Correction: An earlier version of this story credited the game's first touchdown to CD Nuno when it was actually caught by Rocco De La Rosa. The story and scoring summary were updated to reflect the correct information.
Down 14-6 late in the first half at North Bend Friday night, the Philomath High School football team found itself in a situation that it hadn’t encountered through the first two games of the season.
But the Warriors worked through the adversity, erupted for 16 points over a span of 77 seconds to end the first half, added another valuable touchdown to open the second half and ended up with a 43-20 victory.
“That was the first time we’ve trailed all season,” PHS coach Alex Firth said. “I thought they responded and that’s big for us. In the past, a lot of times we’d face adversity and it was kind of hard to respond … we just didn’t have that in us.
“Now the kids believe in what they’re doing,” he added. “They believe in each other and they can respond when something bad happens.”
Junior receiver CD Nuno had nine catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns and senior quarterback Caleb Russell completed 22 of 37 passes for 297 yards and six TDs in another exceptional performance by what has developed into a high-octane offense.
“CD had an unbelievable game,” Firth said. “They tried to single him up, which worked to our advantage because he’s such a dominant receiver out there. Caleb put the ball in play with some really nice deep balls.”
Junior Rocco De La Rosa caught three TD passes, senior Hudson Raab also found the end zone on a reception and senior Warwick Bushnell had his share of key catches as well to come at North Bend from all angles.
“We’re a pass-first team, I can’t lie about it,” Firth said. “I’ve got four wide receivers that can catch balls and break tackles and make good plays.”
A dizzying sequence of events unfolded late in the first half that ultimately gave the Warriors control of the game. Philomath scored 16 points over the final 1:17 to hit the halftime locker room with a heavy dose of momentum.
North Bend had just taken that 14-6 lead on a long fourth-down run but the Warriors started the ensuing possession in decent field position with assistance from a personal foul penalty.
Still, Philomath found itself in a first-and-25 after it had been backed up with its own penalty issues. Operating from the 35, Russell got off a pass under heavy pressure to Raab for a quick touchdown. A two-point conversion run by De La Rosa out of the wildcat formation tied the score, 14-14.
On the ensuing kickoff, strong special teams play got North Bend backed up to its own 15. Two plays later, the home team’s quarterback failed to secure the snap in shotgun formation and the ball bounced into the end zone. The Bulldogs avoided giving up a touchdown with junior Teagan Anderson falling on the ball for a safety.
With 57 seconds still remaining in the half, the Warriors would get the ball right back with the Bulldogs punting following the safety. Philomath converted on a fourth-and-3 pass from Russell to Nuno for 11 yards and followed with a 20-yard completion to Bushnell on first down.
After spiking the ball to stop the clock, Philomath had time for one last play before halftime. Russell took the snap and under a heavy pass rush, got the ball off to Nuno in the corner of the end zone for the TD. With Raab’s extra point, Philomath had turned a 14-6 deficit into a 22-14 lead.
“We had to lean on the pass because we weren’t really running the ball that well,” Firth said. “Their defense was really good, you know, they were bringing a lot of pressure.”
Philomath’s offensive line held up well, however, with junior Tiernan Bovbjerg, sophomore Chase Leslie, senior Peyton Humphrey, senior Brady Russell and sophomore Jamin Peters.
“For me, the key to victory was our O-line started picking up the pressure and was giving him time so we could have our receivers get into their routes and find grass — that’s kind of the thing we do,” Firth said.
The Warriors started the second half with possession and tacked on another six points to their lead with an 11-play, 61-yard drive that ended with a 4-yard TD pass from Russell to De La Rosa. The key play in the drive came on a fourth-and-8 toss from Russell to Raab for 11 yards. Nuno had four catches on the possession.
“We had that flurry of points at the end of the second quarter and we knew we’d have the ball coming out for the second half so we wanted to capitalize on that,” Firth said. “It’s huge, I mean, you’ve got to keep the hammer coming down a little bit, continue to pressure the defense and continue to do our stuff.”
Philomath had the ball bounce its way in the early going with a takeaway on the game’s first play from scrimmage. On the play, the Warriors took advantage of a bad snap with Peters recovering. The Warriors then put on a passing display with Russell completing a 15-yard pass to Raab on their first play from scrimmage and then two plays later, completing an 11-yard pass to De La Rosa for the touchdown.
Later in the opening quarter, North Bend tied the game on a 18-yard TD pass from sophomore Conner Johnson to senior Isaiah Dibella, who shook off a PHS defender and sprinted down the left sideline to the end zone.
The home team picked up a dose of momentum on Philomath’s third drive by coming up with an interception. The Bulldogs drove down into the red zone and in the opening seconds of the second quarter, De La Rosa picked up an interception at the 1-yard line.
Later past the midway point of the second quarter, Philomath avoided a turnover on a punt return when the ball hit sophomore Bryce Hruska in the back. Hruska was able to alertly dive for the ball, however, to give the Warriors possession.
But two plays later, North Bend’s Michael Lucero got an interception to give the Bulldogs the short field at the 35-yard line. The home team ended up scoring on a 32-yard run on fourth down with Dibella finding daylight.
On the two-point conversion attempt that followed, senior offensive lineman Rocky Johnson picked up a fumble at the 1-yard line and dove into the end zone to give the Bulldogs the 14-6 lead with just 1:45 left in the half.
Philomath responded with the 16-point outburst to take a 22-14 lead at the break.
“I thought the defense settled in against the run finally … the defense did their part,” Firth said. “They kept us in the game in that first half when it was 14-6, I mean, it wasn’t like a big runaway at that point. It was a complete game.”
In the second half after reaching the end zone on its first possession, Philomath followed up with another TD drive and took a lot of valuable time off the clock in the process. Bushnell had a 30-yard punt return to give the Warriors the ball at the North Bend 31. Several penalties were called on both teams during the possession, including two roughing-the-passer calls against the Bulldogs — the second wiping out a 73-yard interception return.
“Those were legit late hits and on the one, we just threw the ball behind the receiver,” Firth said. “We dodged a huge bullet at that point.”
On fourth-and-goal from the 17, Philomath scored on a pass from Russell to De La Rosa in the corner of the end zone.
The Warriors added another score in the fourth quarter — again on fourth down when Russell found Nuno on a 28-yard pass.
Philomath ended the game in the North Bend red zone after junior Ben McGovern recovered a fumble at the 11. Sophomore quarterback AJ Altishin kneeled twice to run out the clock.
Firth called the victory over North Bend his team’s best so far this season.
“Going on the road and beating that team — they’re a well-coached football team — I think that’s huge for us,” Firth said. “We’re 3-0 and we’ve got The Dalles next week so we’ve just got to keep it rolling and working on our stuff to get better.”
The Dalles will enter the contest with a 2-1 record — the wins coming over Umatilla (20-6) and La Pine (27-3) with the loss on the road to Astoria (29-0). The Riverhawks didn’t play this week and should be well-rested when they kick off at Clemens Field.
