I have won the Bob Ford Memorial Grid Picks Cup — all because of an Abington Heights backup quarterback’s heroic efforts.

The final outcome of our race came down to one game played last Saturday afternoon.

Yours Truly was in a first-place tie with reigning Cup champion Brad Hurley, and the District 2 championship game between Delaware Valley and Abington Heights would decide this year’s Cup winner between the two of us.

I hadn’t done enough homework about these teams when I chose Abington Heights to win this game. Hurley’s pick — Delaware Valley — had won eight straight district titles and had defeated Abington by a touchdown earlier in the season. Following the game, I saw that DelVal had come back to tie the score at 14-14 at the half, and that Abington’s starting quarterback was injured and out for the rest of the game.

Enter backup QB Shawn Theodore, who had been replaced at the position earlier in the season upon a coach’s decision. Late in the fourth quarter, and after he had thrown two interceptions in the second half, Theodore executed a 98-yard drive that he finished with a 3-yard burst for a 20-14 Comets’ lead that would be the game’s final score.

I received a text from Hurley that afternoon congratulating me for my victory, and I am grateful for his sportsmanship. Brad has been a past winner multiple times, and to defeat him is a mark of high accomplishment for me.

Odds and evens

I had set the odds for winning the Cup in the first of these columns back in late August. I put myself at 10-1 based upon my third-place finish a year ago, my best finish since I had become a sportswriter for the Times News 13 years ago. Hurley was at 3-1 to retain his title. Other favorites were two-time champion in the past five years — Rod Heckman — at 4-1 odds, and Pat Matsinko, whom I set at 6-1.

Heckman remained in striking range of the lead most of the season, but dropped back to seven games behind after Week 12. Matsinko finished yet another season with a good standing at three games out, but the new sports editor is still looking for another title since winning in 2016. He led the pack at the end of August, but just couldn’t get that knockout punch and dropped to third place in the final standings.

Sam Matta, who went off as a long shot at 25-1 odds, flirted with winning the Cup. He was either in first place or tied for the lead three different times, but a slip in Week 12 ended his chance to win it all at five games off the lead.

Mike Haines, at 15-1, rattled off a two-week record of 24-6 in late September to sit upon the King’s Throne, but faltered near the end. Emmett McCall threatened to jump in front down the stretch despite coming out of the gate at 20-1 odds, but he too ran out of gas at the end.

TJ Engle couldn’t move up from the pack after going off even with Haines at 15-1, and Jeff Moeller and Kyle Magda — evenly set at 30-1 to win — finished seventh and 10th, respectively.

Local highlights

This football season was not one to be remembered by many of our area teams, but there were a few outstanding highlights.

Northwestern was by far our best local team this season. The Tigers — who haven’t lost a regular season game since October of 2022 — won another District 3A title and play Conwell-Egan Catholic tonight in a state tournament game.

A couple of games are worth mentioning. Earlier in the season, Tamaqua handily defeated North Schuylkill — a perennially football powerhouse that has often defeated our local teams — and Lehighton upset Blue Mountain with a late- game two-point conversion in a first round District 4A game. With that victory, the Tribe won their first road game after 10 straight losses and also got revenge against the Eagles, who had beaten Lehighton 55-14 in an early regular season contest.

An extra point

This year’s Grid Picks Cup race was very close, and the outcome wasn’t decided until Shawn Theodore’s touchdown in the very last game of the last week’s schedule. For me to win the race is an honor because the trophy is named after Bob Ford, who was both a friend and a colleague at the Times News.

I have not yet decided what I should do with the trophy. I might sip some champagne from the Cup before I place it upon my fireplace mantle. Most importantly, my name will be added to the Times News version of the Stanley Cup that will be the spoils of victory for many years to come.

I get to sit back in my King’s Throne and enjoy my title until next season when once again the Friday night lights will kick off yet another exciting race for the 2025 Bob Ford Memorial Grid Picks Cup.