EDITOR'S NOTE: Picks will still be going live at noon today despite this story running live at 7 a.m.

 

A rarity took place in week 11 as two first-time winners earned the weekly prizes in the Dyer Group Playoff Payoff Football Pick’em contest.  And one of the two not only won but provide to be a little lucky as well.

 

Chuck Cain, who helped assist the BHS boys freshman basketball program with former Coach Robert Shields, walked away with the top prize this week. Cain needs to email Ben Queen at ben@benqueenphotography.com with his contact information (mailing address in particular). He will have his choice between a gift card from Buffalo Wild Wings and a small cheesecake from Almost Heaven Desserts.

Amy Mehr also tied to the top spot and proved luck as well. Mehr will also need to email her information to Queen as well. One other individual, Michael Judy, tied this week for the top spot as the three first place finishers all went 20-4 with Cain and Mehr claiming the prizes.

 

Fourteen individuals are tied for the No. 4 spot. James Burton III, Jeff Weimer, Andrew Roush, Kelly Ayoob, Rob Stallman, Anthony Maholic, Ryan Chandler, Delbert Leatherman, David Francis, Jamie Guy, Chris Byrd, Aaron Mann, Janet Hathaway, and Clark Riley all finished 19-5.

 

Incredibly, there is a 44-way tie for the No. 18 position to round out the top 25. The group of Brandon Price, Timothy Hiser, Tim Bailey, Jason McDaniel, Zakery Bart, Chris Moore, Tanner Hill, Jayson Nicewarner, Michael Andrew, Ron Sandreth, Michael Harki, Adam Holbert, Grant Burton, Frank Blake, Carol Hilton, Robert Marra Andrew Banko, Justin Stevens, Louis Aragona, Michael Mann, Steven Hastings, David Gillot, Jeff Toquinto, Dustin Vincent, Michael Wilhelm, Jeff Muller, Paul Burnett, Aaron Williams, Jason Hartman, Mike Alastanos, Mitch Osbourn, Scott Price, Zachary Kesling, Jeremy Parker, Derrick Bramer, Adam Starkey, Clayce Spurlock, Joe Teter, Chris Dolan, Jason McCall, Gerald Hull, Kalie Kossar, James Burton, Mike Lemley, and Stacy Greely all finished 18-6.

 

In the overall standings, Jason Hartman maintained his lead to land the prize of his choice at season’s end. Hartman currently stands at 237-59 for sole possession of first place. A trio of individuals aren’t too far behind and tied for second. Jimmy Stutler, Hugh Gainer, and Clayce Spurlock all come in a 232-64. Aaron Williams rounds out the top five at 231-65.

 

Michael Mann is at the sixth spot thanks to his 230-66 showing. Louis Aragona, Jeff Muller and Kalie Kossar are all even at 229-67 and tied for seventh. Four more individuals round out the top 10 as James Burton II, Timmy Thompson, Brian Martin, and Adam Holbert are all even at 228-68.

 

There is a five-way tie at No. 14. Scott Price, David Gillot, Chad Reppert, Aaron Mann and Gary Romano all come in a 227-69.  The trio of Stacy Greely, Adam Starkey, and Rob Stallman are tied at No. 19 with marks of 226-70.

 

Jason Jimmie stands alone at No. 22 with a 225-71 showing. Rounding out the top 25 is a four-way tie for No. 23. Amber Gaines, Patsy Sabatelli, Michael Wilhelm, and Jeff Weimer are at 224-72.

 

The prize packages are still being put together for the year. However, one of the top prizes include a $500 gift certificate from the Meadowbrook Mall. The top three pickers will be awarded prizes at the end of the contest, which usually goes into December. The overall winner has their choice of the three prizes, while the second-place winner will have their choice then of the final two remaining prizes.

 

What makes the Dyer Group Playoff Payoff competition unique is that once the contest is over you don’t necessarily know who the winner is even though you will see your weekly overall ranking and Connect-Bridgeport will post the weekly and overall top 25 throughout the contest. At the end of the year, everyone that competes has their two worst weeks dropped and then the winner is announced based on the highest winning percentage.

 

If you haven’t entered at this point, you won’t be able to win any of the grand prizes. However, you can still enter and be eligible for weekly prizes and bragging rights with friends.

 

If you are a registered member of Connect-Bridgeport's Web site, all you must do is make sure you're signed in and the click the Playoff Payoff icon on the home page that can be found by scrolling down to the left. If you're not registered, go to the top of the home page and register. It takes less than a minute.

 

Another unique aspect of the competition is that you can make changes to your picks leading up to games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Individuals can make their picks for Friday’s games and can change them until 6 p.m. Friday. Games that are listed on Saturday and Sunday can be entered and changed as many times as necessary until 11 a.m. each day of the picks.

 

Unfortunately, there are occasional schedule changes - usually on the prep football side - that staff does not catch; usually games moved to Thursday or a time change bumped up. There are also occasional mistakes with the proper teams playing each other. As has been the case in the past, each person will either be given a win for those games when there are schedule changes we miss or a mistake on our end or a or they will simply not be counted for the weekly and final standings.

 

You must use your actual name to compete. Nicknames or aliases will not be recognized for weekly or overall prizes