It took him 22 years, but Larry Mahoney has again earned bragging rights among staff members in the Bangor Daily News Football Forecast.
Mahoney went 13-7 during a testy final week to hold off Ernie Clark (14-6) for top honors in the 52nd edition of our weekly football pick ’em feature.
Mahoney surged from behind in week nine to overtake Clark and maintained his advantage in part by picking Portland to knock off Lewiston last week.
It is the third staff championship for Mahoney, who most recently had won in 1995. He finished with a season mark of 159-41, a .795 winning percentage.
Clark finished second, one game back, at 158-42 (.790), while season guest Ryan McLaughlin (153-47, .765 ) was third among the regulars.
Weekly guest Andrew Badillo, a sports reporter-anchor at ABC 7/Fox 22 TV in Bangor, had a 13-7 effort. That means there was a tie for top honors among our guests.
Brian Donohue and Michael Bourque both turned in impressive 18-2 efforts, Bourque during Week 6 and Donohue in Week 8.
Bourque is the president and CEO of The Memic Group in Portland and Donohue is the chief financial officer at Bangor Nursing and Rehabilitation.
The rest of the BDN standings are as follows: season guest Stuart Hedstrom of the Piscataquis Observer (151-49, .755), Pete Warner (151-49, .755), John Holyoke (141-59, .705) and Joe McLaughlin (140-60, .700).
Among the other weekly guests: Cody Lally 14-6, Jim Owens 13-7, Blake Miller 11-9, Quinn Paradis 11-9, Seth Koenig 9-11, Fred Lear 8-12, Mike Wilcox 7-13.