Even when not picking against the point spread, things aren’t always that easy when it comes to forecasting football games. Such was the case with week 3 in Blue Dot Service’s Playoff Payoff Football Pick’em competition.

 

The top pickers could only manage to correctly forecast 75 percent of the 28 games that were part of the field this past week. The total is among the lowest in three years of the contest.

 

However, seven individuals managed to post 21-7 marks for the week. The group of Bill Montgomery, Justin Steven, Jamie Guy, Adam Holbert, Selina Herod, John Pulice and Casey King all tied in the top position. Only one of those individuals – Selina Herod – walks away as the winner.

 

Herod was randomly chosen by a member of the Bridgeport Parks and Recreation staff to break the deadlock.  Thanks to her skill and the luck of the draw, Herod takes home the weekly prize. She walks away with a gift certificate from the Mountaineer World, which is situated just off Interstate 79 and below the Meadowbrook Mall as part of the Shops of Benny’s Place. Herod needs to contact Hannah Cantrell by emailing hannah@connect-bridgeport.com to claim the prize. Cantrell will get in touch with Herod no later than Monday of next week, but likely prior to that.

 

Several others were on the heels of the magnificent seven in this week’s drawing that are part of the top 25. Seven more individuals finished at 20-8 – tied for the eighth spot – and include Michael Cross, Chuck Steele, Frank Blake, Chris Nutter, David Gillot, Danny Knight and Louis Aragona.

 

Rounding out the top 25 are 20 individuals deadlocked in the number 15 position. The group of Michael Mann, Scott Strosnider, Brent Kimble, Brian Reider, Chris Gherman, A.J. DeFazio, Kevin Carbacio, Delbert Leatherman, Scott Schield, Adam Heaster, Carol Hilton, Chris Oliverio, Michael Andrew, Danny Hamrick, Tammy Jo Watkins, Duke Ware, Paul Fulks, Paul Burnett, Derrick Bramer and Tyrone Lockett all finished with an identical 19-9 mark.

 

While there’s been shuffling among the top 25 in the overall standings, the leader remains the same. For the second straight week Scott Schield is sitting by himself at the top with a 69-17 (80.23 percent) record. However, he has found individuals tied for second place and nipping at his heels. The group of Kevin Carbacio, Jamie Guy, Louis Aragona and John Pulice all stand at 68-18 (79.07 percent).

 

Five prognosticators are tied for sixth place. Michael Cross, Danny Knight, JT Hilton, Chris Nutter and Bill Montgomery all come in with 67-19 (77.91 percent) marks. Five more pickers are in the number 11 position as Duke Ware, Paul Fulks, Derrick Bramer, Adam Holbert and James Hayes II all stand at 66-20 (76.74 percent).

 

In the number 16 spot, three individuals are all event. Greg Scalise, Doug Marquette and Michael Mann are even at 65-21 (75.58 percent). Rounding out the top 25 are nine individuals with 64-22 (74.42 percent) records. The group filling out the leading board includes John Minnocci, Brian Martin, Jeff Weimer, Joe Barker, Casey King, Kelly Ayoob, David Gillot, Mike Watkins and Jarrod Hall.

 

For those that want to participate, it’s easy. If you are registered on Connect-Bridgeport.com, you can pick immediately by signing in and scrolling down the right side of the home page until you see the “Playoff Payoff” icon. If you are not registered go to the top of the page at www.connect-bridgeport.com and click on the "Sign Up" icon on the top right hand side of the home page. Once registered, you are free to pick.

 

Anyone can still enter and be eligible for the weekly prizes. In fact, anyone can enter and – if they are incredibly gifted at picking – could potentially win the overall grand prize of $500 gift certificate to the Meadowbrook Mall. However, this coming week is week four and to keep the contest interesting once the final week is completed, the worst two weeks are eliminated. In other words, any week where an individual does not pick is counted as a “0-fer” week.

 

As for the contest itself, each week, a story will detail the weekly winners as well as the overall leaders for the prizes. This year, the weekly winner will receive a gift card to either Mountaineer World or Mountaineer Grille (depending on the week). In the event of a tie, the winner will be chosen by a blind draw by a staff member working at the Benedum Civic Center.

 

Unfortunately, there are occasional schedule changes - usually on the prep football side - that staff does not catch; usually games moved to Thursday. 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.