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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Yorita's wakeup call was no joke

 •  Pigskin picks

Advertiser Staff

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Lance Yorita

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When he first heard his phone ring at 5:45 Monday morning, Pearl City's Lance Yorita shut it off, never thinking it would be the announcement that he won Pigskin Picks.

After all, "I've been playing this thing from the beginning of time," said the 54-year-old Yorita.

An hour later, the account manager for Terminix got a call from his branch manager Don Bache, who told Yorita that radio station KSSK, which announces the winner, was trying to reach him.

"I thought he was joking but my boss never jokes," he said.

Yorita correctly picked the winners of all 15 games and then won the tiebreaking by coming closest to the combined total yards gained in the New Mexico State-Hawai'i game.

He wins a trip for two to Las Vegas and $500.

For Yorita, the trip to Vegas and winning has been a long-time coming.

"I haven't been to Vegas since mid-'90s," he said. "The last time I won anything, I was in high school (when he said he had to predict the order of the top 20 songs on a radio station)."

In fact, until this week, his best record in Pigskin Pick was 13-2 — once.

Yorita, who plays the game online, says he has no system.

"I do it religiously every Monday ... pick 'em and forget it," he said. "No strategy ... just watch the trends. Heck, it's all luck."

One upset Yorita picked was Louisiana Tech beating host San Jose State.

"I saw San Jose play and they got lucky against Hawai'i. They (UH) were passing all over them and LaTech is a passing team. San Jose State was beatable."