COLORADO SPRINGS — Playing in their first playoff game since 2011, the Alamosa Mean Moose boy’s soccer team fell short in what was a mythical climb to move on in the Class 3A State Tournament. The No. 1 seeded Atlas Preparatory Gryphons earned a hard-fought 2-0 win over the No. 32 seeded Alamosa squad on Thursday afternoon.

The contest started with both teams feeling out the others offensive capabilities by battling for field position.

After several back-and-forth volleys, the Gryphons took control of ball possession and field position as they stretched out the Mean Moose defense with their precision passes. Atlas eventually took the lead in the 18th minute as Luis Vega got a nice feed from Lamario Nisbeth before firing a 25-yard shot that arched over the head of Alamosa goalkeeper Jonathan Spangler.

The Gryphons did not pull off the gas as they forced Spangler to make a diving save in the 26th minute.

They then struck again in the 36th minute when Demitrio Arazia decided to take a deep shot that had a David Beckham-like curve that bent past a diving Spangler into the top right corner for the second tally.

Alamosa attempted to push the pace to start the second half. While they controlled a majority of the momentum in the second half, they couldn’t capitalize on their opportunities and they went scoreless.

Alamosa ends the 2018 season with a  7-8-1 record.