On Friday night after the final buzzer, Philomath High celebrated a 26-14 football victory over Sweet Home and an apparent berth in the Class 4A state playoffs. Late that night, the Oregon School Activities Association finalized the standings, determined the qualifiers and filled out the playoff bracket with Philomath seeded 10th and assigned to play Nov. 7 on the road at seventh-seeded La Grande.
But on Saturday morning, it was announced that a rules violation occurred when a player competed in both Thursday’s junior varsity game and Friday’s varsity contest without the required 48-hour rest period between games.
So with a loss instead of a win, Philomath does not make the playoffs. Instead, Sweet Home advances to the postseason.
Players learned of the forfeit through an email from athletic director Mike Hood and communications from coaches.
“I was informed by the Sweet Home athletic director that we had a player play six quarters in a row — two quarters on Thursday and four quarters on Friday,” Hood said. “The rule is, you can play six quarters but you have to have a 48-hour break and that did not happen.”
Head coach Alex Firth took full responsibility for the oversight.
“Right, wrong or indifferent, this is going to sound like a lame excuse, but I was under the impression that kids could play six quarters in a week at the 4A level,” Firth said. “Apparently, there’s a 48-hour rule between contests that I was not aware of or I conveniently forgot, I don’t know.”
The JV game had originally been scheduled for Monday but was moved to Thursday at Sweet Home’s request. Hood said he agreed to the change to allow players one final JV game before the postseason.
“We thought that was a good idea so we changed it to Thursday not knowing that there was a 48-hour rule in place,” Hood said. “That’s the oversight on our part.”
The affected players were a freshman and a sophomore who played out of necessity due to low roster numbers, Firth said. Initially, one player was identified, but while reviewing game film, Firth discovered that the team had violated the rule with the participation of a second player.
“It’s not like we were intentionally trying to sandbag and swing juniors down to a JV game and then turn around and play varsity,” Firth said. “I mean, we played a freshman and a sophomore and it was out of necessity, not out of any sort of nefarious plan that we had cooked up.”
Both Firth and Hood expressed frustration that the rule penalizes student-athletes rather than coaches or administrators.
“The rule seems pretty draconian,” Firth said. “I’m like, ‘why not just suspend the head coach for the next game and not penalize the kids.’ That’s not how their rule is written.”
“It’s an unfortunate rule that penalizes kids,” Hood said. “There are a lot of alternatives that would be punishment enough but for us to miss out on that (playoff) opportunity is just devastating.”
Hood consulted with OSAA assistant executive director Kris Welch, who oversees football and eligibility questions. While an appeal process exists, officials said no emergency mechanism would allow a resolution before the playoff game.
“We talked with the OSAA and we can file an appeal but nothing will happen prior to the playoffs,” Firth said. “So even if we were to ‘win the appeal,’ I don’t think it affects our playoff status.”
The participation limitation rule is outlined in the OSAA Handbook’s Participation Limitations section and is detailed in the 2025 Fall Football Memo distributed to athletic directors and coaches at the start of the season.
Following the news of the forfeiture on Saturday, the OSAA updated the final Special District 3 standings and reconfigured the 4A playoff bracket.
Senior wide receiver CD Nuño said he was confused at first by the news.
“I was surprised and disappointed that I won’t get to play anymore,” Nuño said. “I have more football to play (in college) but I don’t know about the rest of the seniors. For the juniors, they might not make it (the playoffs) next year so this could have been their chance to have a postseason-type thing.”
Hood prioritized getting communication out to families on Saturday. A players-only meeting was scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday.
“Both Alex and myself are just heartbroken about the whole situation because it’s an oversight on our part but it’s felt and impacted by the players and it shouldn’t be,” Hood said. “But that’s unfortunately how it is.”
Firth said player reactions have been mixed, ranging from those who understand the rules to others who are frustrated.
“In our heart of hearts, we know we won and we know we should be in the playoffs,” Firth said. “For some kids, that’s not going to be acceptable but for others, they can take solace in that. The handful of seniors I’ve talked to seem to be dealing with it fairly well.”
But again, it’s the students who will miss out on the experience of competing in the state playoffs.
“I tell the kids to take ownership of their mistakes and I take ownership of my mistake,” Firth said. “I think it’s unfortunate that we punish kids in a situation like this and not the adults. But that’s the rules.”