Moose blank Homer

HOMER — Friday turned out to be a pretty good day for the Palmer Moose defense.

Palmer notched its second shutout of the season and a pair of Moose defensive players found the end zone during a 48-0 win over Homer at Homer High School.

“Other than a couple mistakes, we shut them down real well,” Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said by phone of the win. “There was a misread here and there, but for the most part they did pretty well.”

Nick Benshetler stripped the ball from a Homer player and returned it 10 yards for a score and Chase Ferris returned an interception more than 60 yards for the touchdown to help Palmer improve to 4-1 overall.

Nathaniel Aumavae scored a pair of rushing touchdowns during the win. Zeth Merritt, Ben Aumavae and James Nisbett also scored on the ground. Nathan Pempek converted 6 of 7 extra point attempts.

Full statistics were not available as of press time.

“We kind of spread it around,” Christiansen said of the offensive game plan.

Palmer led only 13-0 at halftime, but exploded for five second-half touchdowns. Christiansen said the goal was to rebound from last week’s loss to Woodinville (Wash.) and prepare for a tough stretch that includes conference games against Railbelt rivals Lathrop, Colony and Wasilla during the final three weeks of the regular season.

“We’re getting ready for conference play,” Christiansen said.

Christiansen said Homer, which dropped to 1-3 with the loss, played the Moose tough during the first two quarters.

“They made a couple plays. They were battling,” Christiansen said. “We gave them good field position a couple times.”

Palmer capped the conference portion of its schedule Friday in Homer and is now 3-1 against nonleague opponents. As the Moose enter a three-game stretch against Railbelt foes, Palmer finds itself in the center of a jumble of teams in the conference standings.

Lathrop (2-1 in Railbelt play) remains at the top of the Railbelt standings despite a 28-23 loss to Colony Friday. The Knights improved to 1-1 with the win over Lathrop. West Valley and Wasilla are both 1-2 in conference after West Valley’s 20-13 upset of the Warriors at Wasilla High Friday night.

Palmer is 1-0 in the Railbelt.