5A’s best backs, La Cueva’s Daniels, Hobbs’ Smith, collide Ronnie Daniels may never have heard of the NFL’s single-season rushing leader, but he has heard of the guy who helped the Washington Redskins win Super Bowl XXII. ... Daniels’ mother, Carol, was familiar with Timmy Smith — aka the greatest one-hit wonder in Super Bowl history and perhaps the greatest running back in New Mexico prep football history — when the two attended college together in the early 1980s. ... Tonight, Carol’s son and Smith’s nephew will have a reunion, of sorts, on the Wilson Stadium artificial turf as Hobbs visits heavily favored La Cueva in the quarterfinal round of the Class 5A state playoffs. ... It is one of 16 playoff games in six classifications taking place this weekend. That includes championship games in 1A and Eight Man, as well as two games tonight in Albuquerque. ... Daniels is, of course, the state’s most ballyhooed ball carrier since Smith was running wild for Hobbs a generation ago. Daniels, a 6-foot-2, 210 pound junior, was on pace to exceed 2,000 yards until a midseason shoulder injury kept him out of the lineup for two games. ... He has 1,698 yards and 27 touchdowns thus far. He’s averaging 9.38 yards per carry. ... Smith’s nephew is Patrick Smith, a senior at Hobbs who led Class 5A in rushing during the regular season. His 2,087 yards (with 22 TDs) ranks eighth in state history. He’s also 219 yards short of his uncle’s former state record set way back in 1981. ... “I’m not sure you can compare Patrick to Ronnie,” said Hobbs coach Bruce Dollar. “You certainly can’t compare Patrick to his uncle, either. Patrick and Timmy might come from the same family but they’re not the same kind of runner.” ... At 5-8 and 158 pounds, the younger Smith lacks the speed (4.8 seconds in the 40) and lateral quickness that made his uncle the Redskins’ hero against the Broncos on Super Sunday. ... Growing up in Hobbs with Timmy Smith as an uncle wasn’t necessarily easy. Every time Patrick touched a football people expected him to flash the kind of moves that made his uncle a legend in their basketball-crazed town. ... “All I know is that we won a playoff game and my uncle’s teams never did,” Patrick Smith said. “That’s the big difference right now.” ... What Patrick did get from Uncle Timmy was his vision. ... “He sees the field so well,” Dollar said. “He’s not fast when you time him, but he’s what I like to call ‘football fast.’” ... If Smith is, in Dollar’s words, a cannon ball of a runner, Daniels is the kind that makes people recall the glory days of Uncle Timmy and all the other New Mexico greats. ... “I coached against Eric Dickerson in high school, and (Daniels) is a lot like him,” Dollar said. “They both have that upright running style, they both have great speed and they’re both strong. He’s just like Dickerson.” ... “I don’t know who that is,” Daniels admitted after Thursday’s practice at La Cueva. ... Smith said the fact that he and Daniels have never met doesn’t mean the two are oblivious to each other. ... “They say he’s the best running back in the state,” Smith said of his counterpart. “I can’t wait to see him play.” ... As for Daniels, he’s keeping an eye on the bottom line. The state’s leading rusher until his injury, he says the race for the 5A rushing title isn’t over. Not by a long shot. ... “I’m waiting until the end of the season,” he said. “He’s up there, yeah, but I might have a couple more games. We’ll see when it’s over.” ...
(By Will Webber) Two players for the Lobo men’s soccer team lay lifeless on the cold yellow grass. Fans, who had stomped on metal seats and cheered in 40-degree weather, now milled toward the exits in silence, a look of disbelief on many faces. ... “Surreal,” someone said of UNM’s 2-1 loss.
(By Toby Smith) Regarding the Lobo women’s basketball team and its 70-56 loss Wednesday night to Oklahoma State, what a difference a conjunction makes. In the paint, the Cowgirls were pretty big and pretty quick. ... The Lobos, in sharp, high-def contrast, were big or quick — but never both.(By Rick Wright)
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