‘It means a lot’: Summit football player competes in All-American Bowl in Dallas, TX
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- One of Summit High School’s offensive linemen played football in Texas this week.
Summit Storm senior Zach High is fresh off a trip to Texas, playing in the Dallas Cowboys stadium on Monday as part of the West team in the All-American Blue-Gray game.
“It means a lot,” High said. “It shows that my hard work paid off throughout high school and shows that people are actually looking into me playing.”
He played with some of the best high school football players in the country.
Summit head coach Corben Hyatt said High played tackle for the Storm, but was able to play his natural position of guard during the game.
“He had a great season, but his natural position was inside, so he was super-excited to go back inside and mix it up inside with the big boys,” Hyatt said.“Any time a kid gets to challenge himself against the best players, it's always cool, so we're excited for him to go play in Texas and see what real football is all about is pretty awesome.”
High was one of only a few players from this part of the country on team West.
“They felt that the Pacific Northwest was kind of under-represented, so they invited a couple kids from Oregon and Washington out,” High said.
Both High and Coach Hyatt understand what it means for a school from Central Oregon to be represented on the national stage.
“You know what it does is it gives kids in the future an opportunity and stuff like that,” Hyatt said. “The more eyeballs will be on us and stuff like that. No, it was great for him to get that opportunity.”
High talked about representing his hometown.
“I think there’s a lot of pride, because Bend’s kind of a smaller town,” High said. “There's a lot of kids from Portland or bigger towns or schools around so it’s kind of cool to be a smaller school representing Oregon.”
High wants to play in college but has not yet signed with a school.
He hopes his experience in the Blue-Gray Game will help set him apart from other potential players.
