Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 73

Sportsline 843-6111 ALB NAL Sunday, October 29, 1978 Page 1, Section Splits Skateboarders Playing Safe At New Parks wmmMmmmmwii mm. mmmmmmmmi wmmmgmm V-- vf 4 All 'lllfe' fas By RICK WRIGHT Journal Sports Writer In the early days of football, they played on sandlots, without helmets or pads. Finally, after enough people broke their noses, lost their teeth and cauliflowered their ears, protective padding was introduced. With the game thus civilized, it became socially acceptable. Gradually, the sport became more organized.

Then big money began to flow in, making football the big-time enterprise it is today. In the early days of skateboarding, they skated in parking lots, without helmets or pads. Finally, after enough people skinned their elbows, bruised their kneecaps and broke their heads, protective padding was introduced. With the game thus civilized, it became socially acceptable. Gradually, the sport became more organized.

Then the big money flowed Well, maybe not all that big, but big enough to bring Albuquerque its second commercial skateboarding facility. The Blue Sky Skateboard Park, located at 4715 McLeod Rd. NE, just west of the intersection of McLeod and San Mateo, plans to open in early November, The two-acre plus facility has four major skateboarding areas and will cost about $200,000. Roller-Cross, the city's other skateboard park, has al- Continued on F-9 Journal Photo by Greg Sorber Blue Sky Skateboarding Team's Keith Lovelace Goes Horizontal on Vertical Wall exico Defense Crunches Miners New 1 New Mexico's defense was led by Baker, who was in on nine tackles. Mike Forrest had seven tackles and Jim Cook six.

The Lobos held Harold Johnson, the league's No. 2 receiver to only two catches for 21 yards. UTEP's top receiver Bubba Garcia did not play due to an eye injury. The injury-riddled Miner defense suffered further when it lost the fine nose guard Carlos De Ayala, the freshman from Havana, Cuba, with a knee injury. New Mexico will remain on the road next Saturday afternoon, playing a league game at Utah.

added the 50-yarder later in the second quarter. The second field goal was set up when Charlie Baker stripped quarterback Oscar Ramirez of the ball at the UTEP 35 and recovered the ball himself. New Mexico made it 21-0 just before intermission, as Wright pushed in from the one. Curt McGill then passed to Arnold for the two-point conversion. A 16-yard punt return by Max Hudspeth to the Miner 42 gave UNM excellent field position.

A 13-yard run by Mike Carter and an 18-yard pass from Wright to Ellis were the big plays in the drive. Moore's 50-yard field goal tied the school record set by former Eunice star Jack Abendschan in 1964 against Kansas State. The second half turned into a boring kicking contest, as the Lobos decided to put the wraps on their offense and the Miners never could get their attack in gear. Twice in the final period, the Miners took over the ball at the NewMexico 11 and both times the Lobo defense held fast. The first surge was stopped at the Lobo one when Holt fumbled and big Frank Giddens recovered.

Late in the game, when many of the 18,650 fans had already left, Miner Rusty Merri-weather, a freshman from St. Marcos, Texas, picked off a Wright screen pass at his own 42 and returned it to the Lobo 11 before Jim Sayers caught him irom behind. But on the second play, Doug Smith intercepted Ramirez in the end zone. It was Smith's fifth interception of the season. Mike Williams'bidfor his third straight 100-yard game against UTEP fell 16 yards shy.

But the 84 yards in 17 carries by the senior from El Paso gave him a career total of 3,802 152 yards short of the WAC record held by Arizona State's Woody Green. Williams, who rushed for 531 yard in his four career outings against UTEP, also moved into 13th place on the NCAA career rushing list, passing Southern Cal's Ricky Bell and Southern Mississippi's Ben Garry. New Mexico held the Miners to 19 yards in the final period and 226 for the game. UNM had 437 yards offensively, with Wright accounting for 224. By FRANK MAESTAS Executive Sports Editor EL PASO Quarterback Brad Wright passed for one touchdown and scored another and kicker Alan Moore banged home two field goals, including a record-tying 50-yarder to lead New Mexico to a dull 21-0 victory over inept Texas-El Paso Saturday night in Western Athletic Conference football.

The victory was the Lobos' fifth against three defeats and raised their WAC record to 2-1. The Miners suffered their seventh loss in eight outings. UTEP is 1-3 in WAC play. The Lobo defense completely overwhelmed the Miners, who crossed mid-field on their own only twice in the contest. The Miners' deepest penetration was on their own initial play from scrimmage when quarterback Oscar Ramirez dumped a pass to halfback Ray Holt, who took it 37 yards to the Lobo 37, but he fumbled and Andy Wieczorek recovered for UNM.

