Both teams start practice today, look forward to week of activities in Ashland leading up to 18th match up

By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news 

PHOENIX – Players from both Phoenix and Ashland High School were called to huddle up last week as Charlie Hall wrapped the first official football practice for the South Valley Wolfpack at Jack Woodward Stadium in Phoenix.

Walking across the field towards the team room, Hall, also head coach at Phoenix, passed a sea of Ashland and Phoenix High players who spent the warm, July morning scrimmaging on Pirate turf, switching off with Ashland’s field for practice throughout the week. But it was clear that Hall aims for the two teams to take a united approach to hosting the 18th Pacific Rim Bowl (PRB) at 7 p.m. Friday, July 25 at Ashland’s Walter A. Phillips Field. 

Hall is taking the helm this year head coach for the PRB team, to be known as the South Valley Wolfpack, with assistance from incoming Ashland High School head coach Greg White and assistant coach Tim Hernandez.

The Pacific Rim Bowl is an historic exchange between Japan’s All-Star Team and Ashland High School that started in 1988 that takes place every two years in Japan or Ashland. The won-loss record is 9-8 in favor of Japan. The exchange was pioneered by former Southern Oregon University football coach Chuck Mills, former Ashland High School football coach Jim Nagel and the late Akira Furukawa, chairman of American Football Association (Western Conference) from Japan.

Furukawa visited Ashland for a collegiate football game between what is now Southern Oregon University and Kwansei Gakuin University, the first Japanese football team to play collegiate football in the U.S., in the 1980s, according to the PRB website. Furukawa shared a dream with Nagel that he wanted Japanese players to host a high school team from the U.S. in Japan. This was a year after Mills had taken what is now Southern Oregon University to Osaka, Japan. Ashland High played their first game in Osaka, Japan in 1988, embarking on a long tradition of friendship and football.

Hall noted this year’s team will be made up of 25 players from Phoenix, and 30 from Ashland, respectively, stiffening the competition for playing an historic, international matchup. 

Ashland had not won a PRB since 2015, when Charlie Hall last led the program as the Ashland head coach.

Phoenix brings 10 seniors to the mix this year, with Ashland tallying 11.

“(Twelve of) these boys, when they were in their later elementary school years, they played on a youth football team called the South Valley Wolfpack because there weren’t enough kids in Phoenix to have their own Pop Warner teams,” Hall said. 

Some might remember the South Valley Wolfpack in 2017 was coached by Tim Hernandez and White, who now coach at Ashland High.  

“There is history here,” Hall said.

It is Hall’s eighth Pacific Rim Bowl and seventh as a head coach.

Hall served as an assistant coach under Jim Nagel when he was first introduced to the PRB program in 1999.

“I value it extremely,” he said, of the PRB.

Hall’s late mother was from Niigata, Japan. She was friends with Hiroshima survivor and Ashland resident Hideko Tamura, who will serve as one of two keynote speakers at a PRB peace event at noon Tuesday, July 22, at Butler Bandshell in Lithia Park. Former Southern Oregon University President Roy Saigo will also speak. There will also be a drumming demonstration.

“The Japanese coaches wanted to see me take a bigger role,” Hall said.

“My love and my experience has all been on the coaching side of things,” he added. “With Ashland kind of losing (enrollment) numbers and Phoenix, too, losing numbers in our programs, not being as competitive as maybe we once were … it just made sense that, ‘Hey, what if we bring our teams together and see if we can build a stronger team to compete against the Japanese?”

Phoenix and Ashland are in separate conferences, Hall said, so the teams are not adversarial. But they also aren’t used to playing with each other.

Hall calls the scenario “unique.”

“That’s an understatement,” he said. “Typically two teams don’t … prepare each other for the season.

“But we do have the end goal of playing an international game, which is awesome, and it’s something that’s been an Ashland tradition for over 30 years.”

Deep Ashland roots remain

The Pacific Rim Bowl has deep roots at Ashland High School, where the Japanese football exchange started three decades ago. 

“Forever, this has always been an Ashland Grizzly program, from the inception of 1988,” Hall said. 

