In a championship game, star quarterback Peyton Manning squared off against Peyton Manning, and Newberry’s Brian Davis got all the glory.

Davis dominated in the final round of a three-day video game tournament held at Family Video in mid-August.

The 40 competitors, mostly between ages 18-25 and about 90 percent male, played the football video game Madden NFL 10 for the tourney title.

Players brought school supplies for the tournament’s registration. One needy family and one grateful school received the school supplies.

Family Video manager Lourdes Tepper began the challenge as a way to help the community, specifically a financially hard-pressed mother of four, and elementary students at Whitmire Community School.

Tepper chose to donate to the Whitmire school because of the hard times the community faced since it’s only industry, sock manufacturer Renfro, close in January, she said.

“We chose that area because of Renfo and layoffs,” says Tepper, who has also noticed a lot of homes for sale in the Whitmire area. “I thought that community needed it...”

The tournament began Aug. 14 and ended the following Monday at 10 p.m. in a final-elimination round between Tyler Van Gilder, 14 and Davis.

But before the final game kickoff, there was a slight problem. Both Gilder and Davis wanted to play the video game as quarterback Peyton Manning for Indianapolis, said Tepper.

Thankfully, Madden NFL video game designers had worked out that scenario, and both Davis and Gilder were able to represent the Colts with Manning on their side. The two squared off against each other for the championship.

Monday’s playoffs had four remaining players, all who made the final-day cut after landslide victories earlier that weekend.

“It’s like everyone at the last round had dominated everybody before that,” says Tepper.

But not everyone can win.

Monday’s play defeated even the best weekend players with one exception—Davis still ruled at Madden NFL.

“He just dominated,” said Tepper.

But both Davis and Gilder won a $60 Madden NFL 10 video game plus a large specialty pizza from Pharoah’s Pizza and half off of rentals for a month at Family Video.

The other winners were the four siblings who were able to walk into their first day of class padded with new supplies and students from Whitmire Community School.

“The contribution of school supplies will allow students to have better tools and materials for their learning and success, which is especially important during these tough economical times,” said Lindsey Arrington, assistant principal at Whitmire Community School.

And Tepper says the community will see more goodwill projects.

Family Video ran the event only three days because it was the first year doing a tournament and she wanted to be sure the store could handle it.

But she expects to have a bigger event next year, in addition to other community fundraisers like a race and turkey give-a-ways during the holidays.

Call Family Video at 276-8997 for more information.