Defense wins games — it’s an old adage in football that’s been around for decades.
In Philomath High’s 27-21 homecoming win on Friday night over a talented Junction City squad, the Warriors flashed on special teams with a 100-yard kickoff return, picked up considerable rushing yards, including a 95-yard sprint to the end zone, and overcame four turnovers and 151 penalty yards to pick up a much-needed victory.
COMING LATER THIS WEEKEND: PHS HOMECOMING KING AND QUEEN ANNOUNCED
Although those accomplishments contributed to the end result, it was a strong defensive effort that pushed the Warriors toward another notch in the win column. Head coach Alex Firth noted how Philomath’s defense stuffed Junction City on first-and-goal at the 2-yard line as the final seconds of the first half ticked away.
Gallery: PHS football vs. Junction City (Oct. 17, 2025)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 27-21 football victory over Junction City at Clemens Field on Friday.
“I think the play at the end of the first half on the goal line set the tone for the rest of the game,” Firth said. “Then we just started getting dialed in and took a lot away from what they could do.”
Junction City senior Kaden Shafer had scored a touchdown in the first quarter on a QB run and the Tigers believed that they could repeat that success just before halftime. The play went nowhere.
“We had a bunch of energy coming out for the second half,” PHS senior Josiah Peters said. “We got that good tackle in the backfield, which really set us up to push hard in the second half.”
Philomath took a 27-21 lead in the opening seconds of the third quarter and shut out the visiting Tigers the rest of the way.
“This was a completely defensive game,” Warriors senior Rocco De La Rosa said. “I thought that our defense executed phenomenally — just the best that we possibly could.”
Philomath came out hot in the first quarter with the defense forcing a three-and-out and then the offense putting together an 11-play, 80-yard drive to go up, 7-0. The Warriors picked up key first downs on a third-down pass from junior quarterback AJ Altishin to senior CD Nuño and on a fourth down when junior Gavin Bennett moved the chains.
De La Rosa scored the first of his three touchdowns on a pass from Altishin that covered 25 yards.
The Tigers caught a break later in the quarter when Philomath misjudged the ball on a punt inside the 20 and fumbled it away. Three plays later, Shafer got into the end zone to tie the score.
Junction City (4-3, 2-1) took a 14-7 lead with 8:08 left in the first half on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Shafer to senior running back Staton Barnes, who represented the Tigers’ biggest offensive threat.
“I don’t know how many yards No. 2 (Barnes) had but we limited his rushing,” Firth said. “We did a really good job in terms of shutting the run down, which I think they lean pretty heavily on.”
Barnes finished with 53 yards rushing on 19 carries and also caught six passes for 112 yards.
Philomath didn’t stay down long, however, and tied the game, 14-14, on a 5-yard TD run by De La Rosa, who took the snap out of the wildcat formation.
Junction City followed with another touchdown on its next possession when Shafer threw a perfect pass to senior receiver Jackson Roderick over the middle in the end zone. The Warriors trailed again, 21-14.
Then things got a little crazy. On the ensuing kickoff, Junction City booted a deep ball that had De La Rosa backed up to the goal line. If the Tigers had any thoughts of pinning the Warriors deep, those quickly vanished as De La Rosa instead had some running room to build up speed.
“I looked over to the sideline and saw this crew over here and after that, I was like, ‘I have to house it,’” De La Rosa said, referring to his teammates on the return unit. “They (blockers) got really far upfield and created a lot of vertical seams.”
De La Rosa not only took advantage of those open running lanes but he also put on a display of exceptional athleticism by breaking a couple of tackles on his way to the end zone.
“I didn’t realize how deep I was (on the return) until I was so gassed,” De La Rosa said.
Philomath scored the TD with just 49 seconds left in the first half but the Tigers were able to move the ball downfield in quick fashion. Barnes ran for 12 and then caught a pass for 21 to get the ball to the 30. After an incompletion, Shafter hit Barnes again out of the backfield for a 28-yard gain down to the 2.
But the Tigers had no timeouts remaining and had time for only one more play. That’s when Philomath’s defense stuffed the quarterback and kept him out of the end zone.
The Warriors received the ball to begin the second half and stumbled a little out of the gate. A couple of incomplete passes and penalties for holding and intentional grounding had Philomath backed up in a third-and-41 situation from its own 5-yard line.
That’s when Nuño took the ball out of the wildcat and scored on a 95-yard run.
“I faked the outside run to Rocco and then I just followed my pullers and they did a great job of kicking them out and gave me a great hole to run through,” Nuño said. “I had to break one tackle and then I was off to the races.”
De La Rosa finished with five catches for 83 yards and also ran 14 times for 77 yards. Nuño’s long run helped him reach 116 yards on 11 carries to go along with four catches for 34 yards. Both PHS players have been breaking tackles all season and racking up impressive YAC (yards after contact) numbers. It can be a telling statistic.
“I try and pride myself in having confidence that I can get yards after the catch,” De La Rosa said. “It’s very comforting going into the game knowing that I can believe in myself like that.”
Firth knows those hard-fought yards can be the difference between winning and losing.
“The whole basis of our offense is little short passes to guys that can catch and run,” Firth said. “If we can get the ball quickly out to a kid in space and just let him run, I mean, it works really well for us.”
Against Junction City, the Warriors provided plenty of examples. Nuño, De La Rosa and Bennett combined ran for 252 yards.
“Like I told them, ‘it’s going to be two yards, two yards, two yards and then it’s going to be a 60-yard touchdown,” Firth said. “You just keep working it, keep trusting it and eventually it pops.”
