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Black Tornado players send Rumrey out a winner By Cliff Pfenning PORTLAND - Kevin Foreman and his North Medford teammates made sure to send Rod Rumrey out as a winner by leading the South to a 32-20 victory in the Oregon Bowl all-star football game Saturday night before 9,311 fans at PGE Park. Foreman ran for 67 yards and three touchdowns and threw for another, and receiver Mike Olson, linebacker Dan Crawford and lineman Scott Myers did their parts to give Rumrey one last victory after 30 years as a head coach. Rumrey retired from coaching last fall after leading the Black Tornado to the state title game, where it lost to Jesuit, and he was happy to lead his players to victory once more. "We had a special group of guys at North the last two years, that's why we were able to get to the state title game," he said. "This was a special week, getting these guys together, great players from all the different schools, and focus them on winning." The South's ball-control offense held the ball for 32 minutes, 22 seconds of the 60-minute game and ran 20 more plays than the North squad, which held a 14-0 lead five minutes into the game. The South squad finished with 403 yards of offense. "It was great to win one more game for coach Rumrey," said Foreman, who was voted the game's most valuable player. "That's how we wanted this game to end." The game is the first contest scheduled to be televised by Paul Allen's Action Sports Cable Network, which was set to kick off at 6 a.m. today, so there were plenty of television timeouts that stretched the length of the game to almost 3 1/2 hours. The North team scored on its first two drives, moving 52 yards on four plays with the opening possession of the game, and then 62 yards on two plays for a 14-0 lead with 10:56 left in the first quarter. Clasen had big plays to set up both scores, the first a one-yard run by Brandon Hazenberg of Newberg and the second a 33-yard scoring pass from Michael Harrington of Central Catholic to Mike Hass of Jesuit. South rallied with long drives based on the running of Niles Mittasch of Churchill and the quarterback tandem of Jeff Rhode of Churchill and Kevin Foreman of North Medford, who capped drives of 11 and 12 plays with runs of 2 and 1 yard respectively. Foreman pushed the South ahead 18-14 by leading a nine-play, 75-yard drive to open the third quarter. Foreman had three runs on the drive, including a 14-yarder for the touchdown. Foreman pushed the South ahead 25-14 with a 10-yard scoring pass to Olson with 1:38 left in the third quarter. Rhode hit South Albany's Jordon Hunter with a 25-yard scoring pass midway through the fourth quarter for a 32-14 lead, which thrilled Rumrey. "When I looked up at the scoreboard and saw that score, that was a special moment," he said. "To have been down 14-0 so fast and then battle back like we did, I was proud of this team." Rumrey coached until the final seconds, hassling a side official about a malfunctioning clock with three minutes left. "I've been rethinking my decision to retire ever since I made it," he said. "But this is the way it's got to be." With the completion of the game, the prep stars from last fall now focus on their college plans. Foreman is headed to Linfield, Crawford to the College of the Redwoods and Olson to Oregon State, where he will be joined by numerous other Oregon Bowl players, including Sprague's Bill Swancutt as well as Hass and Clasen, both of whom plan to walk-on at the school with Olson. "I've talked to those other guys and we're going to meet up again real soon," Olson said. "It's going to be fun to try and make the team." Mac Contreras of Ashland is headed for Weber State, which plays in the Big Sky with Portland State, so he will likely play on the PGE Park turf in the future. "I like the turf, it's not hard and it's not too spongy like at Marshfield," he said. "I'm looking to come back here." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.