The Philomath High boys and girls basketball teams are both scheduled to play makeup games tonight at Newport in key matchups that will wrap up the first tour through the Oregon West Conference.
For the boys, Blake Ecker’s crew has raised a few eyebrows by winning three of its first four games in league play. Philomath’s biggest wins both came at home — 42-38 over North Marion and 44-42 over Stayton. Even in a 61-33 road loss at Cascade, the Warriors had the lead at halftime.
The victories have elevated the Warriors into Class 4A’s top 10. In the OSAA rankings, Philomath (9-8, 3-1) is up to No. 10 with Cascade (14-3, 5-0) at No. 2, Stayton (11-7, 2-3) at No. 4, Newport (12-5, 3-1) at No. 8 and North Marion (12-7, 1-4) at No. 9. Yes, you read that correctly — the Oregon West has five teams in the top 10.
In the OSAAtoday coaches poll, the Warriors are even higher at No. 8 with Cascade at No. 1, Newport tied for sixth and Stayton at No. 9 (North Marion just missed at No. 11).
So, the Thursday jaunt over to Newport will be a challenge. The Cubs posted impressive victories over North Marion on the road (49-42) and Stayton at home (61-34). Philomath’s second trip through the conference will be tougher with those North Marion (Feb. 14) and Stayton (Feb. 21) rematches both on the road.
Philomath’s girls are currently in a three-way tie for first place in the league — the Warriors lost to Cascade, Cascade lost to Stayton and Stayton lost to Philomath. In the 4A rankings, the Warriors are No. 1, the Eagles No. 2 and the Cougars No. 4. The OSAAtoday coaches rankings have Oregon West teams in the top three spots with Philomath, Stayton and Cascade.
In other words, Philomath is in a pretty tough league.
The red-letter dates will be Feb. 18 at home vs. Cascade and Feb. 21 at Stayton as the three schools try to position themselves for the playoffs.
Philomath (14-3) is the better team going into the Thursday evening matchup at Newport (4-10). The Cubs snapped a three-game skid this past Friday by sneaking past Sweet Home on the road, 34-33.
The Warriors beat the Cubs last season by scores of 65-25 and 64-15. But as you know, high school sports can be tricky with the athletes needing to perform at a high level to avoid letdowns and upsets. Newport hasn’t beaten Philomath since a state tournament matchup in 2019.
Cheerleaders zone in on state
Philomath High’s cheer squad, back recently from a trip to Las Vegas for the JAMZ School Cheer Nationals, is scheduled to participate Saturday in a competition at Tualatin before switching gears into preparing for state.
This year’s OSAA Cheerleading State Championships are scheduled for Feb. 14-15 at Oregon City High School. The Warriors will compete only on the second day in the Traditional category in the morning session — the performance is scheduled for 9:05 a.m. (the doors open at 8:15). For those planning to go, the awards ceremony for those performances will take place after the final routine, which should be at around 11 a.m.
Tickets to the Saturday morning session are $12 for adults, $6 for students, and can be purchased online.
Coached by Kathy Kohler with assistance from Shannon Rice, this year’s cheer roster (based on the team page on the OSAA website) includes seniors Cali Cannon, Kaylie Kohler, Tatum Pope, Olivia Rice and Zoe Ringwald, junior Josey Schreiber, sophomores Olivia Daggett, Paige Ehlers, Emily Garcia, Erynn Kohler and Ciara Seits, and freshmen Addison Rice, Veini Taunisila and Bailey Wilhelm. The five seniors are listed as co-captains.
Philomath’s cheerleaders are coming off its best-ever finish at state from a year ago. In the 2024 championships, the Warriors were third overall in the Traditional category.
Close races at latest ski meet
In the battle for top honors at the Philomath High Alpine Ski Team’s appearance at last weekend’s Emerald Ski League giant slalom races, senior Joe Barnes had to settle for second place behind Styopa Myagkov of Sisters with a two-race total time of 1:53.29 — which was 0.15 of a second behind the winner.
Competing at the Willamette Pass Ski Area, Barnes had a run of 56.60 in his first try on the course and trailed Myagkov, who has won every race this season, by 0.32 of a second. On their second races, Barnes had the better time at 56.69 to 56.86.
PHS junior Montgomery Jones finished 30th with runs of 1:18.59 and 1:17.80 for a combined 2:36.39.
In the girls competition, junior Ana Candanoza finished sixth overall with a time of 2:05.15. The top four spots were occupied by Sisters skiers with Ella Eby (2:01.05) leading the way. Corvallis skier McKenna Reeve was fifth, just .08 of a second ahead of Candanoza.
Candanoza had runs of 1:04.08 and 1:01.07 with that latter time being the third-best among the competitors.
PHAST will continue the season Saturday with another chance to master the Willamette giant slalom course.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
