KIRTLAND—Kirtland has a renovated stadium and a new turf playing surface, but some things never change.
The Hornets opened a new era at Wilson Stadium with a dominating 49-14 win over visiting Lutheran West on Saturday.
Behind Rocco Alfieri, who scored four touchdowns and ran for a game-high 126 yards on 13 carries, the Hornets accumulated 343 yards on the ground in overwhelming the Longhorns.
Kirtland recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff and Alfieri turned it into a four-yard TD run moments later.
He added an eight-yard touchdown run with 4:26 left in the opening quarter to push the Kirtland lead to 14-0.
Lutheran West’s Da’Quarius Bradley ran for a 33-yard touchdown with 11:17 left in the first half to pull the Longhorns to within 14-7, but that’s as close as they’d get.
Alfieri added five and 38-yard touchdown runs and Will Sayle returned an interception 23 yards for a touchdown to push the Kirtland lead to 35-7 at the break.
MacGuire Boyd ran for a one-yard touchdown and Gino Blasini turned the corner and sprinted for a 71-yard score to put the game out of reach.
The Longhorns closed out the scoring with a 34-yard touchdown pass from Jalany Theodore to his brother Jamany Theodore with 8:30 left in the game.
Kirtland’s Will Beers added 106 rushing yards on nine carries. Jake LaVerde closed out the game 2-of-3 passing for 29 yards.
