TOM OROPEZA thought his coaching career was over after his Monsignor Bonner team fell to Archbishop Wood in the Catholic League AAA football final in November. Little did he know he would get the opportunity to coach one more game.

Oropeza will lead the East All-Stars, composed of seniors from Del-Val League schools as well as Bonner, Archbishop Carroll and Cardinal O'Hara, in the 36th annual Delaware County Hero Bowl, 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Widener University. The game will benefit the Hero Scholarship Fund of Delaware County, which provides college scholarships for the children of first responders who have died in the line of duty.

"It's a tremendous opportunity and a great privilege," Oropeza said. "I grew up in Delaware County and played football at Monsignor Bonner, and to be able to be a part of this game as a head coach is humbling and exciting. I certainly am grateful for the opportunity."

Oropeza, a member of Bonner's 1994 Catholic League championship team, joined the Friars coaching staff in 2000 following a playing career at Lehigh University. He inherited a winless team when he was named head coach in 2007, and Bonner went 21-35 in five seasons before he decided this spring to step away.

"It was time for me to enter another stage of my life," said Oropeza, who has a young son and has cited the need for more family time than a football coach gets to spend. "I'm glad I got the opportunity to coach one final game and will certainly take in the experience."

The East All-Stars will face a West All-Star team that features players from Central League schools along with Episcopal Academy and the Haverford School of the Inter-Ac. The participants were selected from 21 schools by the Delaware County Coaches Association, and many will take their talents to college programs in the fall.

"One of the neat things about this game is being able to meet some of these kids and be a small part of their life," Oropeza said. "They're at a point in their life where they're going to be moving on to different things. I'll be able to follow them whether it be football or other ventures in their life and say that I was a part of their life. That's a neat experience and I'm enjoying being able to give back to these kids."

The Hero Scholarship Fund, established in 1977, has provided 34 scholarships to children of police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel who have lost their lives. The fund has already identified its next two scholarship recipients: the sons of Lt. Nicholas Picozzi Jr., a member of the Lower Chichester Fire Department who was killed in a March 2008 house fire. He was 35.

Said Delaware County public relations director Bill Lovejoy: "It's a way for a community to show its support for the price that these men and women are willing to pay to protect and serve their community."

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Bonner's Oropeza coaching one last game: Hero Bowl