He’s a multi-time overall winner of the Carder Motors Playoff Payoff and was one of the top three individuals that picked last year. Apparently, nothing has changed for Bridgeport’s Hugh Gainer.

 

Gainer was one of three individuals to tie in week eight of the football pick’em competition and was the one who was the lucky draw to get his choice of top prize.

 

All Gainer has to do is contact Hannah Edwards at hannah@connect-bridgeport.com with his choice of prizes. The former Bridgeport educator and state championship coach for the Indians has his choice of a $25 gift certificate from Buffalo Wild Wings or a small cheesecake from Almost Heaven Desserts. He also needs to send his contact information as well.

 

The other individual who landed a prize this week is Michael Judy. Judy will need to email Edwards as well with contact information so that the prize Gainer doesn’t select can be sent to him. Gainer, Judy and Mike Nicewarner all finished the week at 23-4.

 

Six individuals tied for fourth with Valerie Toquinto, Kevin Carbacio, Rob Stallman, Don Cumming, Patrick Coberly and Cathy Ruckman all finishing 22-5.  Fifteen members this week finished tied at No. 10 with Chris Dolan, Tommy Stewart, Jayson Nicewarner, Chris Oliverio, Mark Trippett, David Gillot, Scott Strosnider, Chris Skidmore, Lenora Montgomery, John Minnocci, Jeff Toquinto, Ryan Chandler, Melissa Rohrbough, Marcus Derosa and Craig Kelley coming in at 21-6.

 

Twenty-five individuals finished tied for the No. 25 spot. The group includes Eric Jefferies, Robert Marra, Grant Burton, Steven Hastings, Frank Blake, Ryan Riley, Adam Heaster, Nancy Romano, Tom Brown, Chris Byrd, Selina Herod, Bob Greer, Russ Colley, Mike Spotloe, Kassie Stire, John Oldaker, Patsy Sabatelli, Michael Wilhelm, Mike Ridgway, Nancy Wickenhofer, Mitch Osbourn, JV Lopez, Clayce Spurlock, Zachary Kesling, Brian Cain, and Joe Teter finishing the week at 20-7.

 

In the overall standings, Louis Aragona stands alone in first place. He is currently 162-50 on the year, which puts him two games up on two individuals tied for second. Jeff Muller and Vernon Louk are both 160-52. There is also a two-way tie for fourth with Michael Andrew and Matt Ash both coming in at 159-53.

 

In sixth place, three individuals are even. Ryan Chandler, Lenora Montgomery and Joe Teter are deadlocked at 158-54. Three more are even at No. 9 as Frank Cherubino, David Gillot and Mart Trippett all stand at 157-55. Four in the group come in at the No. 12 spot as Frank Blake, Adam Holbert, James Burton II and Bill Tichenor are at 156-56.

 

In the No. 16 position, the group of Mike Alastanos, Jay Garrett and Don Cumming have the same 155-57 record after eight weeks.

 

Rounding out the top 25 is a nine-way tie for No. 19. The group of Kevin Carbacio, Delbert Leatherman, Bill Montgomery, Chris Byrd, Jayson Nicewarner, Nancy Wickenhofer, Eric Carpenter, and Clayce Spurlock all come in at 154-58.

 

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.