A lot of persistence and a little bit of luck paid off for Henry Conant of Gassaway.
A lot of persistence and a little bit of luck paid off for Henry Conant of Gassaway.
Conant, 66, is the $1,000 grand-prize winner in the championship of the Gazette's annual Gridiron Gold Mine prediction contest.
"I've been entering ever since you all started that contest," said Conant, who was the Week Three winner of the Gold Mine's regular-season contest. "That's the first time I made it to the championship."
Fourteen weekly Gold Mine winners participated in the championship round, where the finalists were asked to give their predictions on 15 selected college football bowl games. They were also asked for a guess at the total number of points scored in Thursday night's BCS championship game between Florida and Oklahoma, with that number serving as the tiebreaker.
As it turned out, the tiebreaker was needed.
After Florida beat Oklahoma 24-14, Conant and Week Eight winner Joey Carelli of Charlton Heights both had 11 correct picks, best among the finalists. Conant, guessing 56 points, won the tiebreaker over Carelli, whose guess was 69 points.
"I didn't think it would be a big-scoring game," Conant said. "I figured both teams had pretty good defenses if they got that far, but I'm kinda surprised there weren't more points scored."
Key wins for Conant included Oregon State's 3-0 Sun Bowl win over Pittsburgh, which was picked by just three other finalists; Kentucky's 25-19 comeback win over East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl, which was correct on just four entries; and Tulsa's 45-13 win in the GMAC Bowl, where just six finalists guessed the winner.
As a group, the 14 Gold Mine finalists were correct on just 53 percent (111-99) of their picks. Conant's strategy?
"I went on gut feelings, mainly," he said. "I listen to some of those talking heads on ESPN, but I don't think that helped me much."
Conant needed no help picking the winner of the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
"I was gonna go with West Virginia regardless," he said. "I've only missed two [WVU] home games in the last 25 years."
BRIEFLY: Charleston's Roy Akers and Mount Hope's Monty Cline followed the leaders by going 10-5 in the finals. Other finalists' totals were Carl Antolini of Elkins and Mike Evans of Williamson (both 9-6); Nitro's Timmy Asbury and Hurricane's John Stull (both 8-7); Charleston's Curtis Garland (7-8); Nitro's Michael Mobley, Huntington's Jimmy Tincher, Williamson's Jim Whitt and Poca's Jim Wygal (all 6-9); and Poca's Patti Wygal (4-11). ... None of the finalists picked LSU to beat Georgia Tech in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl or Utah to knock off Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. ... Easiest game for the finalists? Thirteen had Florida State over Wisconsin (42-13 in the Champs Sports Bowl) and Texas over Ohio State (24-21 in the Fiesta Bowl). ... Only two finalists (Garland and Patti Wygal) picked against West Virginia.
Reach Nick Scala at 304-348-7947 or nsc...@wvgazette.com.
A lot of persistence and a little bit of luck paid off for Henry Conant of Gassaway.
Conant, 66, is the $1,000 grand-prize winner in the championship of the Gazette's annual Gridiron Gold Mine prediction contest.
"I've been entering ever since you all started that contest," said Conant, who was the Week Three winner of the Gold Mine's regular-season contest. "That's the first time I made it to the championship."
Fourteen weekly Gold Mine winners participated in the championship round, where the finalists were asked to give their predictions on 15 selected college football bowl games. They were also asked for a guess at the total number of points scored in Thursday night's BCS championship game between Florida and Oklahoma, with that number serving as the tiebreaker.
As it turned out, the tiebreaker was needed.
After Florida beat Oklahoma 24-14, Conant and Week Eight winner Joey Carelli of Charlton Heights both had 11 correct picks, best among the finalists. Conant, guessing 56 points, won the tiebreaker over Carelli, whose guess was 69 points.
"I didn't think it would be a big-scoring game," Conant said. "I figured both teams had pretty good defenses if they got that far, but I'm kinda surprised there weren't more points scored."
Key wins for Conant included Oregon State's 3-0 Sun Bowl win over Pittsburgh, which was picked by just three other finalists; Kentucky's 25-19 comeback win over East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl, which was correct on just four entries; and Tulsa's 45-13 win in the GMAC Bowl, where just six finalists guessed the winner.
As a group, the 14 Gold Mine finalists were correct on just 53 percent (111-99) of their picks. Conant's strategy?
"I went on gut feelings, mainly," he said. "I listen to some of those talking heads on ESPN, but I don't think that helped me much."
Conant needed no help picking the winner of the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
"I was gonna go with West Virginia regardless," he said. "I've only missed two [WVU] home games in the last 25 years."
BRIEFLY: Charleston's Roy Akers and Mount Hope's Monty Cline followed the leaders by going 10-5 in the finals. Other finalists' totals were Carl Antolini of Elkins and Mike Evans of Williamson (both 9-6); Nitro's Timmy Asbury and Hurricane's John Stull (both 8-7); Charleston's Curtis Garland (7-8); Nitro's Michael Mobley, Huntington's Jimmy Tincher, Williamson's Jim Whitt and Poca's Jim Wygal (all 6-9); and Poca's Patti Wygal (4-11). ... None of the finalists picked LSU to beat Georgia Tech in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl or Utah to knock off Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. ... Easiest game for the finalists? Thirteen had Florida State over Wisconsin (42-13 in the Champs Sports Bowl) and Texas over Ohio State (24-21 in the Fiesta Bowl). ... Only two finalists (Garland and Patti Wygal) picked against West Virginia.Reach Nick Scala at 304-348-7947 or nsc...@wvgazette.com.
Post a comment