COTTAGE GROVE — Philomath running back Gavin Bennett wasn’t ready for the game to end Thursday night in Cottage Grove. Even with the Warriors cruising to a 27-point lead in the fourth quarter, the 6-foot, 180-pound junior lobbied to get back on the field — and for good reason.
At that point in the evening, No. 0 on the PHS roster had rushed for 85 yards on 11 carries, capped by an 18-yard touchdown where he bulldozed through multiple defenders to reach the end zone.
Gallery: PHS football at Cottage Grove (Oct. 9, 2025)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 33-6 football win at Cottage Grove on Thursday.
But alas, with the game well in hand, Philomath coaches took the opportunity to get some younger players onto the field in the final few minutes. In fact, freshman Mason Bennett, Gavin’s younger brother, toted the ball three straight times to close out the 33-6 win.
“I didn’t run as much as I would like but when we did, it worked,” Gavin Bennett said. “I think we ran a little more in the second half … and we’ll probably run a lot more next week.”
Philomath coach Alex Firth was impressed.
“He’s a difference maker for us,” Firth said. “He hits a hole quick, so he can get through there. I mean, they’re bringing a lot of pressure but if you can break through that first line against those blitzes, you get a lot of second-level running. He ran the ball really well tonight.”
Junior AJ Altishin threw for 292 yards, senior Rocco De La Rosa hauled in three touchdown catches, senior CD Nuño finished with over 100 receiving yards and junior Kaden Howard had a 58-yard TD catch that pretty much iced the victory for Philomath.
Those types of numbers should not be a surprise to many Warriors fans — finding success through the air has become the norm in Philomath’s pass-first offense. Bennett’s speed has created a degree of intrigue with the running game, however, as the Warriors develop another offensive weapon. It’s a much-needed part of the attack, especially with senior Lake Mulberry sidelined with an injury.
In the first half, it was Cottage Grove’s running game that was tearing through Philomath’s defense. Sophomore Jacob Palluck had 149 yards rushing on 20 carries in the first half and the Lions trailed just 7-6 at the break.
“We were having issues up front and we were just getting double-teamed the whole time,” junior lineman Jamin Peters said. “If everyone fills in the gaps, surprisingly that works. Well, it’s not really surprising but if everyone takes their gaps, then there’s no gap to run in.”
Philomath’s defense shut down Palluck in the second half. He finished the game with 176 yards on 30 carries but was limited to just 27 yards on 10 carries over the third and fourth quarters.
“Stopping the run a bit more defensively and trying to run the ball a little bit more on offense definitely gives us more options,” Peters said.
Asked about the defensive front, Firth said that he’s been shuffling people in and out of those positions.
“We’re so beat up right now,” he said. “We’re two-thirds of the way through the season and we have a small roster. The short week was tough, especially against an offense like that … it’s not something we see every week.”
Still, Firth said the Lions did not do anything surprising on offense.
“They did exactly what we told them they were going to do,” Firth said. “They were going to play keep-away in the first half on offense and try to milk the clock and not give us the ball. And they did that.”
The coach also knew that Cottage Grove would run up the middle.
“We made an adjustment at halftime that stopped that — we should have done it sooner,” Firth said. “But we fixed that and then we just came out and stuck to our screen game and it started working.”
Philomath reached the red zone on its first two possessions of the game. The Warriors turned the ball over on downs on the first drive, which got down to the 11. Cottage Grove then put together a 12-play drive that took nearly 6-1/2 minutes off the clock but the threat ended with a De La Rosa interception.
The Warriors made it down to the 2-yard line on their second possession but hurt themselves on a second-and-goal with a holding penalty. On the next play, Cottage Grove senior Cade May came up with an interception.
Philomath scored its first touchdown with 2:33 left in the second quarter on a 15-yard strike from Altishin to De La Rosa. The three-play scoring drive took just 50 seconds off the clock while both De La Rosa and Nuño had catches to move the chains.
Cottage Grove continued to find holes up the middle and Palluck scored on a six-yard run with just 21 seconds left in the first half. The point-after kick failed, however, and the Warriors were clinging to a one-point advantage at halftime.
