The Philomath High School football team fell into an early hole and lost a nonconference game on the road Friday night at Marshfield, 36-7.
The loss drops the Warriors to 0-2 on the season but coach Alex Firth remained upbeat with positives that came out of the second half.
“I was pretty happy — I mean, obviously we lost, but in the third quarter, we came out, we executed 100% better,” Firth said. “I thought that in the third quarter, we could’ve scored a couple more times. Things started to kind of gel a little bit for us.”
Firth said he saw signs of progress from his younger players as the game wore on, including three freshmen who started on the offensive line.
“We started to see some of the freshmen start to settle down and do what they’re supposed to do,” Firth said. “It’s just experience at this point. We have guys out there who played a varsity game for the first time, so every game’s going to be new to them.”
Marshfield, playing in its season opener, took control of the game early on. After Philomath went three-and-out on its first possession, Marshfield set up shop near midfield and soon scored on a 35-yard pass from junior quarterback Nicoya Pruess to junior running back Jackson Herbert. The Warriors had another three-and-out on their second possession and Marshfield again found the end zone. Junior receiver Max Johnston took the ball on a jet sweep and found daylight down the right sideline to the end zone on a 45-yard run.
The Warriors threatened on their third possession. On a second-and-15 play, senior quarterback AJ Altishin connected with senior Bryce Hruska on a 42-yard pass to get Philomath into Marshfield territory. The team later converted on a third-and-6 on an Altishin pass to senior Kaden Howard but the drive stalled from there. On second down from the 20, Howard appeared to have a shot at a pass down the left side but he lost his footing in the end zone.
“He slipped and he fell over the defender, but yeah, he was wide open,” Firth said. “That stuff happens. But the thing is, the plays are there, so you build off that.”
Marshfield went up 21-0 early in the second quarter as Herbert scored his second TD of the evening on a 20-yard pass from Pruess.
The Warriors’ offense again moved the ball on their next possession. The team picked up a first down on a fourth-and-2 at its own 47 with Altishin finding senior Gavin Bennett on a pass. After moving the chains, however, the Warriors got into a hole when they lost 10 yards on a pitch play and ended up turning the ball over on downs.
Marshfield went up 28-0 on a broken play. On first down at the PHS 21, a bad snap from center skipped past the quarterback but Pruess was able to pick up the ball on the run and spotted junior Brandon Wendelin wide open standing inside the 20. Pruess made the throw from the 37, Wendelin made the catch and scampered into the end zone.
On the ensuing kickoff, Philomath mishandled the return and fell on the ball at the 8. The Warriors lost five yards on the first play when the QB appeared to not be ready for the snap and had to fall on the ball. With the clock running down, Marshfield used timeouts for another chance on offense and Philomath ended up needing to punt.
The Pirates set up at the PHS 41 and on the first play, Pruess connected with Wendelin down the middle for another touchdown. Marshfield followed with a two-point conversion pass from Wendelin to junior Jackson Dalton for a 36-0 lead.
Junior Christian Baugh converted on all four of his PAT chances in the first half for the Pirates.
With Marshfield leading by 36 points, the mercy rule — a running clock — was triggered to start the second half.
The Pirates’ first possession of the third quarter ended on a fumble — the ball was recovered by Philomath junior Cole Barron at the PHS 19.
Taking over on offense, the Warriors moved the ball right away with Altishin completing a 42-yard pass to Howard. Later in the drive, Hruska was wide open in the end zone but couldn’t hang on to the ball as he cramped while going up for it, Firth said. But Philomath secured the TD anyway when Bennett reached the end zone on an inside zone run while battling cramping issues of his own.
Sophomore Max Grapoli followed with the extra point.
Firth singled out Howard and Altishin for their performances.
“I just thought that Kaden Howard had a good game,” Firth said. “AJ actually played really well. He did some things we asked him to do. I mean, he scrambled, got some yards. He threw the ball pretty well. We missed a couple, but I think AJ found his feet a little bit, and I thought he played 100% better than he did last week.”
With the Warriors sitting at 0-2 heading into a Sept. 11 game at Coquille, Firth said the focus stays on the fundamentals.
“Just keep working. That’s all we can do is basically focus on what you can control,” Firth said. “We’re just going to keep grinding. That’s all we can do. We’re young. We’re beat up. We just need to put our head down and work.”
Marshfield 36, Philomath 7
Friday, Sept. 4, at Marshfield HS, Coos Bay
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| Philomath (0-2) | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Marshfield (1-0) | 14 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
Note: The second half was played with a “running clock” with the OSAA mercy rule invoked.
FIRST QUARTER
MHS — Herbert 35 pass from Pruess (Baugh kick)
MHS — Johnston 45 run (Baugh kick)
SECOND QUARTER
MHS — Herbert 20 pass from Pruess (Baugh kick)
MHS — Wendelin 21 pass from Pruess (Baugh kick)
MHS — Wendelin 41 pass from Pruess (Dalton pass from Wendelin)
THIRD QUARTER
PHS — Bennett 4 run (Grapoli kick)