With week nine of the Carder Motors Playoff Payoffs in the books, a first time winner takes the overall prize and a past weekly winner wins the blind draw for runner-up. They have one thing for certain in common – they’re both Bridgeport High School Alums.

 

Chris Byrd, a 2002 graduate, is the grand prize winner. He was nearly perfect on the week with a 28-1 record. He needs to email Hannah Edwards at hannah@connect-bridgeport.com to choose between a $25 gift certificate from Buffalo Wild Wings and a small cheesecake from Almost Heaven Desserts along with his contact information.

 

The winner is a 1980 graduate of BHS. And one many on the football front know quite well.

 

Robert Marra, who led the Indians to a Class AAA state championship in 1979, posted a 27-2 mark. He needs to email Edwards as well with his contact information.

 

Marra had company and needed the blind draw to earn the nod. Kalie Kossar, Kevin Carbacio, and Stacy Greely also finished with 27-2 marks on the week in a tie with Marra for second place.

 

Thirteen individuals were all tied up at the sixth spot. Rob Stallman, Don Cumming, John Minnocci, Lenora Montgomery, Michael Ferrari, Ryan Chandler, Adam Holbert, Curt Burner, Chad Reppert, Jeff Muller, Brian Martin, Jason Hartman and Jody Hinkle all went 26-3.

 

The rest of the top 25 consisted of another 13-way tie – this time at the No. 19 spot. Frank Cherubino, Jerry Joliff, John Hart, Jeff Wright, Aaron Williams, Gilbert Kelley, Chris Oliverio, Patrick Coberly, Hugh Gainer, David Wagner, Eric Allen, Mark Trippett, and Bill Montgomery post a week nine mark of 25-4.

 

In the overall standings, there’s a new leader for the first time in several weeks. Jeff Muller has taken over the top spot with an overall mark of 186-55. Long-time frontrunner Louis Aragona is in second place with a record of 185-56. There is a three-way tie for third and Lenora Montgomery, Ryan Chandler and Vernon Louk are all even at 184-57.

 

At No. 6, Michael Andrew is all alone at 183-58. That is followed by a five way tie for the No. 7 spot as Chris Byrd, Adam Holbert, Mark Trippet, Matt Ash and Frank Cherubino all come in a 182-59. Two individuals are tied at No. 12 as Kevin Carbacio and Don Cumming both have 181-60 marks.

 

The biggest tie in the overall top 25 comes in at No. 14 where nine in the field are even. The group of David Gillot, Rob Stallman, Bill Montgomery, Frank Blake, Joe Teter, Jason Hartman, Mike Alastanos, James Burton II, and Bill Tichenor stand at 179-62.

 

Rounding out the top 25 is a five-way tie for the 23^rd position. Clayce Spurlock, Chris Oliverio, Delbert Leatherman, Hugh Gainer and Robert Marra are knotted up at 178-63.

 

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.