Philomath High senior quarterback AJ Altishin isn’t worried about how Friday night’s scoreboard will be remembered.
“You won’t remember the score of these games,” Altishin said when asked to sum up the season. “You just remember the guys you did it with.”
It’s a score the Warriors won’t want to remember. Estacada, a top-10 ranked team, ran for 493 yards and pulled away for a 63-14 Special District 2 victory that ended Philomath’s season on Senior Night.
Gallery: PHS football vs. Estacada (Oct. 30, 2026)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s football game at home against Estacada on Friday.
Before kickoff, though, the night belonged to the Warriors’ 11 seniors, who were recognized along with their parents.
“Just memories of being with my friends, really, kind of all flooding in at once,” senior Chase Leslie-Morrison said about his thoughts during the pregame recognition. “It was kind of difficult to hold back tears there, like just watching all my friends walk up with their parents, hearing what their favorite part was of their senior year or their entire football season.”
Altishin called the night “bittersweet.” For senior Bryce Hruska, the moment didn’t sink in until the end.
“I mean, I wasn’t really thinking about it throughout the game, but afterwards, those final couple plays definitely hit me,” Hruska said.
Philomath coach Alex Firth said the size of the senior class says something about the program.
“There’s 11 of them and for that many of them to stick around this long, I think, is big,” Firth said. “You know, it speaks to consistency, and it speaks, hopefully, to the culture we have, that it’s fun, and they want to be here, and they want to put time in and play football for four years.”
Firth said the seniors’ closeness spread through the roster.
“They have this kind of built-in camaraderie and it’s kind of infectious for the rest of the team,” Firth said. “You can see how there’s a lot of tears from underclassmen for them. So I think they meant a lot to the program.”
The Warriors hung with the Rangers into the second quarter. Trailing 8-0, Philomath tied the game on the second play of the period when Altishin hit senior Kaden Howard on a 63-yard touchdown pass. Altishin then found senior Gavin Bennett for the two-point conversion.
Estacada answered less than a minute later, however, on a 50-yard touchdown run by junior Ashton Randall.
Hruska picked off a pass at the 25 and returned it 18 yards to set up the Warriors with good field position. But on the first play of the drive, a bad snap skipped past the quarterback for an eight-yard loss. Sophomore Mason Bennett fell on the ball to keep possession, but two incompletions followed and Philomath had to punt.
The Rangers went up 24-8 on their next possession. Senior Thomas Classen broke off a 43-yard run to the 1, and Randall scored on the next play.
Philomath responded with a six-play, 70-yard drive. A pass interference penalty on fourth-and-6 kept it alive, and Altishin connected with senior CK Kvidt on a 31-yard touchdown pass. That cut the deficit to 24-14 with 2:35 left in the first half.
Estacada then scored twice in the final seconds of the half. Classen capped a 10-play, 60-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with 17 seconds left. On the ensuing kickoff, senior lineman Jamin Peters caught a line-drive kick and returned it 15 yards to the Philomath 41 — a play that attracted one of the biggest cheers of the night.
The Warriors picked up a first down on a 12-yard pass from Altishin to Gavin Bennett. Two plays later, on the final play of the half, Rangers junior Duke Durand returned an interception 67 yards for a touchdown and a 40-14 halftime lead.
Firth said the Warriors’ plan was to be aggressive through the air, and that came with risks.
“I mean, if you’re going to do that, you’re going to throw interceptions. It is what it is,” Firth said. “I thought early on we kind of exposed their secondary quite a bit.”
Firth said Philomath beat Estacada with “every double move in the book.” He pointed to one sideline grab as a highlight.
“The pass that Kaden caught over here one-handed on the sideline was friggin’ amazing,” he said. “That was a heck of a catch.”
Altishin completed 14 of 31 passes for 240 yards but was intercepted four times.
“A couple of those just slipped. I mean, one of them slipped out of his hand. One of them, the receiver slipped and fell right underneath the ball,” Firth said. “It was just kind of a comedy of errors.”
Estacada scored 16 points in the third quarter. One of them came on a safety when Altishin lost the ball as he started his throwing motion. The ball bounced backward and out of the back of the end zone.
