A week after a solo winner emerged by luck of the draw in a two-way tie with a short slate of games, a significant jump in the number of games – even with two games needing to be scratched – saw a four-way tie for the top spot in Week 6 of the Carder Motors Playoff Payoff Football Pick’em Contest. And thanks to the draw of a staff member of Bridgeport Parks and Recreation, the winner is Jeff Muller.

 

Muller, the father of standout Bridgeport High School football and wrestling standout Nick Muller, finished the week at 28-6. Even with that skill, Muller needed the luck of the draw to finish with the top prize. Thanks to the prep picking skills and the good fortune, Muller takes home the weekly prize, which is a gift certificate from The Mountaineer Grille that is situated just off Interstate 79 and below the Meadowbrook Mall as part of the Shops of Benny’s Place. Muller needs to contact Hannah Cantrell by emailing hannah@connect-bridgeport.com to claim the prize. Cantrell will then get in touch with Muller no later than Monday of next week, but likely prior to that.

 

Initially, there were 36 games in the field. That number was reduced to 34 after both the Preston at Hedgesville and Morgantown and Mussleman games started before 6 p.m., which is the cutoff time to make picks. School officials at Morgantown and Preston confirmed that their school’s games started at 5:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m., respectively, to avoid potentially heavy rains. Because of that, those games were scratched.

 

Even without those games, plenty in the field had strong weeks. Rick Johnson, John Strovers and Patsy Sabatelli all finished the week tied with Muller at 28-6. Nine individuals finished tied for fifth as the group of Jeff Wright, Scott Gainer, Dwight Bullough, Aaron Mann, Robert Marra, J.T. Hilton, A.J. DeFazio, Chris Skidmore and Scott Price all went 27-7.

 

The rest of the top 25 proved to be a 17-way tie for 14^th place. The group of Mike Alastanos, Michael Ferrari, Kevin Carbacio, Billy Wyckoff, Louis Aragona, David Gillot, Lenora Montgomery, Dustin Vincent, Jeffrey Smell, Bill Montgomery, Matt Duez, Billy Estok, Ryan Chandler, Michael Andrew, Kim Wilson, James Hayes II, and Matt Sickles all finished 26-8.

 

While this week’s weekly winner is new, so is the person at the top of the overall leaderboard after week six. Last week’s second place finisher – Scott Price – now stands alone in first place. Price has a two-game cushion with a record of 148-34 (81.32 percent). There is a two-person tie for second place as Dwight Bullough and Patsy Sabatelli both come in a 146-36 (80.22 percent).

 

In fourth place, Jamie Guy is all alone at 145-37 (79.67 percent). The first jumble of competitors comes in at the No. 5 position as Aaron Mann, Adam Holbert, Kevin Carbacio and Jason Hartman all have 144-38 (79.12 percent) records. Two individuals – Jeff Muller and Robert Marra – come in at the No. 9 position by posting a picking mark of 143-39 (78.57 percent).

 

Seven individuals are log jammed at the No. 11 spot. Kelly Ayoob, Louis Aragona, Michael Mann, Brian Martin, Janet Hathaway, Matt Sickles and Dan McNamee are all at 142-40 (78.02 percent).

 

Four members of the field are tied for No. 18 as Danny Knight, A.J. DeFazio, Andrew Banko, and Doug Marquette all come in at 141-41 (77.47 percent). At the No.22 position, Doug Comer and Jeff Wright stand at 140-42 (76.92 percent).

 

Rounding out the top 25 this week are five individuals tied for the No. 24 position. The group of Ryan Chandler, Michael Ferrari, J.T. Hilton, Jay Krohe and Brent Kimble all has 139-43 records (76.37 percent).

 

Those individuals are the frontrunners for the overall prizes for the top three finishers. This year's overall winner will have the choice of an overnight golf package at the Lakeview Resort in Monongalia County. Along with the overnight stay, this prize also includes two rounds of golf with a cart, dinner and breakfast. Other prizes include an assortment of area gift cards, which currently include gift certificates to Mia Margherita and Meagher’s Irish Pub, both located at Charles Pointe. Once again, there will be a $500 gift card from the Meadowbrook Mall up for grabs

 

Even if you haven’t participated, you can still compete for weekly prizes. So how do you get involved? If you are registered on Connect-Bridgeport.com, you can pick immediately just by signing in. 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.

 

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.

 

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. 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.