Think you know football? Feel you have a good read on the season? Know who’s going to win before the games are even played?
If so, your yearly chance to prove exactly that is finally back.
So, get ready to circle some numbers and put your $2 down. The St. John Central football sheets are back this week.
Yes folks, while King Football is entering its third week in the valley, this nearly equally looked forward to part of football season makes its return this week. Sheets are available at all your usual spots throughout the valley and are due by Friday at 5 p.m.
Bubba Kapral, the new athletics director at St. John Central, longtime Lady Irish coach and sports journalist offers his apologies on the delay.
The delayed start in West Virginia couple with the cancelation of a few games because of COVID also delayed the start of the annual pick-em contest.
“We had to wait until Week 3 so we could get West Virginia high schools and college games, along with waiting for the NFL to start,” said Kapral of the delay, noting that even now, COVID-related cancelations will mean some scratches will be necessary.
“The teams in Morgantown can’t play. Brooke was supposed to play University, Cameron against Trinity. There’s a little bit of dysfunction.”
Well-Oiled Machine
The schedule reliability may have some dysfunction, but you’ll find no such uncertainty with the process of running this contest.
It’s a well-oiled machine with volunteers from the St. John Central Boosters helping out for a number of years.
The contest stretches back nearly 40 years, when it was started by the late John Benedetta with help from the late Ernie Petho, Jerry Liberatore, Tom Ford, and the late Paul Cook.
Countless others have helped through the years, getting the sheets out to their locations each week and then picking up the completed forms starting Friday at 5 p.m.
They are brought back to the Knights’ of Columbus building in Bellaire, where tabulation begins early so that the winner can be discovered quickly.
It’s a 50-50 split for the winnings. The boosters receive half and the winner(s) the other. If you’re lucky enough to be the only person with the top record, that split is usually a nice chunk of change; even moreso back in the contest’s early days.
“Back at its height, when the steel mills and coal mines were all going strong, the school would take in $4,000 and the winner would receive $4,000,” Kapral recalled. “It was huge.”
Still, the weekly haul last season averaged more than $1,000 per week.
The cost is still $2 per sheet. You can, and many due, play multiple shots. Some view it as a necessity.
Strategy Required
It all starts with Friday night. To have a chance at winning, you usually have to go perfect with the high school games.
“You have to pick a few upsets to separate yourself from the herd, but I’ve always felt that to win that sheet, you have to go perfect right off the bat and carry it into the college games,” Kapral said. “Then you have a chance.
“Those pro football games can really rip up a sheet.”
Upsets can and will happen. Weekly. That’s usually where the frontrunners separate themselves from the pack.
But people have been playing for decades. They love their football. Plus, $2 a small investment on a potentially nice-sized return. That is the allure of sports betting.
But here, the winner at least isn’t the Vegas sports book or someone running an off-the-records book who shall remain nameless. No, it’s the athletic department at St. John Central Academy.
“This has always been the lion’s share of the athletic department budget,” Kapral said. “Right now, with no football team or boys’ basketball, the budget isn’t as stretched, but as we continue to ramp up our offerings, it will be the biggest portion coming in.
“People love volunteering to help out with their time doing it. They love the school and love to help out.”
Kapral in particular pointed out St. John Central parent Kristina Scott for helping get things organized for this year’s edition. She’s not alone.
“We have a nice network of people and it runs like clockwork,” Kapral said.
Looking to the Future
Kapral explained the Boosters realize the appeal of the contest, both for local residents and those who grew up in the Ohio Valley and have moved beyond its borders.
They are looking to expand the contest to the Columbus-area, particularly at Gresso’s in the German Village district of Columbus.
Gresso’s is owned by Emilio Traversa, an SJC alum and multi-sport standout for the Fighting Irish.
“We’re looking to expand to Columbus at Gresso’s, so that may give us a Columbus outlet,” Kapral admitted.
Another option is adding an all-digital component, both for selection and tabulation. Once designed, that will give the contest far greater reach and a quicker ability to tabulate the results on the weekend.
There’s no firm date on when that will happen, but once it does, you can be sure many former Upper Ohio Valley residents will once again be trying their hand at picking a winner.
For more information on where to find sheets in your hometown, call (740) 381-4202 or (740) 676-8922 and best of luck.