After Nuño’s long TD run, Philomath’s defense forced a three-and-out. On offense again, the Warriors put together a 15-play drive that ended with an interception by Junction City’s Roderick inside the 10. Although Philomath scored no points, the possession had taken 7 minutes, 20 seconds off the clock.
The Tigers were not able to do anything following the interception and punted after another three-and-out. But Junction City got another takeaway when junior Zaidensen Dodson’s interception brought the ball to near midfield.
Three straight incompletions led to another three-and-out for Philomath’s defense. The Tigers had all but abandoned the running game with Barnes getting fewer carries in the second half.
“We really stepped it up this game,” Nuño said about the defense. “We’ve had some problems with the inside run in the past couple games but in this game we stepped it up. They could not run up the middle, which I think was the reason we stopped him (Barnes) pretty much every time unless you gave him a short field or something. The defense was locked down because of that inside run stop.”
Junction City still had opportunities. The Tigers stopped Philomath on a fourth-and-one at the 21 to take over on downs. On the team’s first offensive play, junior Madix Waldrop caught a 21-yard pass after De La Rosa had tipped the ball as they went down the right sideline. But on the next play, Nuño knocked down a pass at the line of scrimmage.
After another incompletion, Josiah and Jamin Peters sacked the quarterback to bring up fourth-and-long.
As the game clock approached five minutes remaining, Philomath fumbled the ball away at the Tigers 33. Junction City was again in business with another shot to tie or take the lead. The drive went nowhere and in fact, it went backwards. On fourth-and-18 from their own 25, the Tigers decided to try to pick up a first down with time ticking away. Josiah Peters delivered with a QB sack.
“My guy tried throwing me on the ground, so I got around him and then I saw Jamin come around the backside of the quarterback, so I saw him and went for him,” Peters explained.
Philomath got the ball at the 12-yard line but still couldn’t punch it into the end zone for insurance points. A penalty and huge loss on a fumble put the Warriors too far behind the chains.
Junction City got the ball back with 1:39 remaining for one last shot at pulling out a win. The Tigers made things interesting and picked up a couple of first downs to get down to the PHS 38. On a second-and-10 play, Shafer tried to find a receiver down the left sideline but Philomath junior Bryce Hruska was in position and came away with an interception to end the threat.
“After that first one that I missed, I knew that they were going to try it again,” Hruska said about the pick. “I just knew I had to be ready for it.”
Philomath was able to run the clock out to secure the win.
“It was a must win, it was pretty much a playoff game for us,” Hruska said.
De La Rosa knew the stakes were high.
“We lose one more game and it’s tough going to the playoffs,” he said. “We’ve been there before where we’ve been on the outskirts and we just don’t want that to happen again.”
Junction City was limited to 250 total yards with only 36 on the ground.
“We had a good week of practice this week and it really showed up,” Hruska said about the defense. “We were definitely putting in more effort … it showed towards the end.”
Philomath’s Altishin completed 12 of 20 passes for 161 yards. Beyond Nuño and De La Rosa, Josiah Peters caught a couple of passes for 34 yards. Bennett and Hruska had single receptions. On the team stat sheet, Philomath finished with 406 yards of total offense and held a 19-12 advantage in first downs.
One of the most incredible statistics in the game, however, involved penalties. Philomath had 12 penalties for 151 yards while Junction City had 11 for 119. That’s a combined 270 penalty yards.
The Warriors will now turn its attention to Marist Catholic, the Eugene school that won the 4A title last season.
“Now we just need to focus on Marist,” Peters said. “That’s our next big win.”
Marist defeated Cottage Grove, 35-0, to go to 3-4 overall and 2-1 in the league. Last week, the Spartans defeated Crescent Valley, 49-21.
“I think it’s going to be a little wet so we’ve got to find a little bit more run game in the rain but it’s on turf so it won’t quite be the mud festival it was last year,” Firth said. “But they’re a really good program, well coached, and it will be a huge challenge for us.”
Philomath 27, Junction City 21
Friday, Oct. 17, at Clemens Field, Philomath HS
Team 1 2 3 4 F Junction City (4-3, 2-1) 7 14 0 0 20 Philomath (5-2, 2-1) 7 14 6 0 27
First Quarter
PHS — De La Rosa 25 pass from Altishin (Grapoli kick), 5:38
JC — Shafer 4 run (Van Hecke kick), 1:30
Second Quarter
JC — Barnes 27 pass from Shafer (Van Hecke kick), 8:08
PHS — De La Rosa 5 run (Grapoli kick), 5:25
JC — Roderick 19 pass from Shafer (Van Hecke kick), 1:08
PHS — De La Rosa 100 kickoff return (Grapoli kick), 0:49
Third Quarter
PHS — Nuno 95 run (kick failed), 11:11
Category JC PHS First Downs 12 19 Total Net Yards 250 406 Rushes-Yards 25-36 40-245 Passing 214 161 Punt Returns 0-0 0-0 Kickoff Returns 5-54 4-142 Interception Ret. 2-33 1-0 Comp-Att-Int 11-27-1 12-20-2 Punts 6-32.5 1-25.0 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 4-2 Penalties-Yards 11-119 12-151
Individual Statistics
RUSHING—Junction City, Barnes 19-53, Shafer 6-(-17). Philomath, Nuño 11-116, De La Rosa 14-77, Bennett 12-59, Altishin 3-(-7).
PASSING—Junction City, Shafer 11-27-1-214. Philomath, Altishin 12-20-2-161.
RECEIVING—Junction City, Barnes 6-112, Waldrop 3-57, Roderick 2-45. Philomath, De La Rosa 4-83, Nuño 4-34, Jo. Peters 2-34, Bennett 1-6, Hruska 1-4.
