Editor’s Note: After this story had been published, news broke on Saturday that Philomath had been forced to forfeit the win over Sweet Home because 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. Here is a link to the story about the forfeit, which cost PHS a spot in the 4A playoffs.
With Philomath High’s backs to the wall in a do-or-die football matchup against Sweet Home on Friday night, senior Rocco De La Rosa came up with the performance of a lifetime.
Prior to the contest, he posed for Senior Night photos with his parents and then took the field one final time at Clemens Field. By the time the final buzzer had sounded, De La Rosa had scored all four of the team’s touchdowns and racked up 305 all-purpose yards to lead the Warriors to a 26-14 victory.
Gallery: PHS football vs. Sweet Home (Oct. 31, 2025)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 26-14 football win over Sweet Home at Clemens Field on Friday.
Philomath responded after a 49-0 drubbing at Marist Catholic last week to advance to the Class 4A state playoffs. Sweet Home, which came into the game ranked in the top 10, misses the postseason.
“We knew that if we lose, we’re turning in stuff on Monday,” PHS coach Alex Firth said. “So there was a little bit of finality, if you will, if you lose. I think that focused them up and they played really well.”
The Warriors finished in fourth place in Special District 3 because of a tiebreaker that considers head-to-head results. Junction City beat Marist Catholic Friday night, 17-10, to claim the district title outright. That left Philomath in a three-way tie for second place with Marist and Crescent Valley — two teams the Warriors lost to during the regular season.
The top three teams from the five districts automatically qualify. However, a 16th team needed for the bracket is determined by advancing a fourth-place team with the best OSAA ranking. Philomath is that team by far with a final ranking of No. 10.
On where the Warriors land in the bracket, Firth said, “We’ll see what happens and where the chips fall.”
According to the OSAA Football Plan Book, the teams will be seeded based on final OSAA rankings. Although not official late Friday night, Philomath appears to be the No. 10 seed and would play at No. 7 La Grande.
In the win over Sweet Home, De La Rosa could not have played any better after adjusting to a new but familiar role in the PHS offense.
“We put Rocco in the backfield, which we haven’t done all year,” Firth said. “He takes a beating back there so we’ve tried to avoid that throughout the year just to save some miles on his legs.”
De La Rosa put together staggering numbers with those 305 all-purpose yards, which included 159 rushing, 95 receiving, 15 on kickoff returns and 36 on interception returns. Three of his four touchdowns were 10-plus yards in length, including a 72-yard sprint to the end zone in the third quarter after Sweet Home had tied the game. He even attempted a pass on the team’s first series and completed it for 3 yards.
“I’ve played running back for longer than I’ve played receiver,” De La Rosa said about his football past. “It’s nice to get back there.”
The running game combined with short, high-percentage passes were keys to victory for the Warriors. De La Rosa had a dozen carries and caught nine passes.
“The line, they were so good and we had Gavin (Bennett) off the edge when our receivers were cracking down and making great blocks, too,” he said. “It was definitely not just me.”
In other words, the yards came much easier with Bennett sealing off defenders on the outside edge to create running lanes along with receivers blocking effectively downfield.
“It was time to put him back there and let him run the ball,” Firth said. “That was our plan — to run the ball and complete little, short passes and then just do what we normally do … take advantage of what they give us.”
Philomath (6-3 overall, 3-2 Special District 3) led just 14-0 at halftime but dominated the first half. The Warriors put together two long scoring drives to open the game while chewing up valuable minutes. Philomath had a 14-play, 68-yard drive on its first possession and followed with a 12-play, 80-yard drive on its second possession.
Meanwhile, Sweet Home managed just two first downs and 14 yards of total offense in the first half.
De La Rosa’s first touchdown came with 4:57 left in the first quarter on a 5-yard run. The Warriors converted twice on fourth down during the drive — first when De La Rosa picked up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1 out of the wildcat formation and later on a personal foul penalty against the Huskies on fourth-and-7.
The second touchdown occurred at the 6:20 mark of the second quarter. On third-and-goal from the 10, De La Rosa beat good coverage and caught a TD pass down the left sideline in the end zone.
Junior quarterback AJ Altishin completed 10 of 14 passes for 95 yards in the first half.
“AJ settled in and started throwing the ball really well,” Firth said. “It helps a lot when he gets settled in. I think the run game helps him tremendously.”
Bennett contributed on the ground as well with an 11-carry evening.
“That allowed us to do some things in the passing game where if they try to load the box, we can throw on the outside and if they leverage the outside, we can run inside,” Firth said. “So it kind of adds an extra dimension that we don’t necessarily always have.”
