In a repeat of last year’s final round, defending champion Hancock’s Bakery of Redmond will again take on Guild Mortgage Kirkland in the Hopelink Can Madness competitive food drive finale. The winner will be announced on April 5.

The two teams beat out Precision Electric Group, Inc. of Redmond in Week 4 of the competition to advance to the final. Combined, the three teams collected 4,273 pounds of food for Hopelink food banks this week, bringing the total for all teams since the competition began to 17,320 pounds.

During last year’s final round, Kirkland’s Guild Mortgage very nearly pulled off an upset over Hancock’s Bakery and actually came out ahead in total food collected — Hancock’s Bakery brought in a total of 7,590 pounds during the five-week competition and Guild Mortgage gathered a total of 7,598 pounds — but fell short of the championship in overall points.

To ensure that businesses of all sizes are able to compete on a level playing field, the competition uses a unique scoring system: the total pounds of food donated by a business are divided by the total number of employees, resulting in a competitive “score.”

Scott Estes, sales Manager for Guild Mortgage, says his team is up for the challenge this year.

“We love the immediate impact that we are able to have in our community, and are looking forward to beating Hancock’s Bakery this year and bringing the title to Kirkland,” Estes said.

Vicky Hancock of Hancock’s Bakery says her team is looking forward to a four-peat.

“We’re really excited to be in the final for the fourth straight year, we are so grateful for our network of amazing people who help make this possible every year,” Hancock said.

“We are all committed to making this a four-peat.”

Hopelink Can Madness is a single-elimination competition similar to the national spring college basketball tournament, matching businesses in weekly contests to see which one can bring in the most food.

The announcement of the winner and trophy presentation will take place from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on April 5 at JJ Mahoney’s, 8932 161st Ave. N.E. in Redmond.