Two individuals with sports ties to the area are the big winners in Week 16 of Blue Dot Service’s Playoff Payoff football pick’em contest. Before we get to the new leader in the overall standings, this week’s individual win took home the weekly prize thanks to a blind draw after tying with three others.

 

Former area baseball coach Jeff Yoho sported at 15-1 mark to earn the weekly win. However, he needed a bit of luck to go with his skill as Kevin Carbacio, Adam Holbert and Gooch Holbert also had near perfect weeks at 15-1 marks.

 

Because of that, Yoho 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. Yoho needs to contact Hannah Cantrell by emailing hannah@connect-bridgeport.com to claim the prize. Cantrell will then get in touch with Yoho no later than Monday of next week, but likely prior to that.

 

Apparently, the week that consisted almost exclusively of NFL games proved to the liking of those picking games. Seven individuals ended up at 14-2 marks for the week. Those individuals that missed just two games and finished tied for the No. 5 spot included Dan McNamee, Duke Ware, Pete Curry, John Strovers, Chris Nutter, Andrew Roush, and David Gillot.

 

The rest of the top 25 finished tied for 12^th place – and it was a huge tie with 28 individuals all even. The group of Chris Skidmore, Kelly Ayoob, Andrew Banko, Rick Crowley, Louis Aragona, Michael Mann, Mark Trippett, Bill Montgomery, Jamie Hamrick, Doug Marquette, Dwight Bullough, Ryan Chandler, Tyler Furbee, Frank Blake, Ryan Riley, Adam Heaster, Selina Herod, Michael Harki, Michael Cross, Patsy Sabatelli, Jayson Nicewarner, Michael Andrew, Patrick Coberly, Danny Hamrick, Pat Boyles, Bob Wissler, Steve Davis, and John Pulice.

 

While things were tight at the top of the weekly rankings, things are also top of the overall rankings. And for the first time this year, Bridgeport’s Kevin Carbacio has taken the lead. Carbacio, who is the father to standout BHS student athletes alums Nick and Kasie Carbacio and a sports fanatic, has been in the top five for most of the year and finally climbed to the top of the standings this week.

 

Carbacio stands at 334-100 (76.96 percent) on the year, which is one game ahead of long-time leader Louis Aragona at 333-101 (76.73 percent). Michael Mann is in at No. 3 with a record of 332-102 (76.5 percent), John Pulice is at No. 4 with a mark of 330-104 (76.04 percent), while Hugh Gainer rounds out the top five with a record of 330-104 (76.04 percent).

 

The first tie is coming up at No. 6 where Chris Nutter and David Gillot both had 329-105 (75.81 percent) showings. Patsy Sabatelli is alone at the No. 8 spot with a record of 326-108 (75.12 percent), while Doug Marquette, Adam Holbert and Bill Montgomery are even at the No. 9 position with a picking total of 325-109 (74.88 percent).

 

There is another tie at No. 12 as Danny Knight and A.J. DeFazio both stand at 324-110 (74.65 percent). A three-way tie between Andrew Banko, Dan McNamee and Paul Fulks – makes up the No. 14 spot as the group has identical marks of 322-112 (74.19 percent).

 

Jason Dodd finds himself by himself at the No. 17 slot with a 320-114 (73.73 percent) record. Michael Andrew and Fred Spicer are even at No. 18 as both players are 319-115 (73.5 percent). At No. 20, Jeff Toquinto is solo with a 317-117 record (73.04 percent)/

 

The biggest deadlock in the top 25 is at the No. 21 spot. The group of Mike Nicewarner, Pete Curry, Michael Hustead and Duke Ware have 316-118 (72.81 percent) records. Jayson Nicewarner and John Strovers round out the top 25 – tied at No. 25 – with 315-119 (72.58 percent) marks.

 

Anyone can still enter and be eligible for the weekly prizes. The grand prize winner will receive a $500 gift certificate to the Meadowbrook Mall. Second place is a weekend at the Stonewall Jackson Resort, while the third place winner has a prize package that consists of gift certificates to The Wonder Bar, Mia Margherita and more. Remember, those picking will have their worst two weeks of the contest eliminated to help determine the winner. That announcement will come after the final week’s winner story is posted. In the event of a tie in any position, a blind draw will be used to determine the fate of those individuals.

 

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.

 

After this week, there is one more week of action in the contest. The regular winners will be announced Dec. 29. However, the overall winners once each individual in the contest have their worst two weeks dropped will be announced after the start of the New Year.