ALAMOSA – The Alamosa High School football team came away with a shutout for the third straight week as the Mean Moose blanked Montezuma-Cortez 40-0 Friday at the AHS stadium.

“We’re playing really good football right now,” said Alamosa coach Drew Sandlin. “After those two losses early in the season, I feel like we’ve cleaned some things up and the boys are playing their butts off. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

The teams exchanged punts to start the game, but the Mean Moose struck with 4:45 left in the first quarter as Tony Griego ran 20 yards on a quarterback keeper for a touchdown. Christian Hernandez made the extra point and Alamosa led 7-0.

Griego then set up the next touchdown as he intercepted Cody Case and he returned the ball to the Panthers’ 23. A.J. Baker scored on an 8-yard run five plays later, and Hernandez again converted the point-after for a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Griego’s arm accounted for the next touchdown as he tossed a 31-yard strike to Anthony Montoya-Gallegos early in the second quarter. Hernandez’s point-after attempt was blocked and the Mean Moose led 20-0.

Griego threw another touchdown pass late in the second quarter, this time a 28-yard scoring strike to Elijah Salazar. The extra point attempt again was blocked, and Alamosa had a 26-0 advantage at the intermission.

The lead grew to 33-0 as Baker scored for the second time, this time from 29 yards out. Hernandez made the extra point.

After Cortez attempted a fake punt at midfield but failed, Alamosa scored again. Griego threw his third touchdown, this time a 53-yard toss to Brennan Maez. Hernandez made the point-after with 2:46 left and the rest of the game was played under a running clock.

The Panthers came the closest to scoring late in the game as they drove to the Alamosa 30. But Cortez turned the ball over on downs.

Alamosa accumulated 412 yards of total offense – 183 rushing and 229 passing.

Griego led the offense as he completed 14 of 26 passes for 229 yards and three touchdowns. Brennan Maez was his top target with eight receptions for 133 yards. Gallegos-Montoya had two catches for 36 yards, Nelson Arambula had two for 32 yards, and Salazar had two for 28 yards.

Baker led the ground game with 109 yards on 10 carries, and Griego had 71 rushing yards on 12 carries.

The Mean Moose defense limited Cortez to just 63 yards of total offense. The Panthers had 59 yards on the ground with Parker Conrad gaining 36 yards on 20 carries.

Case completed just three of 12 attempts for four yards.

Alamosa (5-2, 3-0) will host Salida this coming Friday at 7 p.m.

“I’m sure they’re excited to come down here and play us,” Sandlin said. “It’s going to be another tough football game. You can’t take anyone for granted this time of year. We have to keep playing our best football.”

Alamosa 40, Montezuma-Cortez 0

Montezuma-Cortez 0 0 0 0 – 0

Alamosa 14 12 14 0 – 40

First quarter

A – Griego 20 run (Hernandez kick), 4:45

A – Baker 8 run (Hernandez kick), 0:51

Second quarter

A – Montoya-Gallegos 31 pass from Griego (kick blocked), 9:15

A – Salazar 28 pass from Griego (kick blocked), 1:40

Third quarter

A – Baker 29 run (Hernandez kick), 5:29

A – B. Maez 53 pass from Griego (Hernandez kick), 2:46