ALAMOSA – The Alamosa High School football team hosted its annual Homecoming game on Friday with winless Gunnison coming to town.

The Mean Moose had a slow start but picked up the pace in the second half as they rolled to a 44-15 win over the Cowboys.

“We had some mistakes in the first half that hurt us,” said Alamosa coach Drew Sandlin. “An interception on our first drive and sacks the second time we were in the red zone and penalties. We cleaned that up after the half and really turned it on.”

Alamosa had the ball first and drove into Gunnison territory. However, Grady Buckhanan intercepted Dyson Woodward to end the drive.

The Mean Moose defense accounted for the first scoring of the game as Ryan Higareda intercepted Jorge Perez and returned the pick 39 yards for a touchdown. Anthony Griego tossed a pass to Carlos Garcia on the two-point conversion and Alamosa led 8-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Alamosa drove deep into Gunnison territory on its first possession of the second quarter getting to the 10-yard line. However, two sacks pushed the Mean Moose back and they turned the ball over on downs.

The Cowboys got their offense going on their next possession, however, Higareda recorded his second interception to end the drive.

The Mean Moose got into the end zone on offense on their next possession. First Woodward threw a 66-yard pass to Kevin Gonzales to put Alamosa into the red zone. Woodward capped off the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run two plays later. The snap went directly to Zane Zook on the two-point conversion and Alamosa led 16-0 at halftime.

Gunnison had the ball first in the second half but punted. The kick pinned the Mean Moose on their own 4, but Woodward threw a 92-yard scoring strike to Gonzales two plays later. Higareda made the extra point for a 23-0 lead.

Alamosa got another touchdown on their next possession with Zook scoring on a 1-yard plunge. Higareda again made the point-after and the Mean Moose led 30-0.

Gunnison finally got on the scoreboard late in the third quarter. Buckhanan went eight yards for a touchdown and Talon Kibler made the extra point to cut the lead to 30-7 at the end of the third quarter.

Alamosa scored again early in the fourth quarter with Woodward running 46 yards for a touchdown. Higareda kicked the point-after for a 37-7 lead.

The Mean Moose got one more touchdown late in the game as Woodward threw a screen pass to Zook who then went 26 yards to the end zone. Higareda again booted the extra point for a 44-7 advantage.

Gunnison scored their final touchdown with 32 seconds remaining with Buckhanan running in from four yards out. Kibler threw to Oliver Parker for two points to wrap up the scoring.

Alamosa accumulated 505 yards of total offense – 299 rushing and 206 passing.

Woodward accounted for 401 of the yards as he completed five of 10 passes for 206 yards and he also led the ground game with 195 yards on 20 carries. He also accounted for four touchdowns – two rushing and two passing.

Zook ran for 89 yards on 17 carries.

Gonzales was Woodward’s top target as he had four receptions for 180 yards. Zook had one catch for 26 yards.

Gunnison had 232 total yards with 170 coming on the ground. Buckhanan had 151 yards on 28 carries.

Alamosa (4-2, 2-0) will travel over Wolf Creek Pass this coming Friday to face Montezuma-Cortez. First place in the Intermountain League is on the line as the Panthers are also 2-0 in conference after a 34-27 win over Salida.

“Cortez is really good,” Sandlin said. “We have film on them as they played Gunnison the week before us. They have weapons. Their running back is one of the best in 2A in my opinion so we’re going to have to play good football next week.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Alamosa 44, Gunnison 15

Gunnison        0          0          7          8 – 15

Alamosa          8          8          14        14 – 44

First quarter

A – Higareda 39 interception return (Garcia pass from Griego), 0:00

Second quarter

A – Woodward 9 run (Zook run), 0:36

Third quarter

A – Gonzales 92 pass from Woodward (Higareda kick), 8:15

A – Zook 1 run (Higareda kick), 2:46

G – Buckhanan 8 run (Kibler kick), 0:20

Fourth quarter

A – Woodward 46 run (Higareda kick), 10:58

A – Zook 26 pass from Woodward (Higareda kick), 4:11

G – Buckhanan 4 run (Parker pass from Kibler), 0:32

NOTE: This story will be published in the October 15 edition.