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Football: Don’t bet on these picks

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
Staff WriterFollow

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It’s official: I am an awful handicapper when it comes to high school football games. Call me the anti-swami.

This week, I thought Servite would end its 20-year winless drought against Mater Dei. Nope.

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I picked Mission Viejo to beat Tesoro. Not even close.

I thought Carson would edge San Pedro. It didn’t.

Only Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, which routed Alemany, came through as predicted.

I tallied up all of my picks so far this season and it isn’t pretty. I have picked 14 outcomes correctly and 12 incorrectly. I don’t expect anyone will ask me to tag along for a weekend in Las Vegas anytime soon.

--Ben Bolch

Varsity Times Insider
Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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