For the first time in several weeks, no blind draw was needed to determine the winner of the Carder Motors Playoff Payoff Football Pick’em contest. In week 6, the winner comes from winning stock.

 

Eric Carpenter, a former standout for Coach Wayne Jamison’s Indians’ teams in the 1990s, finished at the top of the standings. Carpenter went a crisp 28-2 to top the entire field in Week 6.

 

Thanks to his showing, Carpenter will need to email Hannah Edwards to let her know his choice of prizes at hannah@connect-bridgeport.com. Carpenter will have to provide his contact information as well as whether he wants a $25 gift certificate from Buffalo Wild Wings or a small cheesecake from Almost Heaven Desserts.

 

Second place did require a draw as six individuals were one game behind Carpenter. The winner of the draw there was also a former high school athlete going back to the 1980s and the days of Washington Irving High School. Tyrone Lockett went 27-3 and will also need to email Edwards his contact information. He will receive the prize Carpenter does not choose. The others that finished with 27-3 marks included Scott Price, John Pulice, Kevin Carbacio, Tommy Stewart and Mark Trippett.

 

The rest of the top 25 was a 25-way tie for the No. 8 spot. The group of JT Hilton, Marcus Derosa, Darren Snyder, James Burton, Craig Kelley, David Francis, Matt Ash, Brent Kimble, Patrick Marozzi, Chris Nutter, Gary Griffith, Don Cumming, Louis Aragona, Michael Mann, Lenora Montgomery, Michael Ferrari, Dan McNamee, Jeff Muller, Chris Bowman, Ron Sandreth, Michael Andrew, Chuck Cain, Aaron Williams, Tom Surock, and Dave Stingo finished 26-4.

 

This week, there’s a tie at the top of the overall standings. The Bridgeport duo of Louis Aragona and Vernon Louk both come in a 125-34. Those two are followed by Jeff Muller and Michael Andrew, both 124-35, who are tied for third, while Dan Glover rounds out the top five with a 123-36 mark.

 

In the sixth spot, the foursome of Matt Ash, Jason Dodd, Frank Cherubino, and James Burton II and even at 122-37. Rounding out the top 10 is a three way tie at No. 10 as James Burton, Joe Teter and Lenora Montgomery stand at 121-38. Things are crowded at No. 13 with David Gillot, Mark Trippett, Delbert Leatherman, Adam Holbert, Nancy Wickenhofer, Eric Carpenter and Mike Alastanos all even with records of 120-39.

 

Rounding out the top 25 is an 11-way tie in the No. 20 spot. The group of Jason Hartman, Darren Snyder, Bill Tichenor, Dan McNamee, Ryan Chandler, Chris Byrd, John Oldaker, Chris Nutter, Curt Burner and Andrew Banko all come in at 119-40.

 

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.