Playing behind a dominant defense that shut down Milwaukie’s most-dangerous weapon and operating an offense that hit on all cylinders with accurate passing and blazing speed, the Philomath High School football team went to 2-0 Friday night at Clemens Field with a 49-0 victory.
In the program’s most-lopsided win since a 52-0 outcome at Valley Catholic in 2021, the Warriors executed a game play that stressed a higher level of aggressiveness on defense combined with a tactical approach on offense that put a spotlight on the home team’s exceptional athleticism.
Gallery: PHS football vs. Milwaukie (Sept. 13, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath’s 49-0 football victory at home over Milwaukie on Friday.
Philomath’s defense found itself in Milwaukie’s backfield often for a sack, tackles for loss and quarterback hurries. If the Mustangs did get off an attempt through the air, the Warriors were most often in position on the back end for a pass breakup.
“The defense just played lights out,” PHS coach Alex Firth said. “We changed a few things up a little bit and got a little bit more aggressive in our blitz game.”
Milwaukie senior quarterback Damon Lang finished the game with 75 yards rushing and 70 yards passing but the bulk of those came in the fourth quarter against backups.
“We put a lot of pressure on their quarterback — he was actually their best athlete and we were most concerned about him breaking ‘contains’ so keeping him in the pocket … and getting pressure on him was a big deal,” Firth said.
The Warriors disrupted the Milwaukie offense all night with an attack that resulted in a sack by junior Lake Mulberry, an interception by sophomore Kaden Howard and in the fourth quarter, a fumble recovery by senior Jeshua Gonzalez-Bush. Junior Tiernan Bovbjerg had a tackle for loss and a QB hurry and others contributed as well, including key pass breakups by junior Rocco De La Rosa on a fourth down play and sophomore Bryce Hruska on a long ball late.
“On defense, we knew that their quarterback was going to scramble and try and get out of the pocket,” Bovbjerg said. “We knew he was their best athlete and all week we were just taught — keep outside, keep outside even if we’re blitzing up the gut, it’ll get pushed out to you and you better stay there. If you’re not there, there’s an issue.”
Milwaukie finished with less than 200 total yards with most coming in the second half after the game had been decided.
“The coaches are coaching us up good, we’re learning and we’re doing good,” Bovbjerg said. “We’ve got new plays, new formations every week and we’re ready to go.”
The Warriors had several thrilling moments on offense with a number of explosive plays. Senior Caleb Russell threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns, senior Warwick Bushnell had three catches for 90 yards and two TDs and junior CD Nuno had four catches for 74 yards and a TD. De La Rosa and senior Hudson Raab also had catches.
“When you have four receivers like that, you can’t take one away,” Firth said. “I mean, a lot of teams have one kid and teams will try to scheme them away and we have four — actually, we have four, five, six kids that we can throw the ball to and hit a home run.”
Senior Grant Niemann was a weapon out of the backfield with 74 yards and a TD as well as three receptions for 36 yards. It appeared as though he had a 53-yard TD reception late in the first quarter but it got called back on a penalty for a blindside block.
Philomath simply dominated the first half. Through the first two quarters, the Warriors outgained the Mustangs in total yardage, 309 to 85, and that number could have been even more lopsided if not for 70 yards in penalties. Philomath’s first-half all-purpose yards — which includes kickoff, punt and interception returns — added up to 423 yards.
The game opened with a 41-yard kickoff return by De La Rosa to give the Warriors good field position. Later in a first-and-20 situation because of a holding penalty, Russell connected with a wide-open Nuno, who made the catch and sprinted to the end zone for a play that covered 45 yards.
On Philomath’s second possession, Russell was flinging around pass completions to Nuno, Bushnell and Rabb that led to a short-yardage situation near the goal line. Junior Lake Mulberry crashed into the end zone on a 1-yard TD run.
Mulberry said he got “fairly lean during wrestling season” last winter and with former running back Kaden Muir graduating, an opportunity to move from the offensive line into the backfield presented itself. Niemann gets the bulk of the carries but in short-yardage looks, Firth favors his bigger back to muscle forward.
“Get me on goal and I’ll probably get it in,” Mulberry laughed.
On Milwaukie’s ensuing possession, Howard came up with his interception on a third-and-15 play. A 13-yard return set up the Warriors with another short field at the 39. Three plays later, Bushnell danced into the end zone with a 36-yard TD pass from Russell.
On the play, Bushnell said, “I’m the backside guy and I just run deep and if I beat the guy, I get the ball.”
Philomath’s next possession carried over into the second quarter and included the long TD catch and run by Niemann that was called back. Still, the Warriors came through with Russell hitting De La Rosa on a 35-yard pass to get the ball down to the 3. Two plays later on the first play of the fourth quarter, Raab shuffled over to the center, took the snap and scored from 2 yards out.
The Warriors extended the lead to 36-0 with 10:18 left in the second quarter. After getting the ball on downs after a defensive stop, Philomath scored in just two plays with another Russell-to-Bushnell TD — this one covering 42 yards.
“They were starting to play really far off and so we were doing screen passes where two of the receivers block for the other receiver, who just turns and catches the ball,” Bushnell said. “CD and Rocco did a great job blocking for me and the rest is history.”
On the play previous to the touchdown, Philomath maintained possession on a fumble recovery by senior Peyton Humphrey.
Philomath added more points to the lead at the 3:20 mark on an eight-yard TD run by Niemann. It was his fifth straight carry on the drive. The Warriors led 43-0 at the break.
In the second half, the mercy rule of a running clock went into effect and the minutes passed by in quick fashion. The Warriors got in their backup players and added another score to the total on a 5-yard TD run by junior Mathew Ropp. A key play on the drive was a 14-yard reception by Niemann from sophomore quarterback AJ Altishin.
“We’ve been working hard in the offseason, we’ve been grinding all summer and now to get these wins, it feels good,” Mulberry said. “To let the second string play — we don’t have a lot of players for JV — it’s just good to get them in, which makes for a good relationship for the whole team.”
Bushnell also enjoyed seeing the backups get into the game.
“It’s fun for us older kids when we get the younger kids in there for a long time,” Bushnell said. “We can tell, they’re all nervous and stuff but we’re there cheering them on.”
By the end of Friday night, Philomath was one of only six unbeaten teams remaining in Class 4A — four of those in the Oregon West (Stayon at 3-0, Cascade at 2-0 and Sweet Home at 1-0 heading into a Saturday night road game). The other two are Henley and Crook County. It’s the first 2-0 start for the Warriors since 2021.
Bushnell was a freshman on that team in 2021 but has seen the program go through some rough stretches over the past few years. He senses a more positive vibe among his teammates this fall.
“We’re all so happy to be here and we’re all picking each other up and hyping each other up,” Bushnell said. “It’s just been really fun being a senior and trying to be one of the leaders and be a good influence on the younger kids … it’s like a family here.”
Philomath now turns its attention to North Bend, a team that went 7-3 last year but missed the 4A playoffs with a fifth-place finish in its district. The Bulldogs enter next week’s game with the Warriors with a 1-1 record, which includes a 35-24 loss to Seaside and a 24-12 win at Gladstone. The Bulldogs didn’t play Friday night with a bye week on their schedule.
“They’re pretty good, so that’ll be a challenge,” Firth said. “It’ll be kind of a litmus test for us.”
Friday’s road game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
