Four individuals managed to tie for the top spot in week number 5 of the Carder Motors Playoff Payoff Football Pick’em contest. Two of those individuals ended up winning prizes on a blind draw, while one of those two is the weekly top prize winner.

 

Bridgeport’s Matt Ash, who family is deeply immersed in Bridgeport High School sports history from his father to himself and his children, managed to get the luck of the draw by a member of the Parks and Recreation staff. Thanks to Ash’s 22-5 mark, and a little bit of luck, he has the choice of this week’s prize.

 

Ash can choose from a $25 Buffalo Wild Wings gift certificate or a small cheesecake from Almost Heaven Desserts in downtown Bridgeport. He needs to email Hannah Edwards to make his selection. He can do so by emailing her with contact information at hannah@connect-bridgeport.com.

 

The individual getting the prize not taken by Ash is Clarksburg’s Joe Teter. Teter, a former youth sports coach and umpire, had the same record. Teter will need to email Edwards as well with contact information, including an address, so he can receive his prize.

 

Two other individuals managed to finish even with Teter and Ash. Brian Martina and Kalie Kossar had the same 22-5 record. After that, the top 25 was rounded out with two huge sets of ties.

 

Fifteen members of the field ended the week at 21-6. The group of Jeff Alastanos, Michael Judy, Jody Hinkle, James Burton II, Frank Cherubino, John Hart, Jason Hartman, Paul Burnett, Vernon Louk, Dan Glover, Adam Holbert, Patsy Sabatelli, Mike Spotloe, Amber Gaines and Chuck Miller were all in fifth place.

 

In the 20^th position were 24 members of the field. The group of David Gillot, Jimmy Stutler, Jeff Toquinto, Chad Reppert, Bill Montgomery, Adam Heaster, Ryan Chandler, Brent Kimble, Chris Nutter, Jayson Nicewarner, Chris Oliverio, Aaron Mann, Alvin Smith, John Oldaker, Pat Boyles, Michael Wilhelm, Carlos A. Davis, Chuck Cain, Mike Alastanos, Jason McCall, Jason Young, Adam Starkey, Andrea Wiltshire, and Chuck Morrison all finished 20-7.

 

In the overall standings, Vernon Louk stands alone. Louk comes in at 100-29, which is just a game ahead of two members of the field – Dan Glover and Louis Aragona – in second with identical 99-30 marks. Three individuals are tied for fourth as Michael Andrew, Jeff Muller and James Burton II all stand at 98-31.

 

In the seventh spot, Jason Hartman, Joe Teter, Frank Cherubino, Nancy Wickenhofer, David Gillot, and Jason Dodd are even at 97-32. Three individuals are tied at No. 13 as Matt Ash, Mike Alastanos, and Bill Tichenor are even at 96-33.

 

Nine members of the field are even at No. 16. James Burton, Curt Burner, Chuck Miller, Ryan Chandler, Delbert Leatherman, Jeff Toquinto, Lenora Montgomery, Adam Holbert and Amber Gaines all come in at 95-34.

 

There are also nine tied at the No. 25 spot to round out this week’s top 25. The group of Jay Garrett, John Oldaker, Chris Byrd, Jayson Nicewarner, Eric Winans, Frank Blake, Andrew Banko, Clayce Spurlock and David Marshall clock in at 94-35.

 

Someone from the field of the hundreds registered will walk away the winner of some serious prizes. 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 goes well 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 Carder Motors 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.

 

For those entering late, you may not win the end-of-the-contest prizes, but you can still win weekly prizes. And it’s easy to do.

 

If you are a registered member of Connect-Bridgeport's Web site, all you have to 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.