Sweet Home went home Friday night, Oct. 31, thinking it was out of the 4A Division playoffs after a nightmarish 27-14 Halloween loss on the road at Philomath.
But after the Warriors self-reported that they had violated OSAA rules by using junior varsity players who had played the previous night against Sweet Home in a JV contest, they forfeited the game, giving the Huskies new life – and their first playoff berth since 2019.
Sweet Home (7-2, 3-2), ranked 10th in the final OSAA polls, will play at La Grande Friday night, Nov. 7, in a first-round matchup.
The loss was the third, all in conference play, for the Huskies, now .
It was the Rocco De La Rosa Show for the Warriors. The senior scored all four of Philomath’s touchdowns, grabbing two interceptions, the second leading to Philomath’s final score, and amassing 305 all-purpose yards.
“He had his best game of the year,” said Sweet Home Coach Ryan Adams.
He said his team was a little slow out of the blocks, and the Warriors took advantage.
“We had a really good practice week,” Adams said. “I thought we did a really good job preparing. But it definitely did not translate to the start of the game.
“Give credit to Philomath. They came out hot in terms of execution.”
And, he added, “We were kind of sloppy on our end.”
De La Rosa got the scoring going midway through the first quarter, running the ball in on a sweep from the five yard line for a 7-0 lead.
De La Rosa scored again in the second quarter on a 10-yard pass from junior quarterback AJ Altishin to give the hosts a 14-0 lead going into the locker room.
“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot a few times and got down in a hole at the half,” Adams said. “We had Philomath in multiple third-and-longs, fourth-and-long opportunities, but we just weren’t able to capitalize.
“But we just talked at halftime about ‘How are we going to respond?’ We had two quarters left. What were we going to do with it? I was really proud with how they responded to that question.”
Sweet Home came out firing in the third quarter as Riley Vaughan, filling in at quarterback for Kyle Zajic for the second straight week, hit Dillan Davis with a 24-yard scoring pass, after Davis stumbled, then recovered and managed to get behind the Warrior defense.
On Philomath’s next possession, Kaeson Walker intercepted Altushin at the Sweet Home 40, and six plays later, after driving the Huskies to the Philomath 10, aided by a couple of penalties called on the Warriors, Vaughan added another score, connecting with Walker on a 10-yard scoring strike to even the score.
However, Philomath – er, De La Rosa, wasn’t done yet.
On their first play following Sweet Home’s score, he swept around the right end and took off on a 72-yard scamper for a touchdown.
“We had all the momentum right there, and then No. 5 (De La Rosa) did what No. 5 does. That was a tough one to swallow,” Adams acknowledged. “
Late in the quarter he picked Vaughan off at the Philomath 28 and, five plays later, hauled in a 28-yard pass from Altishin for the Warriors’ final score, after three failed attempts at a two-point conversion.
Adams said his team never stopped battling, “but it just didn’t go our way.”
Vaughan finished with 12 completions in 20 attempts for 129 yards, with those two interceptions. The Huskies added 52 yards on the ground.
“Riley really did a good job for us,” Adams said. “I was really impressed with how he stepped up and managed the game, especially in that second half. He made some really good throws for us and I think our other guys, just became more consistent in the second half – they made more secure tackles and really just did the things we know how to do.”
Altushin was 15 of 22 for 145 yards, with one interception, and Philomath had 203 yards on 27 carries.
Other individual statistics were not available at press time.
The forfeit leaves the Huskies with a 3-2 league record, tied with Marist and Crescent Valley, 7-2 overall. Sweet Home will be seeded 10th going into the playoffs; La Grande will be seeded seventh. The Tigers’ four losses have been to Vale (27-14), Tillamook (33-26), Burns (38-6) and Cascade (51-7). They swept their league with wins over Ontario, Baker, The Dalles and Pendleton.
Adams said La Grande has had a revolving door at quarterback, but one thing is clear from the tape: The Tigers like to run the ball.
“It will definitely be won or lost in the trenches, which is exciting for us because a few of our league games have been decided on the ends, whereas against Cottage Grove we won that one in the trenches.
“We’re excited for that opportunity because we think one of our strongest units is our offensive and defensive line, and so we’re excited to kind of put those first-round outcomes on their shoulders.”
He acknowledged that the Huskies got a break to get into the playoffs and they have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
“We’re kind of playing on borrowed time,” he said. “And so we’re going to approach it like that, just practice as best we can this week and then try and put together our best game of the year. They (his players) see, pretty excited about the opportunity, really excited to get after it.”
