When opposing teams scout Philomath High’s offense, coaches give a lot of attention to senior wideouts Rocco De La Rosa and CD Nuño. And it’s understandable because both players possess big-play ability and are a threat to score every time they touch the ball.
In Friday night’s 25-7 win over North Bend at Clemens Field, Philomath’s two standouts inflicted plenty of damage — Nuño had seven catches for 120 yards and De La Rosa caught a 16-yard TD pass.
Gallery: PHS football vs. North Bend (Sept. 19, 2025)
A collection of photos from Philomath High School’s 25-7 football win over North Bend at Clemens Field on Friday.
But explosive plays by junior Gavin Bennett and senior Josiah Peters were just as lethal against the Bulldogs. The game’s first touchdown came on Philomath’s second drive just a few plays after the defense had stuffed North Bend following a turnover.
On the play, Peters ran an over route and was wide open with junior quarterback AJ Altishin scrambling in the backfield. Peters made the catch, shed a tackle and scored on a 58-yard reception.
“AJ saw him and threw it to him and he was gone,” Warriors coach Alex Firth said. “He’s a big target, I mean, he’s a big, long target and he’s hard to tackle. That just adds something else to the offense.”
Philomath (2-1) then hit paydirt again on the team’s next possession. The Warriors had a short field after North Bend (1-2) turned the ball over on fourth down with a bad snap. Setting up shop at the 39, the Warriors converted on fourth-and-5 when Nuño set up at QB and picked up just enough yards on a run to move the chains.
Two plays later from the 12, Bennett raced down the left sideline and ran over a North Bend defender on his way to the end zone.
“I like to be more elusive but running over people, you can’t hate on that, it’s always fun,” Bennett said.
Philomath went up 19-0 in the second quarter when De La Rosa capped a five-play, 63-yard drive with a 16-yard TD reception. Nuño had a key catch in that series with a 36-yarder on a play from midfield.
Nuño finished the game with seven catches for 120 yards — he had 111 receiving yards by halftime.
“I think these two weeks were really important because we had time to build that chemistry and get better,” Nuño said, adding that he felt in sync with Altishin. “Me, Rocco, Gavin — our run game was also on — so that helped us get open more, too.”
Altishin completed 17 of 33 for 299 yards passing.
North Bend got on the scoreboard late in the second quarter on a bizarre play. Bulldogs quarterback Michael Lucero Jr. — he was one of two signal-callers that coach Gary Prince used in the game — connected with senior Matthew Swank on a pass down to around the 20-yard line. De La Rosa put a wicked hit on Swank, however, and the receiver was not able to hang on to the ball.
Instead of an incompletion, the official ruled that the receiver had established possession and so the result of the play was a fumble. North Bend junior Hunter Christensen picked up the ball and scored a touchdown.
Firth argued the call from the sidelines. Asked about the TD after the game, the coach replied, “No comment.”
On the ensuing kickoff, North Bend booted the ball out of bounds to set up the Warriors at their own 45. With just 13 seconds remaining in the half, Altishin connected with De La Rosa on a 36-yard play to get down to the 19. The scoreboard’s clock showed a little more than a second remaining but the officials declared that the half ended.
“We clocked the ball, we thought we had time and then all of a sudden there was no time,” Firth said. “So we don’t know what happened.”
Despite the finish to the first half, Philomath appeared to be in control with a 19-7 advantage.
Neither team scored in the third quarter. Philomath’s final TD came on a 15-yard run by Bennett down the right sideline.
“That was just my speed to get right on the edge and that was easy,” Bennett said.
Senior Lake Mulberry and Bennett combined for 90 yards on 15 carries — Firth described them as “thunder and lightning.”
“Gavin’s a little bit different than Lake, he’s got a little more swerve to him in terms of running the ball,” Firth said. “He’s a little more explosive so he has a little bit of a different dynamic in the rushing attack.”
Bennett averaged 12.8 yards per carry on four attempts, finishing with 51. Mulberry’s smash-mouth style of running added up to 39 yards on 11 carries.
“Being able to run the ball and then pass the ball like we do, it creates a lot of double jeopardy for a defense,” Firth said. “You have to pick your poison, if you will. They weren’t going to let us just drive the ball into CD and Rocco all night, so we just had to run it. And we had some success on the ground.”
Philomath finished with nearly 400 yards of total offense.
“We got the ball to guys that can make plays in space,” Firth said. “I think, too, we also found a little bit of a run game tonight and that helped us.”
Philomath played in Week 0 to start the season and had a bye this past Friday.
“It didn’t really affect me but it just felt too long,” Nuño said after the game. “Maybe it threw us off a little bit to start but we got locked in again pretty quick.”
Firth felt the break in the schedule did not affect the team from a preparation standpoint but he did mention that illness impacted his roster.
“We were missing two starting offensive linemen tonight — they’re home sick and another tailback, so it was tough,” Firth said. “We were pretty thin in those positions tonight.”
Philomath heads to The Dalles for next week’s game, another nonconference matchup.
“We just want to keep this energy up and win,” Nuño said. “No mercy, we need to keep building on this.”
Bennett felt that the Warriors had the type of performance that sends a clear message.
“That’s a statement game for us,” Bennett said. “We had a bye week, got a little bit of rest and then came back and showed everybody who we are.”
Philomath 25, North Bend 7
Friday, Sept. 19, at Clemens Field, Philomath HS
Team 1 2 3 4 F North Bend (1-2) 0 7 0 0 7 Philomath (2-1) 12 7 0 6 25
First Quarter
PHS — Jo. Peters 58 pass from Altishin (kick failed), 8:04
PHS — Bennett 12 run (pass failed), 2:55
Second Quarter
PHS — De La Rosa 16 pass from Altishin (Grapoli kick), 4:59
NB — Christensen 20 run/fumble advance (Olivas kick), 0:13
Fourth Quarter
PHS — Bennett 15 run (kick blocked), 3:42
Category NB PHS First Downs 10 18 Total Net Yards 188 396 Rushes-Yards 29-75 27-97 Passing 113 299 Punt Returns 1-15 1-12 Kickoff Returns 5-55 1-15 Interception Ret. 1-15 1-(-1) Comp-Att-Int 9-28-1 17-33-1 Punts 3-33.0 2-26.5 Fumbles-Lost 3-1 3-0 Penalties-Yards 5-29 7-50
Individual Statistics
RUSHING—North Bend, Swanson 12-43, Lucero Jr. 9-23, Christensen 1-20, Johnson 4-5, Pruett 2-1, Team 1-(-17). Philomath, Bennett 4-51, Mulberry 11-39, Nuño 3-28, De La Rosa 1-4, Altishin 5-2, Team 3-(-27).
PASSING—North Bend, Johnson 6-19-1-70, Lucero Jr. 3-9-0-43. Philomath, Altishin 17-33-1-299.
RECEIVING—North Bend, Swank 4-48, Swanson 2-19, Lucero Jr. 1-27, Pruett 1-12, Christensen 1-7. Philomath, Nuño 7-120, De La Rosa 5-64, Howard 3-14, Jo. Peters 2-90, Hruska 1-11.
