When you are nearly perfect, good things can happen.

Mike Haines jumped out of the back of the pack and into second place with a Week Three, 14-1 record.

Only his incorrect pick of Notre Dame over North Schuylkill blemished a perfect mark — a rare but coveted achievement in the race for the Bob Ford Memorial Cup. Haines now trails leader Sam Matta by one game.

How he does it …

“I just look at won-loss records like everyone else,” said Mike. “I also like to watch Friday Night Football to get an idea of how teams win and lose. It’s the first time I’ve been anywhere near the top of the standings, so I just got lucky last week. I’ll be falling back soon, but it does feel good to finally have one good week in my 20-plus-year grid pick career.”

The dust thickens

We’re only going into Week Four, and four pickers have little-to-no chance to sit in the king’s throne. In the Pundit Pit with no light yet to climb his way out is Kyle Magda.

He has fallen 14 games off the pace and might become the Chicago White Sox version of the Cup runners’ world. The baseball Sox are 33-111, a winning percentage of .229. Magda is currently at .422 and sliding deeper into the abyss. I, for one, will root for him to have a big week!

TJ Engle’s 3-12 Week Two debacle had him choking on the dust of those in front of him. He reversed his fortunes with a 12-3 record for this week, but he is seven games out of first place, and that means he‘ll have to win some upset games to try to get back in contention. The same holds true for Jeff Moeller.

The shocking news in the race so far is Rod Heckman, one of the favorites to win another Cup. He stands five games out of first place, and cannot risk falling farther behind if he expects to contend come November.

The Pick Six

After 45 games played, it’s a six-picker race right now. Brad Hurley, Emmett McCall and Yours Truly are two games back of Matta. Week One leader, Pat Matsinko, is running three games behind the front runners. McCall is an early season surprise. Usually a pack runner, McCall has been promising to get to the top spot now for the past few years. Perhaps this season, he will walk the talk.

Raiders rock, Tigers clash with Eagles

The Tamaqua Blue Raiders are the real deal. A big win over Pottsville has them at a perfect 3-0 and hosting struggling Jim Thorpe tonight.

Speaking of being unbeaten, Northwestern takes on Blue Mountain in a game of giants where one team will have to lose its first game. The consensus pick is the Tigers will take down the Eagles.

Locals to prevail

Most area teams are favorites to come away with victories. Marian and Northern Lehigh are majority and unanimous picks, respectively. Lehighton is tabbed to get back in the win column against Palmerton.

An interesting match-up in Week Four, and one that will have an effect upon next week’s standings, is Pine Grove Area at Panther Valley. Both teams are struggling to stay competitive, and between both schools they have scored a total of 13 points in six games. The staff is deadlocked on the pick.

Out of Area Game of the Week

My pick is Nazareth at Freedom. The Patriots are 3-0 and have a big notch on their belt with a win over Parkland a few weeks ago. Quarterback Chase Walker and running back Aaron Beete lead the Pats with over 1,000 yards of offense. Nazareth, also 3-0, is directed by QB Peyton Falzone, who threw four touchdown passes in the Blue Eagles’ last win over Wilson. The slight staff favorite is Freedom, but this battle is a true toss-up.

Matta on the move?

Matta is a riverboat gambler who never would be called a conservative if picking football winners was a branch of politics. This week, he has boldly selected Minersville to upset Williams Valley, and Pocono Mountain West to defeat Whitehall. Mike Haines disagrees on five of Matta’s picks, so there will be some separation between the two front-runners going into Week Five.

I predict that either McCall, Hurley or Yours Truly will make a huge step forward or backward, possibly jumping into first place or slipping deeper into the pack. Heckman is on the bubble. Is Matsinko done after leading for one week?

For now, Matta sits back on his throne of gold enjoying the view of the nine pickers running behind him and trying to catch up. We’ll see if he’s the real deal, or a flash in the pan after this week’s grid picks results.