Philomath scored all three times that it had the ball in the third quarter. De La Rosa had a 62-yard TD reception at the 8:03 mark, Howard followed with his 58-yard score at 4:31 and De La Rosa scored again with a 15-yard catch at 2:27.
In the midst of all of those third-quarter points was a Philomath defense that was holding its own. Cottage Grove had back-to-back three-and-out possessions, one helped along nicely on a sack by Josiah Peters.
In the fourth quarter, Philomath padded its lead with the TD run by Bennett.
Turnovers were an issue for the Lions with six fumbles, three of those lost, along with the interception. A defensive highlight reel moment occurred with 5:54 remaining when Jamin Peters sacked Cottage Grove quarterback Andrew Horner and forced a fumble. His brother, senior Josiah Peters, pounced on the ball for the recovery.
Nuño made two significant defensive plays on fourth down in the fourth quarter. On the second play of the quarter, he had a big defensive stop on a fourth-and-1. Later on Cottage Grove’s final possession, Nuño knocked down the ball on a fourth-and-2 pass play. Actually, Nuño nearly came away with a pick-6.
On the final stat sheet, Altishin completed 18 of 30 passes for 292 yards and four touchdowns. Nuño had 113 receiving yards on seven catches. De La Rosa finished with eight catches for 96 yards and three touchdowns. Howard had two catches for 69 yards and a TD. Bennett also had a catch out of the backfield for 14 yards.
The victory puts the Warriors at 4-2 on the season, 1-1 in Special District 3. The result helped the team move past last week’s disappointing loss at Crescent Valley.
“Last week was not our greatest week,” Bennett said. “We built up a bunch of anger during the week, came out and won — took care of it.”
With those two losses on the team record, the Warriors might be getting closer to a must-win mentality.
“I’ve told them that every game from here on out is a playoff game,” Firth said. “We must win going forward.”
The next opportunity to take the field arrives this coming Friday for a 7 p.m. homecoming kickoff against Junction City.
“The focus for us is stopping the run again and just making sure that we’re dialed in on offense,” Firth said. “We seem to have a little bit of a rough start in our games and then we just kind of find our legs and things start clicking. So we’d like to do that sooner.”
Philomath 33, Cottage Grove 6
Thursday, Oct. 9 at Herald White Stadium, Cottage Grove HS
Team 1 2 3 4 F Philomath (4-2, 1-1) 0 7 20 6 33 Cottage Grove (1-5, 0-2) 0 6 0 0 6
Second Quarter
PHS — De La Rosa 15 pass from Altishin (Grapoli kick), 2:33
CG — Palluck 6 run (kick failed), 0:21
Third Quarter
PHS — De La Rosa 62 pass from Altishin (Grapoli kick), 8:03
PHS — Howard 58 pass from Altishin (Grapoli kick), 4:31
PHS — De La Rosa 15 pass from Altishin (kick blocked), 0:51
Fourth Quarter
PHS — Bennett 18 run (kick failed), 5:32
Category PHS CG First Downs 17 14 Total Net Yards 377 258 Rushes-Yards 22-85 49-199 Passing 292 59 Punt Returns 0-0 0-0 Kickoff Returns 1-0 3-38 Interception Ret. 1-0 1-0 Comp-Att-Int 18-30-1 3-6-1 Punts 1-10.0 2-28.0 Fumbles-Lost 2-0 6-3 Penalties-Yards 6-50 6-60
Individual Statistics
RUSHING—Philomath, G. Bennett 11-85, M. Bennett 4-10, Nuño 1-3, De La Rosa 1-1, Altishin 5-(-14). Cottage Grove, Palluck 30-176, Dugas 9-20, Monahan 3-12, Bird 1-6, Streeter 2-3, Soulard 1-0, Horner 3-(-18).
PASSING—Philomath, Altishin 18-30-1-292, Iverson 0-0-0-0. Cottage Grove, Horner 3-6-1-59.
RECEIVING—Philomath, De La Rosa 8-96, Nuño 7-113, Howard 2-69, G. Bennett 1-14. Cottage Grove, May 1-31, Dugas 1-16, Valdez 1-12.
