Skip Fields went home Friday night $8,000 wealthier. He was the winner of the annual Demopolis Quarterback Club Drawdown fund-raiser at the Demopolis Civic Center.

“We had a lot of support from the community to help raise needed funds for the football team,” said club president Kenny Freeman. “It was a great night.”

The Drawdown is an event in which the club tries to sell 299 tickets for $100 each. Table tennis balls representing each ticket are placed in a hopper. From there, numbers are removed one at a time until only nine remain. Once that point is reached, club members raffle off the 300th ticket. After that ticket is claimed, the 300th ball is placed into the hopper. The last remaining number wins $8,000.

“In the days leading up to the drawdown, we still had many tickets unsold, but at the last minute, we were able to sell almost all of them,” said Freeman.

He said the club sold 164 tickets and was able to raise $13,500 to help the Demopolis Tigers buy new equipment.

“The support this community shows the team and the school as a whole is tremendous,” said Demopolis football head coach Tom Causey. “It’s great to be a coach in Demopolis.”

In addition to the grand prize giveaway, the club awarded $500 to the first, 100th and 200th tickets drawn. Jennifer Roeman, Wiley and Shirley Isaac and Lee Hopkins won $500 each. Danny Chavan, Rick Herzog and Ramona Larkin won $250 each.

In addition to awarding $10,250 in total prize money, the club provided dinner to the attendees.

Last year’s event raised more than $16,000 for Demopolis football programs.