SPORTS DIGEST: Gladiators end season, bowling, local vies for Team USA spot

Gladiators fall in finale, 44-35

Visiting Bay Area took a 2-0 lead with a deuce on the opening kickoff Sunday afternoon in the Rio Rancho Events Center, and never trailed or was tied the rest of the way, winning its Indoor Football League game with Duke City, 44-35.

Gladiators (5-10) quarterback Charles McCullum tossed five touchdown passes by game’s end, three to Xavier Amey and two to Tyrone Laughinghouse. Amey’s final TD reception came in the game’s final minute, with him catching the ball and falling over the boards in the arena’s west end.

Bay Area (10-5) finished the regular season in second place of the IFL’s seven-team Western Conference, where the Gladiators finished sixth.

Add Lopez, Sheridan to NM Open field

Two more bowlers won their way to next month’s New Mexico Open in a qualifier at Tenpins & More on July 9.

Antonio Lopez, who moved to Rio Rancho from El Paso a few years ago, returned to his best form, carding a six-game series of 1,411 (267-227-235-234-232-216) to beat early leader Pete Sheridan by 37 pins.

Sheridan, who opened with 264-234-269-223, dug a hole for himself in game five with 169, but recovered sufficiently with a closing 215 to finish one pin ahead of “super senior” Gary Hadley (1,374) of Santa Fe.

Former Cleveland High bowling coach Dennis Helmick (1,357) was next, followed by Eric Vanderlip (1,348), Joseph Paterson (1,321) of Socorro and Steve Shultz (1,320) in a high-scoring affair.

Meanwhile, New Mexico Open entries are coming in from all over the U.S., including 15 states as well as Canada and Mexico.

Seven former champions are signed up, including defending champion and PBA Rookie-of-the-Year Cortez Schenck of Phoenix, along with PBA standout Jakob Butturff and two-time US Open winner Francois Lavoie of Wichita, Kansas.

Local hopes for a win are pinned on a growing number of area bowlers such as last year’s runner-up JD Nance, Jacob Gill, Aileen Linares, Adrienne Hare, DeeRonn Booker and Brian Skidmore.

Tournament organizer Steve Mackie expects a field of more than 200 that awards a record $70,450 prize money in the tournament’s 19th renewal, August 18-20, at Tenpins & More.

Knoll vies for Team USA berth

Future Rio Rancho High School baseball player Anthony Knoll was among 37 ballplayers ages 15 and under who represented the Southwest Region August 9-13 in the USA Baseball NTIS Champions Cup in Cary, North Carolina.

Rams coach Ron Murphy said Knoll, “a great kid and student,” has spent the past two seasons on the Rams’ junior varsity teams and in 2024, when he’ll be a sophomore, he’ll compete for time in the outfield and on the mound.

As of press time, the Team USA roster had not been finalized.

Baseball camp for kids is August 5

Former big-leaguer German Duran will hold a baseball camp for youngsters ages 8-15 on the Cibola Little League fields, 3620 Chayote Road.

The cost is $100. The camp will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

For more information, call Isaac at 505-967-3104. To register, head to ballcharts.com/baseball.

‘Summer Brawl’

West Sider Gino Rivera’s “Off the Ropes” wrestling school is set to display its talent in “Summer Brawl,” on August 11 at 7 p.m. at Lava Rock Brewing Company.

Doors open at 6:30; admission is $15.

Bo knows winning

Former Rio Rancho High School wrestler Bo Nickal, 27, needed just 38 seconds to dispatch Val Woodburn at UFC 290 on July 8, but his quick finish won’t necessarily result in a quick turnaround for his next fight.

Right after his win, Nickal announced he’s about to become a father and plans to take time off for hunting trips. Nickal could rush back for another fight or two before the end of 2023. But it turns out that’s the last thing he cares about when it comes to his career trajectory.

“There’s a chance (I don’t fight again this year),” Nickal said on The NMA Hour. “I could easily fight two more times. I could fight next week if I wanted, but for me, everything that I’m training for and preparing for is my 10th title defense down the road. I’m not preparing for my next fight. That’s my mindset always, so I’m going to do what prepares me best for 10 title defenses.”

Nickal just turned pro back in June 2022, and barely 13 months later, he’s already put together a perfect 5-0 resume with two wins in the UFC and two wins on the Contender Series. All of his wins came in the first round.

Nickal was a student in Rio Rancho for four years, when his father, Jason, was the RRHS wrestling coach and led the Rams to four state titles in that span. Bo, then an eighth-grader, lost to Cleveland freshman Paul Mascarenas in a state championship match, in what became Nickal’s final match as a Ram.