The Rangers’ final two touchdowns came on long runs — 35 yards by junior Parker Trujillo and 60 yards by sophomore Ben Webley.
Randall finished with 158 yards on nine carries, and Classen added 94 yards on eight. Estacada averaged 11.7 yards per carry and outgained Philomath 512-238. The Warriors were held to minus-2 yards rushing.
Howard led Philomath with five catches for 121 yards. Hruska had three catches for 54 yards, Gavin Bennett had three for 25 and Kvidt had two for 34.
Firth said he was proud the Warriors never quit.
“We kept fighting. We didn’t just tuck our tail and decide we were done,” he said. “And the score doesn’t reflect that, obviously.”
Injuries and a thin roster were a constant this season.
“We just don’t have a lot of depth,” Altishin said. “You know, we’re a small team, so you get hurt and it’s tough.”
Asked what it would take to close the gap with programs like Estacada, Firth answered quickly.
“Get more kids,” he said. “It’s always been a numbers game in football, and we have to somehow try to pump our numbers up.”
Hruska sees reason for optimism with a young roster.
“We have a ton of freshmen and quite a few sophomores too, so it should be like, when in four years’ time or three years’ time even, we should be pretty set,” Hruska said.
He had a message for those younger players.
“Get in the weight room. Off-season training is where you win games in the fall,” Hruska said.
Philomath finishes the season 3-6 overall and 2-4 in Special District 2. Estacada, 7-2 overall and 5-1 in league play, heads into the 4A playoffs.
In addition to Altishin, Gavin Bennett, Howard, Hruska, Kvidt, Leslie-Morrison and Peters, the other seniors are Gunner Eveland, Jacob Hernandez, Jonah Sailor and David Vargas Juarez.
Leslie-Morrison left his own advice for the players coming back.
“Always give 110 percent,” he said. “Even if you’re tired and you think you have nothing left in you, you’ve always got something else more that’s deep inside. You’ve just got to push yourself to find it.”
Estacada 63, Philomath 14
Friday, Oct. 30, at Clemens Field, Philomath HS
Team 1 2 3 4 F Estacada (7-2, 5-1) 8 32 16 7 63 Philomath (3-6, 2-4) 0 14 0 0 14
Note: A running clock went into effect with 10:35 remaining in the third quarter.
FIRST QUARTER
EHS — Feil 15 pass from D. Carpenter (Randall run), 3:05
SECOND QUARTER
PHS — Howard 63 pass from Altishin (G. Bennett pass from Altishin), 11:03
EHS — Randall 50 run (Classen run), 10:07
EHS — Randall 1 run (Randall run), 5:08
PHS — Kvidt 31 pass from Altishin (pass failed), 2:35
EHS — Classen 5 run (Wheeler run), 0:17
EHS — Durand 67 interception return (Randall run), 0:00
THIRD QUARTER
EHS — Classen 3 run (Randall run), 10:44
EHS — Safety, Altishin fumbled out of end zone, 10:35
EHS — Trujillo 35 run (kick failed), 9:31
FOURTH QUARTER
EHS — Webley 60 run (Feil kick), 7:05
Category EHS PHS First Downs 22 12 Total Net Yards 512 238 Rushes-Yards 42-493 14-(-2) Passing Yards 19 240 Punt Returns 1-6 0-0 Kickoff Returns 4-120 7-51 Interception Ret. 4-65 1-18 Comp-Att-Int 2-6-1 14-31-4 Punts 1-8.0 2-31.5 Fumbles-Lost 2-0 3-0 Penalties-Yards 7-85 3-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Estacada, Randall 9-158, Classen 8-94, Webley 1-60, Jackson 7-59, Trujillo 1-35, Wheeler 4-33, D. Carpenter 2-23, Leavenworth 4-19, Mullins 2-12, Grandy 3-2, Hazel 1-(-2). Philomath, Altishin 6-6, G. Bennett 4-3, M. Bennett 2-3, Team 2-(-14).
PASSING—Estacada, D. Carpenter 2-6-1-19. Philomath, Altishin 14-31-4-240.
RECEIVING—Estacada, Feil 1-15, Randall 1-4. Philomath, Howard 5-121, Hruska 3-54, G. Bennett 3-25, Kvidt 2-34, Iverson 1-6.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—None
