Frisco City's Steve Stacey captures top honors in local ESPN college football pick 'em contest

Steve Stacey of Frisco City.

Our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em contest came to an end on Saturday, and Steve Stacey of Frisco City held on to win this year’s 11-week contest by correctly picking the outcomes of 98.8 percent (out of 110 games) this college football season. Having won this local contest, Stacey is without a doubt among the best college football prognosticators in our neck of the woods. Not only does he receive all the high honors and accolades that go along with this prestigious title, but he also might be someone good to talk to if you want to know who is going to win the national championship this year.

With 68 total points to his credit, Stacey finished just one point ahead of Casey Grant and John Johnston. Grant – who won the contest last season – and Johnston tied for second place with 67 points each. Justin Mixon finished in fourth place with 66 total points.

Robert Bozeman and I finished in a two-way tie for fifth place with 64 points each. Jesse Jordan and Tristan McPhaul (who is serving in Japan with the U.S. Navy) finished tied for seventh place with 62 total points each. Vanessa Sales and Brett Loftin, both from Monroeville, finished tied with 61 points each.

Hillcrest coach Arthur Ingram III finished in 11^th place, and Evergreen attorney Clint Hyde finished in 12^th place. Justin Lowe, who runs the gas station in Megargel, rounded out the finishers in 13^th place with 58 points. It should be noted that just 10 points separated the first through 13^th place finisher.

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The eleventh weekend of the SEC football season also wrapped up on Saturday, and college football fans had just five conference games to enjoy.

This week, we’ve got six SEC games lined up for Saturday, presuming one or more don’t get cancelled due to COVID-19: Alabama at Arkansas, Georgia at Missouri, Tennessee at Vandy, LSU at Florida, Auburn at Mississippi State and Ole Miss at Texas A&M.

For what it’s worth, here are my predictions for that slate of games. I like Alabama over Arkansas, Auburn over MSU, Georgia over Missouri, Tennessee over Vandy, Florida over LSU and A&M over Ole Miss. (Last week: 4-1. So far this season: 43-13)

The Alabama-Arkansas game is scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN. The Auburn-MSU game is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be televised on the SEC Network. As of Monday afternoon, Alabama was a 31-point favorite, and Auburn was favored by 6.5 points.

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Big congratulations this week to Evergreen native Justin Nared, who is an offensive coordinator at Spanish Fort High School in Baldwin County. Spanish Fort’s football team finished the season as state runner-up in Class 6A this season with an 11-4 overall record. Spanish Fort outscored their opponents 358-211 this season on their way to a 7-0 record on their home field.

Many in the reading audience are no strangers to Justin, who began his career in athletics on the youth sports fields in Conecuh County. Justin went on to star at quarterback at Hillcrest High School in Evergreen before going on to play quarterback at Tuskegee University. Coach Nared is still a young coach with many years of coaching ahead of him, and I know that many of us here in Conecuh County still enjoy seeing him succeed.