Los Alamos carving its way to pumpkin record
Upon entering Sullivan Field for Friday’s Santa Fe High-Los Alamos football game, fans were given the chance to purchase a $5 ticket to take part in an attempt to set a world record.
OK, you have our attention now. Mention Guinness World Record to anyone and it’s sure to create some interest.
Turns out, the city of Los Alamos is attempting to set a record for the most pumpkins carved at the same time. It will take place Saturday afternoon with a goal of 1,300 people slicing and dicing their way to a little October happiness.
The Hilltoppers football team is taking part. The players will take the finished carvings, load them onto a truck and spread them between the downtown library to the municipal building for a pumpkin glow later that night.
Tickets are $5 and are on sale through 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Here are the details: Only one person per pumpkin, which is provided for you once you arrive. You have to be at least 10 years old (risk management, whatyagonnado?), and the carving must include eyes, nose and a mouth, which must take at least five minutes for it to count. Each pumpkin must weigh at least 24.25 pounds, so you’ll have a big canvas to work with.
Organizers are expecting about 32,000 pounds of pumpkins to be available. The previous world record was set in, of all places, Rio Rancho. The
standard is 1,060, so organizers have even secured donated carving kits for anyone interested.
Of course you’re interested. It’s the Guinness Book of World Records, after all.
Visit www.losalamosartsvcouncil.org for more details.
So, how does a football team’s clock management go almost horribly awry? Well, don’t blame the Capital Jaguars.
Here is how Capital ran three plays without the ball carrier going out of bounds and Del Norte elected not to use any of its three timeouts led to just 69 seconds coming off the clock with 4:59 left in the Jaguars’ 20-13 win on Friday night:
◆ First down: Luke Padilla ran for three yards on first down, and time crept toward the 4-minute mark.
◆ Second down: Padilla ran for another three-yard gain, but the referees mysteriously whistle for the clock to stop. It continued to run to 3:56 and play stopped for 11 seconds to be added. However, the referees never signal for the clock to start again.
◆ Third down: Capital is called for a falsestart penalty, pushing the ball back five yards. However, officials did not start the clock. Then, Manuel Vargas runs a sweep for no a two-yard loss, but he stays inbounds. Again, referees motion for the clock to stop. Again, it doesn’t stop. After the scorekeeper resets the time to 4:00, officials (again) fail to start the clock after putting the ball in play.
◆ Fourth down: Vargas punts for 43 yards and Del Norte gets the ball at its own 31 with 3:50 left.
What could have been a game-changing sequence ended up being a fun note to add in the postscript when the Jaguars stopped Del Norte running back Isaiah Ortiz on a fourth-down play with 1:38 left. Capital managed to run out the clock without any more mysterious stoppages.
Pumpkins and candy aren’t the only things you’re excited about. The colder temps and occasional dusting on the mountains has winter sports on the mind, and this week Angel Fire Resort announced its tentative opening date of Dec. 13 — a few weeks after some of the other area resorts like Santa Fe and Taos.
This is, however, the last year for the wildly popular World Championship Shovel Races. The 41st rendition will take place from Jan. 31-Feb. 2 as part of the Angel Fire Winter Carnival.
If you’ve never been, give it a go. The only hitch is the final day of the Carnival goes head to head with the day Tom Brady leads the Patriots to another Super Bowl victory.
Probably.
Saturday night’s regular season finale for the New Mexico United was full of drama, but the club reached the playoffs in its first year on the final night of action after a 2-0 win over the Las Vegas Lights at Isotopes Park. Coupled with a 2-all tie between San Antonio FC and the Colorado Springs Switchback FC, the United earned the final playoff spot in the United Soccer League Western Conference.
The campaign to help raise money for Monte del Sol’s Axel Lozoya is going well, as the GoFundMe account his mother, Rocio Rodriguez, started three weeks ago reached $1,810 over the weekend. Lozoya, a junior midfielder for the boys soccer team, has an opportunity to try out for a U-17 team for the Monarcas Morelia, a Liga XM team in Mexico, in November.
Rodriguez is raising money to pay for the cost of travel, lodging and food for Lozoya. For more information or to donate, go to www.gofundme.com/f/soccer-travel-tomexico.
The New Mexico Highlands football team erased the donut from its win column over the weekend, beating Black Hills St. (S.D.), 17-13, in Las Vegas, N.M., on Saturday afternoon. It snapped a six-game skid dating back to last season and gave the Cowboys (1-5 overall, same record in league play) their first win in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
NMHU rushed for 288 yards, getting nearly half of them from running back James Budgett. He had 141 and scored a touchdown.
The prospects for a two-game winning streak are at least decent as the Cowboys head to South Dakota Mines next weekend. Mines is the only winless team in conference play and, at 1-6 overall, represents the chance for Highlands to win its first road game since the 2018 season opener.
Congratulations to Capital head wrestling coach Marcos Gallegos on his engagement to Katherine Garcia. Gallegos has spent the past 17 years as a part of the wrestling program and led the Jaguars to a pair of trophies in 2016 and 2017 — a third-place and a runnerup trophy.