Dyer Group Playoff Payoff Week 2 Winner is Former All-Stater, State Champion Indian Football Player
By Jeff Toquinto on September 10, 2019
The second week of the 2019 Dyer Group Playoff Payoff Football Pick’em contest was one where there was a whole lot of luck or a whole lot of skill. Perhaps, it was a combination of both.
Regardless, the second week saw one of the highest totals ever for individuals tying for the top spot. Incredibly, 14 individuals finished the week with 27-2 records.
Because of the ties, the blind draw was once again utilized. And the winner produced one local name and one from well south of Bridgeport. Former Bridgeport High School state championship quarterback Robert “Bobby” Marra of the 1979 ‘AAA’ team who still lives in the city was the lucky winner. Marra will have his choice of a gift certificate from Buffalo Wild Wings or for a free small cheesecake from Almost Heaven Desserts.
Marra will need to send his mailing address to Ben Queen at ben@benqueenphotography.com to receive his prize. The runner-up was Charlestons’ Alex McLaughlin, who will also need to send email his contact information to Queen. McLaughlin will receive the prize not 
chosen by Marra.
chosen by Marra.
Marra and McLaughlin had plenty of individuals joining them in the top spot. Those picking that also finished 27-2 included Louis Aragona, Michael Mann, Hugh Gainer, Chris Byrd, Adam Holbert, Aaron Mann, James Hayes II, Frank Cherubino, James Burton II, JT Hilton, Michael Judy and Tanner Hill.
The rest of the top 25 was a 22-way tie for the No. 15 spot. The group of Danny Summers, Timothy Hiser, Timmy Thompson, Stacy Greely, Jason Young, Dion Bright, Justin Richter, Eric Carpenter, Doug Marquette, Ron Sandreth, Dan McNamee, Jeff Muller, Brian Martin, Aaron Williams, Matt Duez, Chad Reppert, Andrew 
Banko, David Wagner, Don Cumming, Bill Montgomery, Jimmy Stutler, and Lenora Montgomery all went 26-3.
Banko, David Wagner, Don Cumming, Bill Montgomery, Jimmy Stutler, and Lenora Montgomery all went 26-3.
In the overall standings, there’s a solo leader after the opening two weeks. Alex McLaughlin stands by himself with a 52-6 mark. He’s followed by a four-way tie in the second spot as Timmy Thompson, James Burton II, Louis Aragona and Dan McNamee are all at 51-7.
There is a seven-way tie for sixth place. Brian Martin, Aaron Williams, Michael Mann, Hugh Gainer, Aaron Mann, Jason Young, and Tanner Hill have identical 50-8 marks. Rounding out the overall top 25 is a 16-way deadlock in the No. 13 spot. Ashley McCall, Clayce Spurlock, Traci Stingo, Doug Marquette, Chris Byrd, Amber Gaines, Chad Reppert, Robert Marra, Justin Stevens, Don Cumming, Bill Montgomery, Jimmy Stutler, Lenora Montgomery, Chris Skidmore, Duke Ware, and Dion Bright all stand at 49-9.
It should be noted one game was dropped from this week’s contest. The Grafton at East Fairmont game was played on Thursday and was thus removed.
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.
So, if you missed the first two weeks of picks does that mean you can’t win in the overall prize selection? Here’s the good news.
What makes the Dyer Group 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.
That means you can register now and it won’t impact you as those two weeks will be eliminated in the final totals. Even after that, you can still enter and win weekly prizes.
If you are a registered member of Connect-Bridgeport's Web site, all you 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, or a game canceled. 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.
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