After sputtering on its first two possessions, New Mexico finally got on the scoreboard with 3:41 left in the first quarter. Wright hooked up with Inside Sports Flanker Keith Ellis 58-Yard TD Pass The next time the Lobos got their hands on the ball, they drove 66 yards in 11 plays and got a field goal of 26 yards from Moore after the drive bogged down at the Miner 8. Wright connected on a pass of 13 yards to Chris Combs and 18 to Walt Arnold to key the drive. Moore's field goal made it 10-0. He Kicker Alan Moore Record 50-Yard FG Keith Ellis on a 58-yard touchdown pass.

Ellis took the ball at the UTEP 40 with four Miners around him, but the Lobo wide receiver somehow managed to elude all of them and then faked another Miner at the 30 to complete a brilliant run. Rutherford Wins PHOENIX, Ariz. Johnny Rutherford won the race and Tom Sneva won the USAC driving title in the Phoenix 150 Indy-type auto race. Al Unser finished fifth, but needed to win in order to beat out Sneva for the national championship. Page F-3.

Aggies Victorious, 3 1-2 1 New Mexico State, which outgained the Shockers, 393 yards to 251, increased its lead to 31-7 with 13:48 left in the game. Steele dove in from a yard out. Russia's Gymnasts Dominate ill later, Spriggs threw a screen pass to tailback Gary Steele and the former Mayfield High star raced down the sidelines to score from 17 yards out. Albuquerque's Skip Vernon added the first of four extra points and the Aggies were on their way, 7-0. Again failing to gain a first down, Wichita State was forced into into second punting situation by the Aggie defense.

But Alamogordo's Jim Fere-bee, a 140-pound freshman, blocked Scott Burger's punt into the end zone, where linebacker Mark Bozich recovered the football for his second such touchdown in as many games. Bozich and company stifled the MVC's second-leading rushing attack. The surprise of the defense was nose guard Isaac Martinez of Espanola, the 5-9, 173-pound freshman who sacked Andrus three times and was in the Shocker backfield all afternoon. New Mexico State's final TD of the first half came with 3:24 left in the first quarter. Fullback Ray Locklin, who was held to 40 yards on 12 carries, scored from two yards out to cap a 60-yard Aggie drive.

Wichita State, which was held to just 96 yards on 45 rushes, finally scored when it had the wind at its back in the second quarter. Flanker Norris Don-nell caught a nine-yard Andrus TD pass. Joe Williams added the PAT to make it, 21-7. There the score stayed until the 6:21 mark of the third quarter. Again, with the wind at the Aggies' back, they gained three more points on a 52-yard Field goal.

It was Vernon's sixth successful field goal in seven tries this season. Journal Special WICHITA, Kan. In perhaps the best all-around game played by New Mexico State's football team this season, the Aggies defeated Wichita State, 31-21 Saturday and grabbed the lead in the Missouri Valley Conference. In a three-way tie for first place with Wichita State and Drake prior to the game, New Mexico State jumped to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and was never really threatened by the Shockers. The Aggies, 44 overall and 3-1 in league games, played consistently on offense with David Spriggs back at quarterback.

The Aggie defense, other than a lapse early in the fourth quarter, played its finest game of the season, sacking Shocker quarterback Jim Andrus six times, recovering three fumbles, intercepting two passes and blocking a punt. New Mexico State took advantage of a gusting 25 mph wind in the first quarter of the game, played before 13,168 fans at Cessna Stadium. Winning the coin flip, the Aggies chose to kick off and have the wind at their backs in the first and third quarters. Wichita State failed to gain a first down on its first possession and punted into the wind to the Aggie 35-yard line. From there, it didn't take Spriggs, who started the same after suffering a mild concussion last week against New Mexico, long to regain the form that made him the nation's total offense leader before the Lobos 35-20 victory.

The senior completed his first two passes of the game to flanker Jeff Evans for 10 and 44 yards. Two plays STRASBOURG, France (AP) Soviet women eclipsed Romania's triple Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comane-ci to make a clean sweep of the three top places in the individual combined exercises Saturday at the World Gymnastics Championships. Soviet newcomer Elena Mukhina, 18, took the gold medal with an aggregate of 78.725 points. The Soviet sweep highlighted the crown the Russian girls won in hursday's team event and marked the end of Nadia's nine-year-long undefeated personal record in gymnastic competition. In her first year in the international competition, she won the European title in 1975, and has dominated the world elite ever since.

The Soviet Union's double Olympic gold medalist Nelli Kim, 20, staged a Continued on F-3 13 Ji APLMentatt Russian Gymnast Elena Mukhina Wins the Ail-Around Title Shown in Final Floor Exercise of World Championships at Strasbourg, France.