In previous years, the team has always been led by an Ashland football coach, starting with Nagel. 

But with White as a new incoming coach and with the need for an uptick in competition, Hall was placed at the helm, with significant PRB experience to back him up. 

“I understand that there’s a huge investment and commitment in the Pacific Rim Bowl and I’m part of that,” Hall said.

“I’ve taken three teams to Japan,” he said. “I’ve hosted three Japanese teams here in Ashland. 

“I value this Pacific Rim Bowl more than just about anything that I do in coaching.

“We haven’t won a game since 2015 and it’s not all about winning, but I think there needs to be a way that we can create a more competitive environment for the game itself and I don’t want to lose Japan if they don’t feel like this is meeting the standards.”

The last time that Ashland took home a W in the gridiron matchup with Japan was in 2015, where they bested Japan 31-23 at SOU’s Raider Stadium.

“We’ve had this experience for 37 years and now we’re going to share that experience with Phoenix-Talent and those families, and those kids are going to get an opportunity to have that experience,” said Steve Mitzel, president of the PRB Committee in Ashland, on Sunday afternoon.

Hall said the combined team format this year is “somewhat experimental – it’s a trial.”  

He noted that Phoenix-Talent Superintendent Brent Barry spoke to athletes before the first practice last week, sharing his excitement for Phoenix’s involvement in the program.

“We’re contributing financially to the project,” Hall said. “Phoenix-Talent School District is providing transportation for all the Japanese activities through the course of the week … we are invested in trying to make ourselves have an impact in this program.”

Hall said the program under his leadership will continue under the mantra of “More than a game,” where student-atheletes from Japan will get a rare chance to spend a week with Ashland High School players and their families before facing off at the end of the week.

“It is about the homestay experience for these young boys who have never been to America and learn what it’s like to be part of an American family,” Hall said. “It’s being part of a community and doing things that teenagers do after practice is over. I think those things define this program more than the wins and losses … when you look back on it, I think more kids remember those experiences off the field probably more than the experiences on the field.”

When the PRB game moves to Japan in 2027 (the game switches back and forth every two years), will Phoenix be on the plane?

They could be, but it is too soon to say, according to Hall. 

“I think there’s a financial fundraising component that may or may not be within our ability as a community,” Hall said, “but I hope that they see the value in this exchange experience and that they have two years to set a goal.”

Hall noted that the trip costs more than $1,000 per student-athlete for the trip, but that there are fundraising avenues for families hoping for this opportunity in 2027.

Hall said the program has the model to take 40 to 50 student-athletes to Japan every four years.

He acknowledged that Ashland underclassmen might not have as many opportunities as they once did to go to Japan, as Phoenix upperclassmen have now taken some of their slots.

“That’s the tough one because there will be some kids that may not get to go to Japan in two years,” Hall said, “and that’s where it’s going to be a little bit of a hard pill to swallow.”

Despite the changes, he emphasized the chance to up the competition and give more students overall a chance to participate.

“We had this experience for 37 years and now we’re going to share that experience with Phoenix-Talent and those families, and those kids are going to get an opportunity to have that experience,” Mitzel said.

Among the PRB planned activities this week is the beloved Kitchell Games at 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, at Walter A. Phillips Field. The 7-on-7 tournament is dedicated to the memory of the late Dave Kitchell, a revered assistant Ashland High football coach who passed away following the 2007 football season. Kitchell coined the phrase often seen displayed at Ashland High School, “We love and care for each other.”

Practice was scheduled to start at 8 a.m. Monday at Ashland’s Walter A. Phillips Field with a full list of events planned throughout the week that culminates in the international game on Friday. A special program is planned for 6:30 p.m. and the game begins at 7 p.m.

Tickets are on sale at Ashland High School.

To learn more about the history of the PRB, go online to ashlandfootballclub.com/pacific-rim-bowl/.

Reach Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at [email protected].

Related stories: 

Football: Japan All-Stars arrive in Ashland, start practice Monday at Walter A. Phillips Field (July 21, 2025)

‘More than just a game’: Ashland High School football team to return to Japan after hiatus (July 27, 2023)