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Apodaca, Schorovsky test the waters Down Under photo by Bob Pennell By Frank Silow Participating in the Down Under Bowl was a once-in-a-lifetime experience recently for a pair of Rogue Valley high school football players. Shelling out almost $3,000 apiece to be part of an Oregon all-star team that played two games against other squads from the United States in the Australian coastal town of Surfers Paradise proved to be money well spent for Diego Apodaca of North Medford High and Sean Schorovsky of Ashland. The players departed Medford June 26 and returned July 8 with a pair of victories and memories that will last forever. On the way there was a stop in Sydney, Australia, site of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. The return trip home brought three days spent at Waikiki beach in Hawaii. "Overall it was the best experience I�ve ever had,�� said Schorovsky. "You experience a new country. Everyone down there was real receptive. And it was a chance to play football one last time.�� Both Schorovsky and Apodaca will attend the University of Oregon in the fall. The Oregon all-star team consisted of graduating seniors recommended by their high school coaches. South Medford High new defensive coordinator Jerry Wolfram, a former Ashland High assistant and North Bend coach, was the head coach. Wolfram was assisted by a coach from New England, who brought nine players from New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts to join the squad. "It�s a great opportunity for kids to experience a new culture and meet new people from around the state,�� said Wolfram. "The games are for fun, but once the players get on the field they want to represent Oregon in a positive way." More than 35 teams from the United States rotate through Australia in four-team brackets during June and July. The Oregon team defeated Kentucky 28-24, then won its four-team bracket � which also included Ohio � with a 6-0 Kansas Plan overtime victory against Minnesota. "It was awesome to go down there in the first place," said Apodaca, a second-team all-Southern Oregon Conference linebacker his junior and senior seasons, "and even more so to play football. I thought it was a great opportunity to play a couple more games." The team only had one practice prior to playing Kentucky and there was plenty of free time to enjoy being in a foreign country . "Everything was kept pretty simple," said Wolfram. "Basically we just put our best guys on defense and tried not to let the other team score." Wolfram was glad to find the pair of SOC players on the team. "I knew what kind of programs they came from," said Wolfram. "I was able to utilize them a little more. Diego was a defensive leader for us. We were planning to use Sean in a couple of different ways." Schorovsky played tight end � catching two passes against Kentucky � and handled the place kicking and punting chores. The players stayed in a beach-front hotel. They went to an amusement park, a water park, a wildlife sanctuary, dance clubs and walked in a July 4 parade through the main street of the tourist resort. It was winter in the southern hemisphere town of about 80,000 along Australian�s Gold Coast, but the weather was still in the 70s. "Everyone there said �Don�t go in the water it�s freezing,� but compared to the Oregon coast we were loving it," said Schorovsky. "They thought we were nuts going out there." The locals demonstrated hospitality when the players went to clubs at night. "We never had to pay cover charges because we were the American gridiron players," said Schorovsky. "That�s what they called us. There was interesting music in the clubs, a lot of 80�s music with blast beats." Playing the games didn�t have the same intensity as a SOC matchup at Spiegelberg Stadium or Walter A. Phillips Field. ``You go down there to play football, but you�re having such a great time it was secondary except for game time," said Schorovsky. "We played in the middle of a horse track. The fans at our first game were two school buses full of kids. It was a little different than playing Friday nights here." Apodaca handed out American flags in the parade, played two-hand touch football on the beach against a group of Australian rugby players, and rode jet skis at a sea park. "They were really friendly people," said Apodaca. "Everywhere we went people would come up and ask where we were from and what kind of things we do at home. It surpassed every expectation I had." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA