In Bridgeport, their names are synonymous to many on the sports scene. This week, the names are also synonymous with being in the winner’s circle in week nine of the Carder Motors Playoff Payoff Football Pick’em contest.

 

Michael Mann, who has had plenty of involvement with his family in Bridgeport sports, ruled the roost this week with a top picking mark of 25-5. His effort allows him to choose between a gift certificate to Buffalo Wild Wings or a small cheesecake from Almost Heaven Desserts.

 

In second place is Mark Trippett, a former standout athlete and the unofficial historian of Bridgeport High School football. Trippett actually finished tied at 24-6 with Ron Huffman. However, Trippett was chosen on a blind draw by the staff of the Bridgeport Parks and Recreation Department.

 

Both individuals need to contact Hannah Edwards via email at hannah@connect-bridgeport.com. She will make arrangements to allow those individuals to pick up their prizes or receive them in another manner. She will get back to those individuals no later than the end of the week after receiving an email. In the event she does not hear from Mann by Friday, Trippett will then be given his choice of the prize.

 

After the top three, there were plenty of ties to round out this week’s top 25. Eight individuals were even at No. 4 as the group of Scott Price, Jason Hartman, Ron Sandreth, Kelly Ayoob, Mike Nicewarner, Ryan Chandler, Joseph Pecarro and Tamie Arbogast all finished 23-7. Eight individuals were also knotted up at the No. 12 spot as Ashley McCall, Tyrone Lockett, Jeff Wright, Gary Griffith, Chris Skidmore, Jeff Toquinto, Amy Foster and Kevin Carbacio all went 22-8.

 

Rounding out the top 25 were 26 individuals tied for the No. 20 position. The group of Louis Aragona, A.J. DeFazio, Scott Nicewarner, Michael Ferrari, Jason Dodd, Robert Marra, Andrew Banko, Frank Blake, Dwight Bullough, Patsy Sabatelli, Doug Marquette, Chris Byrd, Adam Holbert, Sue Teter, Alvin Smith, Michael Andrew, John Oldaker, Janet Hathaway, Steve Alfred, Jeff Muller, Justin Stevens, Eric Carpenter, Tommy Stewart, Joe Teter, Frank Cherubino, and Michelle Reider, all went 21-9 on the week.

 

In the overall standings, things didn’t change at the top. In fact, Jason Hartman not only maintained his spot at the top of the mountain, but extended his lead. Hartman is now 206-59 (77.74 percent) on the year, which is four games up on runner-up Tamie Arbogast, who comes in a 202-63 (76.23 percent). Andrew Banko and Jamie Guy are tied for No. 3 at 201-64 (75.85 percent), while the group of Tyrone Lockett, Brian Reider, Kevin Carbacio, and Michael Mann are even at No. 5 with records of 199-66 (75.09 percent).

 

Rounding out the top 10 are Aaron Mann and Gilbert Kelley with 198-67 (74.72 percent) records. The pair are tied for the No. 9 spot. A four-way tie is in place at No. 11 as Henry McDaniel, Patsy Sabatelli, Gary Griffith and Mark Trippett have the same 196-69 (73.96 percent) mark on the year.

 

Five prognosticators are locked up at No. 15 as Bill Montgomery, Robert Marra, Ron Sandreth, Adam Holbert, and Ryan Chandler are all 195-70 (73.58 percent). There is a four-way tie at No. 20 with Louis Aragona, Duke Ware, Vernon Louk and Mike Alastanos all checking in a 194-71 (73.21 percent).

 

Six individuals round out the top 25 even at the No. 24 position. The group of Brent Kimble, Steven Hastings, David Gillot, Hugh Gainer, Dwight Bullough, and Chris Byrd stand at 193-72 (72.83 percent).

 

Prizes at the end of the year will go to the top three overall finishers. Two of the prizes have been finalized.

 

The prizes include a $500 gift certificate from the Meadowbrook Mall and a golf package trip. This year, that is a mid-week package at Oglebay Resort & Conference Center in Wheeling that features one (1) night’s lodging in the newly renovated West Family Wing of Wilson Lodge for up to two people sharing the same room, a breakfast buffet for two, 18 holes of golf with cart on the Robert Trent Jones Course for each and 18 holes of golf with cart on the Arnold Palmer Course for each. The final prize will be announced at a later date.

 

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.

 

As noted in previous stories, at the end of the year the individual with the top record isn’t necessarily the overall winner. What makes the Carder Motors Playoff Payoff competition unique is that once the contest is over everyone that competes has their two worst weeks dropped and then the winner is announced based on the highest winning percentage after that. Each week, however, Connect-Bridgeport will do a story highlighting the weekly top 25 and weekly winner as well as the leader of the overall contest.

 

Individuals that haven’t registered can’t win the end-of-the-contest prizes, but can win weekly prizes. 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.