A Bridgeport High School alum may no longer be living in the state, but is paying close enough attention to local football as well as college and professional games to take the win in Week 14 of the Carder Motors Playoff Payoff Football Pick’em competition.

 

Although he had a solid week, Timothy Casten had not only to be good with his prognosticating skills – he also needed a little bit of luck. And he got that thanks to the blind draw of a member of the Bridgeport Parks and Recreation Staff.

 

Casten and Eric Allen both led all those picking this week with an impressive 26-2 mark. However, it was Casten that was the name selected to get the win for the week.

 

Thanks to his effort, Casten will have his choice of a gift certificate from Buffalo Wild Wings or a small cheesecake from Almost Heaven Desserts. As the tiebreak runner-up, Allen will also receive a prize.

 

Both individuals need to contact Hannah Edwards via email at hannah@connect-bridgeport.com. She will make arrangements to allow those individuals to pick up their prizes or receive them in another manner. She will get back to those individuals no later than the end of the week after receiving an email. In the event she does not hear from Casten by Friday on his choice, Allen will then be given his choice of the prize.

The week included a dropped contest. The Virginia and Virginia Tech game was listed twice and after it was determined that several picking had chosen different teams, both games were eliminated.

Several other individuals were right on their heels for the week. In fact, there was a five-way tie for the No. 3 spot. The group of Kevin Carbacio, Michael Lemley, Kelly Ayoob, Bill Montgomery, and Jayson Nicewarner all finished a game off the pace at 25-3.

 

Incredibly, 21 individuals tied for the No. 8 spot. Chris Oliverio, Doug Marquette, Adam Holbert, Billy Estok, Melissa Rohrbough, Gary Griffith, Stephen Cromwell, Gary Lhotsky, Michael Mann, Rob Stallman, Steven Hastings, JT Hilton, Matt Ash, Curt Burner, Frank Cherubino, Joe Spatafore, WJ Bramer, Derrick Bramer, Charles Blankenship, Fred Spicer, and Harold Tate rounded out the top 25 for the week with 24-4 records.

 

In the overall standings, the first and second place leaders remain the same. Jason Hartman continued his push at the top with a mark of 320-92 (77.67 percent), but saw his seven-game lead shrink as 2014 Playoff Payoff winner Kevin Carbacio solidified his position with a 315-97 (76.46 percent) mark.

 

Andrew Banko maintained his grip on third place, but now as company. Banko and Tamie Arbogast are both tied at 311-101 (75.49 percent). In fifth place, Jamie Guy stands alone at 310-102 (75.24 percent), while Aaron Mann is in the mix at No. 6 with a record of 309-103 (75 percent).

 

Bill Montgomery and Brian Reider are tied at No. 7 as both have picked to the tune of 308-104 (74.76 percent). At No. 9, Gary Griffith has a mark of 307-105 (74.51 percent). Rounding out the top 10 is Michael Mann alone at No. 10 with a record of 306-106 (74.27 percent).

 

At No. 11, Adam Holbert comes in at 305-107 (74.03 percent), while Mark Trippett and Gilbert Kelley are even at No. 12 thanks to the same 304-108 (73.79 percent) record. A three-way dead heat is in place at No. 14 as Matt Ash, Ron Sandreth and Tyrone Lockett come in at 303-109 (73.54 percent).

 

The biggest deadlock in the standings is at No. 17. The group of Hugh Gainer, Steven Hastings, David Gillot, Henry McDaniel, and Mike Alastanos come in at 302-110 (73.3 percent) on the year. A four-way tie between Duke Ware, Louis Aragona, Brent Kimble and Dwight Bullough – all 301-111 (73.06 percent) – round out the top 25 at No. 22.

 

Prizes at the end of the year will go to the top three overall finishers. Two of the prizes have been finalized.

 

The prizes include a $500 gift certificate from the Meadowbrook Mall and a golf package trip. This year, that is a mid-week package at Oglebay Resort & Conference Center in Wheeling that features one (1) night’s lodging in the newly renovated West Family Wing of Wilson Lodge for up to two people sharing the same room, a breakfast buffet for two, 18 holes of golf with cart on the Robert Trent Jones Course for each and 18 holes of golf with cart on the Arnold Palmer Course for each. The final prize will be announced at a later date.

 

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.

 

As noted in previous stories, at the end of the year the individual with the top record isn’t necessarily the overall winner. What makes the Carder Motors Playoff Payoff competition unique is that once the contest is over everyone that competes has their two worst weeks dropped and then the winner is announced based on the highest winning percentage after that. Each week, however, Connect-Bridgeport will do a story highlighting the weekly top 25 and weekly winner as well as the leader of the overall contest.

 

Individuals that haven’t registered can’t win the end-of-the-contest prizes, but can win weekly prizes. 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. You must use an actual, full name – no nicknames, partial names or individuals using an alias will be eligible for weekly or overall prizes.

 

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 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.