CHERAW - The Cheraw Chronicle Golden Football has been found.

The football, which contained a Certificate of Authenticity inside was claimed last Friday evening by a brother and sister team from Wallace. According to the rules of the contest, the football had to be brought to The Cheraw Chronicle to claim the $500 cash prize.

Dottie Rivers and Rodney Walters, both from Wallace, discovered the item at the Industrial Park, just off of Hwy. 9, located between Cheraw and Chesterfield.

"We looked in both of the industrial parks on Wednesday but we only looked around the signs. On Sept. 10, last Thursday, I went back by myself and searched on the opposite side and went all the way around the park, but didn't find anything. We were not giving up. On Friday, my sister and I went to the other industrial park across Highway 9 to look. We were not even there two minutes and we found it," said Walters.

"There was also another gentleman searching for it at the same time," he continued.

Around 5 p.m., The Cheraw Chronicle received a call from Walters who said, "I'm calling to let you all know that my sister and I found your golden football. When can we come and get the prize money?" Rivers said that she first learned about the contest while attending the first Chesterfield High School football game of the season. She then told Walters. The two then decided that they would search for the football as a team. "At first, I started looking for it on Saturday with no luck. I told my brother, Rodney, about it. The following Wednesday we both set out for the hunt," said Rivers. Clues were provided in each Thursday's issue of The Cheraw Chronicle from Aug. 20 through Sept. 17, 2009. Eager searchers for the authentic golden football were able to get a jump on finding it by visiting the ten participating merchants for advanced clues. The participating Cheraw merchants were Merle Norman, Burger King, The Rack Shack, AT&T, Badcock & More Furniture, The Upholstery Shop and Sandhill Communications. Participants were also able to look for clues at several Chesterfield merchants Chesterfield Jewelry And Gun, Palmetto Medical and The Dizzy Lizard. Both Walters and Rivers said they would divide their winnings.