Congratulations to the hundreds of players who made their weekly selections in our Pigskin Picks pro and high school football games!

Wayne Stewart's correct pick in the Super Bowl made him the come-from-behind overall winner in our Pigskin Picks Pro Football contest.

Stewart, of Ashaway, had earlier won the overall title in our High School Edition game, making him a double contest winner! 

Ranked second coming into the Super Bowl, Stewart used a go-for-broke strategy that focussed on picking the underdog - the Saints.

"I had to pick opposite of the first-place guy," Stewart said. "I assumed he would pick Indianapolis because they were the favorite. So I picked New Orleans and hoped they won and he picked the Colts. That's the only shot I had at winning."

He won the title with 200 points, using a consistent picking record that built points throughout the 21-week program - he never won a weekly game until the Super Bowl. 

His high school contest win with 35 points was the result of following the schools in The Westerly Sun and online, as well attending games and talking football with his buddies when they gathered to watch the weekly NFL Sunday Night Football games. He won the weekly high school contest three times.

"You can't really pick high school winners; I basically got lucky," Stewart said. "I did read the games stories and looked at the expert picks. "

"I didn't grow up around here, but my friends grew up around Chariho and their kids go to Westerly now. They're all big sports guys, so we talked a lot about the Chariho and Westerly games."

Stewart is looking forward to defending his titles next year. "I'll play again, absolutely," he said. "The program was real nice this year. I think it was great going national."  

Patrick McConaghy of Pawcatuck was our Survivor Game winner. McGonaghy lasted through Week 17.

Other fun facts:

There were 27 different winners of our weekly pro and high school games.

Our expert picker Sean O'Brien of CC O'Brien's Sports Cafe finished with 182 points (tied for 17th among local players) in the Pro Football game and tied for fourth in the High School Edition game with 32 points. Way to go, Sean!

Expert picker Sun sports editor Keith Kimberlin tied for first with Stewart in the High School Edition game with 35 points and finished with 177 points (tied for 22th among local players) in the Pro Football game. Keith is ineligible for prizes but can take comfort in the fact that he really knows his local high school football!

David Bonomo of Cheshire, Conn. (week 4), William Clark of Charlestown (week 19) and Dave Stott (week 20) of Westerly were the only players to match the Pro Football national points winner for their week but lost in the random selection tiebreaker.

Click here to see final results from our Pigskin Picks Pro Football Contest!