Advertisement
Varsity Times Insider

Football: St. Bonaventure lineman healthy for Poly showdown

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

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Linemen don’t regularly get a lot of publicity, but they will be crucial in determining the outcome of the nonleague clash Friday between No. 2 Long Beach Poly and No. 3 St. Bonaventure at Long Beach Veterans Stadium because both teams feature smash-mouth running games.

St. Bonaventure Coach Todd Therrien was happy to report Tuesday that defensive lineman Daniel Saipale, a sophomore who had played only in the Seraphs’ season opener before suffering a broken hand, will return this week against the Jackrabbits. Saipale is not a starter but is considered a key reserve who is expected to be on the field plenty.

Advertisement

-- 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.

Advertisement