000 student leadership award, based on public voting Oct. 8-25.
The four champions then compete in a final voting round Oct. 29-Nov. 8 with the $1 million grand-prize winner announced Nov. 12. That top prize includes a full field transformation and a weight room upgrade, with the unveiling event set for 2027.
Oregon had success in the broader contest just last year. Lebanon High School was the state’s only representative among last year’s 25 national finalists — a version of the contest that worked somewhat differently than this year’s format. Lebanon received an initial $25,000 as a finalist, then finished as the national runner-up to Dierks (Arkansas) High School, adding another $100,000 toward stadium repairs, for a total of $130,000. That project is now going toward upgrades at Lebanon’s aging Heath Stadium, built in 1957.
The T-Mobile money isn’t the only avenue the athletic department is pursuing. Hood said Philomath is rolling out Hudl — the same platform referenced in his note to T-Mobile — on a program-wide basis this year, after limited use by individual teams. That expansion is expected to open the door to advertising and fundraising tied to livestreaming home games with hopes of eventually involving students in student-run broadcasts.
“It’s in the infancy right now, but just trying to get the cameras hooked up first — step one,” Hood said.
Community members interested in supporting the school’s bid for bigger prizes can watch for updates from the PHS Athletics Instagram account. T-Mobile’s contest encourages schools to build support by tagging @TMobile and using the hashtags #FN5GL and #Entry. The high school is also asking people to tag @phswarriornation.
