Down 30-27 with less than eight minutes remaining in the game, the Philomath High School football team needed to find a way to respond on the road Friday night at Coquille.
The Warriors offense features a group of key seniors — an experienced quarterback in AJ Altishin, a tough-nosed running back in Gavin Bennett, a speedy wideout in Kaden Howard, a reliable pair of hands in tight end CK Kvidt and a path-clearing right guard in Chase Leslie-Morrison.
And although those team veterans contributed on a push to the end zone that ended up giving Philomath a 34-30 victory, it was a group of underclassmen — including three freshmen on the offensive line — that were also key actors to help the Warriors find the win column for the first time this season.
“It was a gut check for us,” PHS coach Alex Firth said. “We just lined up in our T formation and decided to power the ball — that’s what it came down to. So it was just who was going to win at the point of attack at that point. Thankfully, it was us.”
Freshman center Cade Henderson was moving defenders up the middle and two other freshmen on the left side, tackle Eli Cook and guard Keaton Muir, were holding their own. On the right side, Leslie-Morrison at guard and sophomore Brayden Felina at tackle were also making key plays.
“I’m really proud of the offensive line — they did a great job,” Firth said, adding that the backs — Gavin Bennett and his younger brother, Mason Bennett — were running hard all night.
To set the scene, the Red Devils had just taken their first lead of the night with 7:44 remaining on an eight-yard TD run by junior Ashton Carr. On the ensuing kickoff, Philomath sophomore Samuel McQueen made a key special teams play when he fell on the ball near midfield on what was apparently an attempt at a squib kick.
On first-and-10, Gavin Bennett picked up 13 yards behind a key block by Leslie-Morrison. Two plays later on second-and-8, Howard moved the chains on an end-around run. On the play, Kvidt caused enough interference to help spring his teammate toward the right sideline with Howard’s speed taking over.
Gavin Bennett moved the ball forward seven more yards with Cook and Leslie-Morrison opening up a hole. Philomath stumbled a bit on the next few plays with a short gain, a holding penalty and another short gain to put the team into a third-and-8 situation. Philomath picked up the first down with Kvidt making a sliding catch at the 10.
“We had to go into our two-point play on third-and-eight … which is kind of an unusual formation that we run and they were misaligned to it,” Firth said.
Later in third-and-goal from the 9, Altishin connected with Howard close to the end zone. Coquille was able to keep him from scoring, however, to set up fourth down. The game came down to power football, or as Firth put it, winning the point of attack.
With PHS on the 1-yard line, Mason Bennett got the carry and followed his brother left of center into the end zone. Junior tight end Jayce Iverson and Leslie-Morrison also had key blocks on the go-ahead score.
Philomath (1-2) will host a game at Clemens Field next week when Molalla comes to town. The head coach hopes the team is turning a corner with fewer mistakes down the road — although the team did have close to 100 yards in penalties against the Red Devils.
“We acknowledge that we’re close, right, but there’s still some things that we need to fix,” Firth said. “If we can just take care of the little mistakes that kind of nag at us, I think that things are going to be much, much better.”
Then he added, “Every Monday, we just go back to work and see where we are.”
Philomath came out strong in the first quarter by scoring the game’s first three touchdowns. Altishin and Howard hooked up on a 74-yard pass after sophomore Logan Toombs recovered a fumble to end an early Coquille threat. Gavin Bennett later scored on an 18-yard run on a possession helped a little by a Red Devils personal foul. Then Altishin and Howard connected for another TD on a play that covered 36 yards — that coming after a 25-yard Altishin-to-Kvidt completion.
Junior Sammy Hernandez connected on all three extra points for a 21-0 lead.
The Red Devils capitalized on opportunities in the second quarter. Junior running back Tanner Keltner scored on runs of 47 and 67 yards and Coquille converted on a pair of two-point conversions. In between Keltner’s runs, Gavin Bennett scored on a plunge from the 1 on a possession that included a 24-yard reception by Kvidt.
Philomath led 27-16 at the break.
“They grabbed a bunch of momentum there,” Firth said about the second quarter. “We just didn’t have a rhythm offensively at all at that point for some reason. I don’t know what happened.”
In the third quarter, the home team pulled to within 27-22 on a pass from junior Tucker Keltner to Tanner Keltner to set up the thrilling final 12 minutes. The Red Devils took that lead on the Carr TD only to see Philomath respond. After taking the lead, the Warriors still needed to make plays on defense to disrupt the rhythm that Coquille had established.
After the Red Devils were flagged for holding, Gavin Bennett unleashed on first-and-20 and tackled senior running back Travis Freeman behind the line of scrimmage for a 5-yard loss. The home team was unable to recover and the Warriors pretty much put the game away when Howard came up with an interception on fourth down with 2:20 remaining.
“There were plays to be made,” Firth said while summing up his team’s performance. “We just kind of kind of did some things — fluttered a ball into triple coverage, got it picked. Then there were some dumb penalties — roughing the punter and we had an interference on the fourth-and-23.”
Coquille had approximately 250 yards rushing on the evening.
“We knew they were a running team,” Firth said. “We do some things well, and then we do some things … assignment-wise and have a blowout and they preyed on that. The whole purpose of that offense is they prey on mistakes, and you know if you make them, they’re going to find it.”
Philomath’s offense generated approximately 350 yards, including 259 through the air. Howard and Kvidt were the primary targets. Howard had 159 receiving yards and Kvidt finished with 81.
Several other players contributed to the victory, including a noticeable performance at linebacker by sophomore Max Grapoli, who was celebrating his birthday.
Philomath 34, Coquille 30
Friday, Sept. 11, at Coquille HS
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| Philomath (0-2) | 21 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 34 |
| Coquille (0-2) | 0 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 30 |
FIRST QUARTER
PHS — Howard 74 pass from Altishin (S. Hernandez kick), 10:44
PHS — G. Bennett 18 run (S. Hernandez kick), 3:53
PHS — Howard 36 pass from Altishin (S. Hernandez kick), 0:50
SECOND QUARTER
COQ — Tan. Kelner 47 run (Tan. Kelner run), 2:15
PHS — G. Bennett 1 run (kick blocked), 1:02
COQ — Tan. Kelner 67 run (Silva pass from Tuck. Kelner), 0:18
THIRD QUARTER
COQ — Tann. Kelner 21 pass from Tuck. Kelner (pass failed), 4:27
FOURTH QUARTER
COQ — Carr 8 run (Freeman run), 7:44
PHS — M. Bennett 1 run (S. Hernandez kick), 3:42
4A SPECIAL DISTRICT 2
STANDINGS—Cascade 2-0, Molalla 1-0, Estacada 2-1, Stayton 1-1, Central 1-2, Philomath 1-2, Gladstone 0-1.
SCORES—Sept. 11: Cascade 42, Sandy 21; Estacada 42, Astoria 14; Banks 17, Central 13; Philomath 34, Coquille 30; Molalla at Baker, late; Stayton at Seaside, late; Horizon Christian at Gladstone, late.
