In 1996, when Pete Cooper ended his 28-year career as the head football coach at Lawrence High School, he never could have imagined he’d be wearing a different school’s colors while coaching again in a game against his beloved Bulldogs. But that’s exactly what transpired at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland last Saturday when Bonny Eagle downed Lawrence for the Class A state championship.

“I never expected to come back to coach again,” explained former Lawrence head coach and now assistant Bonny Eagle coach Pete Cooper about his departure from the sidelines and the accompanying free time in the fall of 1997. “Kevin was at the University of Maine when I retired and so my wife and I followed Maine that whole fall. The next fall we did the same thing at Bonny Eagle (where Kevin had started his own high school coaching career). Then he asked me if I could hook on with him his second year. Ever since then it’s been great.”

Bonny Eagle head coach Kevin Cooper started his high school coaching career back in 1998 and he’s turned that once fledgling program into the dominant team in the state in the last four years. The Scots have now won three of the last four Class A crowns and they’ll likely be favored to win another at the start of the 2008 season. And along the way, Kevin’s had a little assistance from his father, whose help he sought not long after he took the Scots job.

“I told him that if he needed some help (I’d help him) because at the time there were not a lot of people around who had much football experience or background,” said Pete Cooper. “I told him that I could help him out for a couple years.”

A couple years has turned into almost a decade of sharing the sideline with his son. It’s obvious that Kevin is thrilled to have his father along for this stretch of Bonny Eagle success and Pete is pleased at what his son and his son’s team have accomplished.

“I wanted him to do whatever he wanted to do,” said Pete, noting that he hadn’t tried to sway Kevin into being a football coach. “I’m proud as heck of him and I’m also glad for John Suttie, too.”

Bonny Eagle assistant coach John Suttie and Kevin Cooper were boyhood friends growing up with Lawrence football. They attended and watched hundreds of Lawrence practices when they were younger and when their turn came, they played for Pete Cooper and his Lawrence High Bulldogs.

“We’re removed from that situation – it’s been 22 years,” said Suttie, referring to the days he and Kevin played for Pete Cooper at Lawrence. “It’s probably been a lot harder on Pete than it was for us. We wanted to win the football game just like we want to win every football game.”

Kevin agreed with Suttie’s assessment of how Saturday must have felt for his dad.

“It was definitely harder on my father than it was for John (Suttie) and myself,” said Kevin Cooper after the game. “My dad coached there (at Lawrence) for 28 years and when you coach at a place that long, there’s a lot of hard work and a lot of emotions that go into that.

“He built a great program there and influenced a lot of young men like John and myself. I’m sure to see them (Lawrence) on the other side of the field and to see Bonny Eagle on our side, it was probably tough for him. He knows right now that we have great kids (at Bonny Eagle) and I think he’s happy with the outcome.”

Indeed, Pete Cooper was happy that Bonny Eagle had won the title, but it wasn’t without a proud nod of affection directed at his former team.

“Lawrence hasn’t played a team (this season) with that kind of offense,” said Pete Cooper describing the Bonny Eagle attack. “But give Lawrence credit. They were down big at halftime and didn’t quit and their effort in the second half speaks well for that whole football program.”

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