The 11th Pacific Rim Bowl will be held on Sunday at Expo Flash Field in Osaka. The game will pit the Ashland (Ore.) High School football squad against a team of Japanese All-Stars. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The first Pacific Rim Bowl was held in Osaka in 1988, and according to Ashland coach Charlie Hall, it is the only Pan-Asian football series known in the United States. He called it a "combined dream" of Akira Furikawa, the retired chairman of the Japan American Football Association, and ex-Ashland coach and athletic director Jim Nagel.
The Grizzlies have had four consecutive losses to the Japan All Stars. The last victory for Ashland was at home in 1999. The series is tied at 5-5. Every four years AHS sends a team to Japan while hosting the two years between trans-Pacific trips.
This year, 47 Grizzly football players departed on July 19 for Osaka for a week of cultural and athletic exchange. Ashland student-athletes have been paired up and will stay with host families around the Osaka area. Featured day trips for the team include a tour of Kyoto and a shinkansen ride to Hiroshima, where they were to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Atomic Bomb Museum.
The Japan All-Star team is comprised of 65 players from the Kansai area. Most of them are seniors, with a few juniors, who have been selected from more than 200 who tried out from over 50 high schools.