Sweet Home (6-3, 2-3) received the kickoff to begin the second half and got a 26-yard return from senior Dillan Davis to give the Huskies good field position. The visitors then marched 58 yards to the end zone. The touchdown came on a pass play from junior quarterback Riley Vaughan to Davis, who was wide open over the middle.
On Philomath’s next possession, Sweet Home junior Kaeson Walker came away with an interception. The Huskies moved 64 yards on six plays, which included a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty against the Warriors. The TD came on a 10-yard pass from Vaughan to senior Bode Nichols.
On the ensuing kickoff, freshman Max Grapoli fell on the ball at the 28-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, De La Rosa found daylight on a 72-yard scamper to the end zone.
Sweet Home then turned the ball over on downs after failing on a fourth-and-1 at midfield.
De La Rosa’s second interception set up the team’s final touchdown. The scoring drive covered 57 yards in five plays. De La Rosa scored on a 28-yard pass from Altishin.
“We settled back in and started doing what we were doing,” Firth said. “They did a pretty good job against the run to start the third quarter and that took us off script a little bit. We were playing behind the chains on that first drive for sure and then we found our feet again. Then it just started clicking from that point on.”
Philomath’s defense made some big plays throughout and held the Huskies’ offense to 217 total yards. In addition to De La Rosa’s interceptions, there were a number of tackles for losses. Bennett had a big one on Sweet Home’s first possession. Senior Josiah Peters and junior Chase Leslie had key TFLs in the fourth quarter. Junior CK Kvidt knocked down a pass on a Sweet Home pass attempt late in the third.
Senior Lake Mulberry returned to the lineup on defense after missing several games with an injury.
“He helps us at MIKE (middle linebacker) — his ankle’s probably got about 17 rolls of tape on it but he’s fine,” Firth said. “He’s a senior and he wanted to be out there and I appreciate that.”
In addition to De La Rosa and Mulberry, other seniors playing for the final time at Clemens Field included Nick Challe, Ben McGovern, CD Nuño, Josiah Peters and Matt Ropp.
De La Rosa said the team came together after an embarrassing loss at Marist.
“Coming off that, we were all super mad. I mean, getting shutout and by (almost) 50, that can’t happen,” De La Rosa said. “We realized there were a lot of things that needed to get done to prepare for this week. We were locked into practice all week.”
Firth shared what he told the team after the 49-0 loss last week to Marist Catholic.
“I told them that in high school, if you played every play … you have about five minutes of total activity in the game from whistle to whistle,” Firth said. “I basically told them that the seniors had five more minutes if we don’t win — and that caught their attention. They don’t want it to end. So, you know, we bought ourselves another five minutes.”
Beyond that conversation, Firth said the team just needed to focus on the task at hand. Of course, it never hurts when a player like De La Rosa puts together a memorable performance.
Said Firth, “He’s magic, right?”
Philomath 26, Sweet Home 14
Friday, Oct. 31, at Clemens Field, Philomath HS
Team 1 2 3 4 F Sweet Home (6-3, 2-3) 0 0 14 0 14 Philomath (6-3, 3-2) 7 7 6 6 49
First Quarter
PHS — De La Rosa 5 run (Grapoli kick), 4:57
Second Quarter
PHS — De La Rosa 10 pass from Altishin (Grapoli kick), 6:20
Third Quarter
SH — Davis 24 pass from Vaughan (Gittins kick), 7:54
SH — Nichols 10 pass from Vaughan (Gittins kick), 1:40
PHS — De La Rosa 72 run (kick failed), 1:28
Fourth Quarter
PHS — De La Rosa 28 pass from Altishin (pass failed), 3:38
Category SH PHS First Downs 11 16 Total Net Yards 217 331 Rushes-Yards 22-86 30-186 Passing Yards 131 145 Punt Returns 0-0 0-0 Kickoff Returns 5-66 3-15 Interception Ret. 1-1 2-36 Comp-Att-Int 12-21-2 15-22-1 Punts 2-36.5 2-35.0 Fumbles-Lost 3-0 1-0 Penalties-Yards 3-28 5-47
Individual Statistics
RUSHING—Sweet Home, Barringer 15-73, Walker 3-26, Vaughan 4-(-13). Philomath, De La Rosa 12-159, Bennett 11-22, Nuño 3-7, Altishin 4-(-2).
PASSING—Sweet Home, Vaughan 12-21-2-131. Philomath, Altishin 14-21-1-142, De La Rosa 1-1-0-3.
RECEIVING—Sweet Home, Davis 3-57, Nichols 3-33, Barringer 3-28, Walker 2-9, McClure 1-4. Philomath, De La Rosa 9-95, Nuño 6-50.