Tough week for Pigskin Picks winners

McCOOK, Neb. -- In another week of upsets in professional and college football, the entrants in last week's McCook Gazette Pigskin Picks' contest had a tough time predicting the winners. In fact, the best anyone could do was four misses out of the 20 games.

While that's not as good a job of picking as in most previous weeks, the interesting thing is that there were more predictors than ever before -- eight -- who correctly predicted the winners of 16 games ... a 75 percent successful prediction rate.

As a result of the crowded number of entrants who missed four games, the Gazette's contest judges resorted to the tie-breaker to determine the winners of the $25 gift certificate.

Kelli Barger of Culbertson and Greg Larson of McCook who both predicted a tie-breaker score of 42, which was five points more than the actual score of 37 as the result of the McCook Bison's 30-7 victory over Adams Central. They will each receive te $25 weekly prize.

Kelli and Greg missed three of the same games. Both of them picked the wrong winners of Jacksonville's victory over Buffalo; Northwestern's win over Nebraska; and Texas's triumph over Kansas State. The other game Kelli missed was Oakland's win over San Diego, while Greg missed New Orleans' triumph over Indianapolis.

The other entrants with four misses and their tie-breaker predictions were: Howard Runge, Culbertson, 48; Alexis Gillen, McCook, 48; Clarence Gillen, McCook, 52; Terrance S. Williams, McCook, 55; John D. Kershaw, Culbertson, 56; and Corvin Stark, Holbrook, 59.

This week's sponsor winner, Old Sarge's, did better than the reader entrants, winning the free ad prize by missing just three of the 20 games. Anita Lytle, the guest picker for Old Sarge's, missed only Jacksonville's win over Buffalo; Oakland's victory over San Diego; and New Orleans' win over Indianapolis.

This week's Pigskin Picks' contest can be found of Page 10 of today's newspaper. Entries may be deposited before noon Friday at the Gazette office or at any of the sponsor's places of business. Entries may also be mailed to Pigskin Picks, P.O. Box 1268, McCook, NE 69001. There is a limit of one entry per person.