There’s the old sports adage that it’s not how you start, but how you finish. And with the final weeks of the Carder Motors Playoff Payoff just ahead, a past champion is making his move.

 

The 2014 winner, Bridgeport’s Kevin Carbacio, has had multiple strong weeks to put himself near the top of the overall standings. This week, he was one of four individuals that managed to finish tied for first place in Week 15 of the football pick’em contest with a 21-2 record.

 

While the prognostication skills proved strong for Carbacio, luck was also on his side. He won the blind draw by a member of the Bridgeport Parks and Recreation staff for the week. An individual with a very familiar football last name, Mike Nicewarner, was the second lucky and skilled picker as he was the second person who had their name drawn.

 

Thanks to his effort, Carbacio 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, Nicewarner 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 Carbacio by Friday on his choice, Nicewarner will then be given his choice of the prize.

 

As mentioned, Carbacio and Nicewarner weren’t alone on top of the standings. Chris Oliverio and Derrick Bramer were also 21-2 on the week.

 

After that, two huge ties rounded out the top 25 for the week. The first large group that were knotted up came in at No. 5 as Frank Cherubino, Chuck Cain, Joe Meluzio, Brian Martin, Ron Sandreth, Patsy Sabatelli, Delbert Leatherman, Jamie Guy, Dwight Bullough, and Rob Stallman were part of a 10-way tie that all finished 20-3.

 

That group, however, wasn’t the largest group deadlocked. There were 23 individuals tied at No. 15. Amy Foster, Matt Ash, Andrew Banko, Michael Mann, Michael Lemley, Jimmy Stutler, Bob Greer, Adam Heaster, Hugh Gainer, Rick Crowley, Gary Griffith, Michael Andrew, John Oldaker, John Strovers, Chris Byrd, Jeff Wright, Danny Hamrick, Janet Hathaway, Joe Koreski, Jason Hartman, WJ Bramer, Tamie Arbogast and JV Lopez all went 19-4.

 

In the overall standings, Jason Hartman continues to be the leader and for the third straight week Kevin Carbacio has cut into the advantage. Last week’s five game lead is now down to three as Hartman continues to look strong with a 339-96 (77.93 percent) mark, while Carbacio comes in at 336-99 (77.24 percent).

 

Andrew Banko, Jamie Guy and Tamie Arbogast are all even at No. 3 with the same 330-105 record (75.86 percent). In the No. 6 spot, Aaron Mann is standing at 327-108 (75.17 percent), while Gary Griffith is on his heels at No. 7 with a record of 326-109 (74.94 percent). Bill Montgomery and Michael Mann share the No. 8 position at 325-110 (74.71 percent), while Brian Reider rounds out the top 10 at 324-111 (74.48 percent).

 

Coming in at No. 11 is Ron Sandreth with a showing of 323-112 (74.25 percent). At No. 12, the trio of Adam Holbert, Matt Ash, and Gilbert Kelley are even at 322-113 (74.02 percent). Another three-way tie is in place at No. 15 as Mark Trippett, Dwight Bullough, and Hugh Gainer all have the same 321-114 (73.79 percent) effort.

 

The first of two four-way ties in the top 25 of the overall standings comes in at No. 18 with the group of Mike Nicewarner, Tyrone Lockett, Henry McDaniel, and Mike Alastanos showing the same 320-115 record. The threesome of Steven Hastings, Brent Kimble, and David Gillot are all square at No. 22 thanks to identical marks of 319-116 (73.33 percent).

 

Rounding out the top 25 is the final foursome with Frank Blake, Carol Hilton, Patrick Coberly and Duke Ware even. The group finished with week with an overall mark of 318-117 (73.1 percent).

 

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.