Now in his fifth year leading the football program, Philomath High’s Alex Firth has become an established head coach among the Class 4A ranks. After experiencing mixed success early on, the Warriors broke through a barrier in 2024 by winning a playoff game for the first time since 2015.
As a new season approaches this week, Philomath will be looking to take another step forward as a program that wants to settle into a pattern of putting consistent, winning football teams on the gridiron. Several returning players give the Warriors hope that their fortunes will trend in that positive direction.
The team that pushed the eventual state runner-up on the road to the brink in the quarterfinals last season lost nine seniors off the roster, including five that earned all-conference honors, the starting quarterback among them.
However, a lot of talent also returns with players such as seniors Rocco De La Rosa, CD Nuño and Lake Mulberry, and juniors Jamin Peters and Kaden Howard — all of those athletes have all-conference selections on their résumés.
“We’re not starting over,” Firth said Friday before practice. “I think it’s just continuing to build off of what we did last year. … We have a lot of the same kids, we’re running a lot of the same scheme and hopefully it’s more of a plug-and-play situation than it is a rebuilding situation.”
Philomath finished 8-3 overall in 2024. In the playoffs, after defeating La Grande, 39-27, in the first round, the Warriors dropped a 21-14 thriller in the quarterfinals at Henley — an outcome that provided lessons to be learned, the coach said.
“One, we learned we’re a pretty good football team,” Firth said. “Two, I think we learned that in really close football games, it’s just one or two plays or one or two things that happen that are the difference in the game — a fumble, a penalty, something that is somewhat significant at the time but in the grand scheme of things can actually change the entire course of a game.”
In other words, Firth added, “In games where the teams are equally matched, the team that makes the fewest mistakes is probably going to be the team that wins.”
De La Rosa and Nuño will again be constant threats on offense out of the wideout positions. Both bring explosive, big-play capabilities that stand out in 4A and don’t be surprised if Firth tries to get the ball into their hands in a variety of situations to take advantage of their exceptional athleticism.
In addition, juniors Kaden Howard and Bryce Hruska return to the receiving corps and Firth said there are others that will rotate in and see more time on the field. At tight end, the two deep includes senior Josiah Peters and junior CK Kvidt.
Junior AJ Altishin appears to be in line for starting quarterback after backing up the now-graduated Caleb Russell for the past couple of seasons.
“He understands the system — it’s just getting him comfortable when the balls start flying basically,” Firth said. “In the 7-on-7 stuff over the summer, he did really well. It’s just a little different when you have a rush in your face. That’s why we would need to find a little bit of a run game to take the pressure off of him.”
Mulberry brings back experience at running back and junior Gavin Bennett will also be looking to get carries. Mulberry carries the persona of a tough-nosed, physical runner while Bennett possesses more breakaway speed. Firth said he has an incoming freshman that could have an immediate impact as well.
“We’re going to continue to be a pass-first offense,” Firth said. “To build off of it, we have to find some semblance of a running game later in the season when the weather turns against us. I think that hurt us late on muddy fields.”
But no doubt, De La Rosa and Nuño will command a lot of attention.
“They’re both huge — 6-3, 195 to 200 pounds — bigger than a lot of teams have at linebacker or even on the line,” Firth said. “It sounds like a pun but it’s huge because they’re so much bigger than the guys defending them, especially when you get them lined up against a corner. They’re faster than the underneath coverage so they can outrun a backer and trail, and they’re bigger than a lot of the safeties so they create a physical mismatch in the secondary and you have to do something to take them out.”
On the line, Firth said he feels comfortable with the returnees, a group that includes senior Nick Challe and juniors Jamin Peters, Chase Leslie and Lolo Tuiaki. Senior Ben McGovern and juniors Gunner Eveland and David Vargas will also be in the mix along with some younger players.
“We have quite a few of our offensive linemen that are back and schematically, they understand what’s going on,” Firth said. “They’re older, they’re bigger, they’re stronger.”
Philomath also returns a good number on the defensive side. De La Rosa and Nuño were starting safeties last season and Howard returns at cornerback. The linebacker room includes Mulberry in the middle and Josiah Peters on the outside. Bennett appears as though he’ll step into another outside linebacker spot. Several defensive linemen are back as well.
“It’s basically a lot of the same kids,” Firth said. “All the pieces are there — we’re just older and a little more mature, hopefully.”
One of the toughest players to replace will be lineman Brady Russell, an all-conference player on both sides of the ball last season. Hudson Rabb’s graduation creates another opportunity for the next guy up.
“Brady’s tough to replace — I mean, he demanded a double team and was a dominant defensive lineman,” Firth said. “Hudson was more of your traditional pass-rush end but I think we have other guys that we can fit into that role.”
Overall, the team roster that Firth shared over the weekend listed 31 players, which is down from around last season’s 41.
“We graduated a number of kids and we just don’t have a really big sophomore class,” Firth said. “The freshman class is pretty good. I think when school starts, we’ll probably see three or four stragglers come in.”
Philomath has what could be called a unique schedule with four home games and a bye week on Sept. 12. Firth dismissed the notion that the schedule could create preparation challenges of team chemistry.
“Frankly, going to Crescent Valley isn’t really a road game,” he said. “I mean, the longest road trip we have in the regular season is going to The Dalles and we’re kind of used to it. It doesn’t really seem to bother us that much.”
The Warriors went 4-0 in regular-season road games last season.
Realignment changed 4A’s Special District 3 with Cascade and Stayton moved elsewhere and replaced by Cottage Grove and Crescent Valley, the latter being a 5A school that petitioned to play down a classification.
Marist won the district last season and claimed the state title with a 30-6 win over Henley in the 4A finale. Philomath will face the Eugene school Oct. 24 on the road.
Even though Stayton is out of the district, the two teams will still meet — and that’s in the season opener at 7 p.m. Friday as the Warriors hit the road.
“It’s a tough opener for us,” Firth said. “We played probably our best game last year against them (49-14).”
Two years ago, Philomath beat Stayton, 21-20, when De La Rosa took out the holder on a botched kick attempt.
“They’re a big, physical football team and they’re going to present a challenge to us,” Firth said. “They’ve had all of the offseason to try to figure out how to stop us. They really struggled last year stopping our receivers and we still have essentially the same receiving corps so we’ll see what adjustments they’ve made.”
The team’s Oct. 3 game at Crescent Valley has the potential to feel odd to the coach considering he was an assistant with the Raiders for 18 years and he’ll be on the visitor’s sideline. Firth said he doesn’t want the game to be about him and it’s just another opponent on the schedule.
“It’s kind of a rivalry-type game because they’re close enough and they know the kids — they’ve all done Pop Warner stuff with each other and so I think for them, it’s probably a bigger deal than it is for me,” he said. “It’s just a football game for me.”
As far as Special District 3, defending champ Marist will obviously be the favorite. Firth sees Cottage Grove as a dark horse that could surprise and sees Junction City coming in with an element of mystery.
“I think it’s a good conference from top to bottom,” he said. “You just never know with high school kids — they change every year.”
Firth’s assistant coaching staff remained largely intact with Aaron Schermerhorn (quarterbacks), Carlos Nuño (wide receivers, cornerbacks), Lance Faxon (quarterbacks), Walker Vave (defense) and Will Love (line). Brock Love (line) and Matt Rockhold (running backs) are new to the team this season. Volunteer coach Colton Howard is also helping out.
