The Augusta County Sheriff's Office has thrown its support behind the cause. So has Dave Thomas at WSIG radio in Harrisonburg. The Wilson Memorial High School cheerleaders posted a video to social media. The Buffalo Gap football coach's kids have joined in on the action. Even legendary wrestling announcer Tony Schiavone, a Craigsville native, has put out a call for support.
The community has rallied around Buffalo Gap High School as the Bison try to win a $1 million upgrade to its football facilities through a promotional contest sponsored by T-Mobile.
Buffalo Gap is a finalist in the competition, the only school in Virginia remaining in the running for the grand prize. People can vote for Buffalo Gap once a day through Oct. 25 at on the Friday Night 5G Lights site or through the T-Life app to help Buffalo Gap become a division champion.
One school from each division — West, Midwest, South and East — will advance to the final voting round as division champions.
On Friday night, Oct. 16, the Augusta County school held a celebration before Gap's football game against Staunton with T-Mobile sponsored games and and giveaways. Then, just before kickoff, the cellular phone company awarded a $25,000 check to the school for being a finalist.
Buffalo Gap athletic director Ryne Powell is from Hagerstown, Maryland, and his parents still live there. He said they've been seeing all kinds of support for Buffalo Gap on social media, especially Facebook, and whenever they do they tell him about it. This is Powell's first year at Gap and he's been blown away by the community support, not just in Swoope, where the school is located, but throughout Augusta County and Virginia.
"It's been really special," he said. "I had a conversation with someone on staff that, regardless of what happens, the community support, the involvement, the excitement has been worth every moment."
Powell said while the last day to vote is Sunday, Oct. 25, vote totals don't show on the site over the weekend.
"Basically what will happen is that Friday we will see the update at noon and we'll have no clue until we get a phone call or somebody tells us," Powell said.
Katie Frey, senior communications manager with T-Mobile, confirmed that that last day voting totals will show is Friday, Oct. 23 and schools will have to wait until Oct. 29 to find out who wins.
The four division-winning schools will receive $250,000, a Gronk Fitness gym upgrade valued at $90,000 and “The Big Deal” Student Leadership Award valued at $5,000. Then those four schools compete for the $1 million facility upgrade grand prize.
Vote totals in the east region as of Oct. 19 showed Buffalo Gap in first, just over 13,000 votes ahead of second-place Sussex County Technical School in Sparta, New Jersey. Gap was only up 2,000 votes on Oct. 16, so the vote-for-Buffalo-Gap push over the weekend worked.
"Buffalo Gap has a good lead in the east division right now," Frey said in an email to The News Leader. "Need to keep voting."
There are 10 schools in each region.
"The community support, and actually the whole area support from the entire commonwealth it feels like has been amazing," said Buffalo Gap coach Brad Wygant. "We have nice facilities. I love this place, but it could always use a touchup."
Besides the backing of the community, Wygant also loved that his senior football players were so excited about this competition.
"It says a lot that our seniors, who wouldn't even get to necessarily reap the benefits of this contest, how much they're invested in it," Wygant said. "That says a lot about the men that they are and the community that we live in."
More: Vote now for The News Leader's Athlete of the Week for Oct. 12-17
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Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips are always welcome. Connect with Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com, on Instagram @hitepatrick and on TikTok @patrickfhite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Buffalo Gap community support soars in quest to win $1 million prize