Jim Paulsen's Week 5 picks

Mea Culpa.

As much as I'd like to – and believe me, I'd like to – I can't take full credit for what looks like an incredibly insightful pick.

Last week, I picked Mahtomedi to beat then-No. 1 and then-undefeated Totino-Grace. Honestly, the way TG was playing, did anyone outside of the Mahtomedi School District believe tit would really happen? For goodness sakes, TG was so good through the first three games the rumor was that Tim Brewster had cancelled a planned scrimmage.

But pick Mahtomedi I did. And I suffered great scorn because of it (well, perhaps not great. But I think there was a guy who disagreed).

I have to come clean, though. There was no inside info that Mahtomedi would pull off the upset. Frankly, the main reason I picked Mahtomedi is because my preps compadre David La Vaque, with whom I do a small piece every Friday picking opposite sides of big games, got to choose first. He took Totino-Grace. I took Mahtomedi. And, of course, Mahtomedi played a great game and won.

So, what type of juju was at work here? And why doesn't that type of serendipitous good fortune happen when I'm dumping my paycheck into pull tabs or a cashier opens up a new line at a crowded grocery store?

In truth, I have to give props to Mahtomedi QB Dan Ferrazzo, who did his best Denard Robinson imitation, putting up more than 400 yards of total offense, 234 of them on the ground. Nice job, young man.

Last week: 17-3
Season to date: 63-17 (.788)

THIS WEEK
METRO TOP 10
No. 1 Cretin-Derham Hall 42, Park of Cottage Grove 0
No. 2 Eden Prairie 38, Hopkins 15
No. 3 Blaine 27, Coon Rapids 20
No. 4 Wayzata, Bye (In the interest of fairness, I will abstain from counting this among my victories next week. Unless I need to preserve the average. I make no promises.)
No. 5 Mounds View 28, East Ridge 21
No. 6 Rogers 31, Princeton 0
Lakeville South 29, No. 7 Rosemount 22
No. 8 Minnetonka 30, Edina 20
No. 9. St. Thomas Academy 33, North St. Paul 14
No. 10 Mahtomedi 28, Henry Sibley 7

GAMES THAT INTEREST ME
DeLaSalle 46, Breck 31
Champlin Park 29, Andover 24
Minneapolis South 30, Minneapolis Southwest 27
Providence/Heritage 20, New Life Academy 7
Shakopee 23, New Prague 13
Apple Valley 16, Eastview 14

A LITTLE LOVE FOR THE OUTSTATE
Caledonia 38, Rushford-Peterson 13
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 39, Wheaton 20
Minneota 48, MACCRAY 28
Nicollet 41, Hills-Beaver Creek 30
Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 41, New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva 20