AHOSKIE – Another week – another tiebreaker.

For the fourth consecutive week the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald Football contest was decided by a tiebreaker.

In week nine of the contest, Mary Watford of Ahoskie edged out Rich Osborne of Chesapeake, Va. for the $50 prize money. In the Kansas City at Tampa Bay game (where the Chiefs and the Buccaneers combined for 65 points) Watford predicted 40 total points while Osborne predicted 29 points.

Both Watford and Sexton were able to avoid a rash of upsets during Sunday’s NFL games. Of the 219 total entries, 204 missed six-or-more games.

Lisa Jones of Ahoskie placed third with four losses. Twelve others missed five games.

Sexton missed only two contests during the week. He picked Washington over Green Bay and selected Denver to top Atlanta.

The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald’s Football Contest will run throughout the NFL’s regular season. An official entry blank and the pairings for the upcoming weekend games will appear in each Tuesday’s edition. Official game pieces are also available at the Ahoskie office of the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald.

Contestants are required to fill in the blanks with their choice of corresponding teams beside the names of each of the 14 participating Football Contest advertisers. The entry with the most correct choices will be awarded the weekly cash prize of $50. In the event of a tie, one game will be pre-selected as the tiebreaker. There, each contestant is asked to predict what they think will be the combined score between those two teams. The contestant closest to that score will earn the tiebreaker and the prize money. In the event that two or more contestants predict the same correct or closest to score, the prize money will be equally divided.

Weekly winners will be notified by phone on where to collect their prize money.

The contest is open to anyone over the age of 18, with the exception of Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald employees and their immediate families.

All entries will become eligible for the grand prize drawing of $250 in cash. That drawing will be held one week prior to the Super Bowl.

Weekly entries can be dropped off at the Ahoskie office (corner of Main St. and Catherine Creek Rd.) of the R-C News-Herald by 5 p.m. on each Friday. Entry forms can also be mailed (postmarked by 5 p.m. on Fridays) to: Football Contest, R-C News-Herald, PO Box 1325, Ahoskie, NC, 27910.

Local merchants joining the R-C News-Herald in sponsoring this year’s Football Contest are Furniture Galleries, Dixon Cleaners, Quick Lane, Hall Auto, Piggly Wiggly, H&N Mobile Home Supply, Jernigan Oil, Pizza Inn, The Athlete’s Foot, Movie Time, Colonial House, Terry’s Used Cars and Jernigan Cleaners.