A prayer was answered for the Escambia County Blue Devils football program recently in the form of a grant that helped the team purchase 10 helmets valued at $1,500.

The Blue Devils received a $1,500 grant from the USA Football Program, which was endowed by the NFL and NFL Players Association in 2002, and awards more than $1 million annually in equipment grants to youth football leagues and high school football programs.

Blue Devils head coach Mark Heaton found the program and grant during his second day on the job at ECHS.

Heaton said he evaluated the needs of the program and began looking for ways to help cure those needs.

“When I first got here, I saw equipment needs, and there were several things that I saw we would have to get,” Heaton said. “We were short on helmets, pratice materials and other things that would put this program in the right direction. I started doing research on finding grants that could help us, and found one through the USA Football Program.”

Upon finding the grant, Heaton immiediately wrote the grant and sent it to USA Football.

Heaton said he began receiving news about the possibilty of receiving the grant a month later.

“After writing the grant on April 20, I received an email in May saying we were a finalist,” Heaton said. “And in June, I received a call from a USA Football representative saying we had been awarded the grant for the helmets. We then put in the order and received the helmets.”

The helmets made by Ridell are Revolution helmets, which are made to help sustain side impacts for football players.

Heaton said receiving the helmets is helping the team move forwad and helping get as many players involved with the Blue Devils’ program as possible.

“The first thing I told our kids is that I’ll put them in the nicest, safest equipment possible,” Heaton said. “This is the pushing us in the right direction and will help get more kids involved with this program, and once they are involved we can help mold their character. This is definitely a step in the right direction.”