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Football: Cortez ties kickoff return record

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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Kickers are hereby advised to steer the ball away from Mammoth’s Jose Cortez on kickoffs. Even if it means booting the ball out of bounds and taking a penalty.

Cortez, a junior, has returned six kickoffs for touchdowns this season, possibly tying a national record. According to the 2004 National Federation of State High School Assns. record book, the record for kickoff returns for touchdowns in a season is six. It was set in 1994 by Mike Williams of Cuba (Ill.) and tied in 1998 by Josh Tarbox of Menominee (Mich.) and in 2000 by Kenny Green of Galt (Calif.).

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Cortez returned two kickoffs for touchdowns against Silver Valley and one each against Mojave, Kern Valley, Desert Christian and Boron.

He’ll have a chance to break the record Friday night when the Huskies play St. Anthony at Clark Field in Long Beach.

--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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