July 30--BAKER CITY -- There will be a number of cases of dej... vu at the Baker High School Stadium when the 58th annual East-West Shrine All-Star charity football game kicks off Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

When Imbler's Bryan Mills looks across the Baker City High School field Saturday, he will see a familiar face.

The former Imbler football standout has seen Ryan Pierson before. In fact, he probably thinks that he saw too much of Pierson last December when the St. Paul Buckaroo offensive star tore through the Panthers for five touchdowns and more than 380 yards rushing in the state 1A title game.

St. Paul won the game, and the state title, ending Imbler's 21-game winning streak and completing a perfect 13-0 season.

That dej... vu feeling will be repeated for the Baker City players on the field,

seeing players from the Marist team that battered the Bulldogs in the 4A title game, 55-16. But Trace Richardson and Dekker Smith may like the feeling since they are teammates on the East team with Marist standouts like Nicholas Gammie, and Ontario's Frank Lopez.

Baker's Trace Richardson was named to the Greater Oregon League all-league team as a first-team receiver. Smith was co-GOL defensive player of the year.

Scio has players on the East roster, along with members of 2A Tri-River Conference foes Salem Academy and Kennedy.

Eastern Oregon League rivals Burns, Grant Union, Umatilla and Vale have players on the East squad, and at the 1A level, foes Imbler, Cove and Wallowa are on the same East squad.

The same condition exists throughout the West squad also. Former foes are now teammates -- at least until the end of Saturday's all-star game in Baker City.

Astoria, Knappa and Seaside are normally Cowapa League rivals, but Saturday, the players from those schools will play for the West team under Astoria coach Howard Rub.

In an unusual twist, three players from the Klamath Falls area will not be on the same teams Saturday. Loren Meeker of Triad will don a West uniform, while John Meyers of Henley and Miguel Pena of Lost River, both will play for the East squad.

Among the other area players named to the East roster are Garrett Bentz of Vale, Marcus Marines of Ontario, A.J. Swartzlander of Burns, Ethan Kowling of Grant Union, Jaymes Butterfield of Enterprise, Jered Witty of Cove and Tyler Harshfield of Wallowa.

Other area East alternates are Frank Lopez and Josh Mejia of Ontario, Evan Humphrey of La Grande, Zach Dobson of Burns, Mike Epperson of Vale, Gage Immoos and Connor Smith of Grant Union, and Blaine Baker of Elgin.

In order to make up for the population difference between the schools in the Central area of Oregon, the East team is also getting players from the coastal communities of Gold Beach, Bandon, Newport and Lincoln City. Players from the interior communities near Salem, Eugene and Medford are also on the East squad, with some also making the West squad.

The biggest reason for the unusual definition of who is on the East and West squads, according to bowl officials, is the recent state structuring of the schools.

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