It’s official, the Bonny Eagle Scots are a football dynasty.
On a frigid Saturday night in Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium, the Scots (10-2) won their fourth Class A state championship in five years with a 26-6 win over Skowhegan.
After the game, Bonny Eagle coach Kevin Cooper, his jacket covered in a thin layer of ice thanks to a postgame Gatorade shower, said Bonny Eagle’s success over the years goes much deeper than just the high school program, saying that championship teams are built from the bottom up. “I think that (winning four championships in five years) validates what we’re doing at Bonny Eagle all the way down to our youth programs and through middle school and high school,” Cooper said. “We’re getting good players up into our high school, and that (allows us) to win games. We’re very proud of what we’ve done the past five years.”
Cooper went on to add that he felt the support from the Bonny Eagle parents, fans and boosters played a role in the Scots’ championships. “It’s a community effort in our towns and we get great support from the people that are in our towns and our community members and our booster club members,” Cooper said. “We’re very lucky to have that, it’s really developed a sense of family in our program, and we all appreciate that very much.”
At the outset of the game, it looked like Skowhegan’s double wing rushing offense would allow the Indians to pull the upset and take the title away from the Scots.
Behind quarterback Jordan McGowan and backs Cody Vigue and William Clark, the Indians came out and were able to move the ball in the first quarter holding the ball 9:04 to the Scots’ 2:56, but neither team was able to get into scoring position.
But early in the second quarter, the Indians were able to break through. On a drive that started on their own 32 in the closing minutes of the first, Skowhegan was able to mount an extended 11-play, 68-yard drive that was capped off by a three-yard touchdown run from Vigue. After the Indians failed to convert on the two-point attempt, the score stood at 6-0 with 10:40 to play in the first half.
On the next drive, the Scots, thanks to the running of quarterback Nate Doehler and back Josh Ruby, were able to get into scoring position, but the drive ended when Ruby fumbled the ball down near the Indians’ goal line.
After forcing Skowhegan to go three-and-out on the next possession, the Scots finally got onto the board. Starting from the Indians’ 45, Doehler hit Ryan Nason for am 11-yard screen pass and then the Scots kept the ball on the ground with Doehler and Ruby ripping through the Indians line. Ruby finished off the drive with a nine-yard touchdown run with 3:43 left in the half and after a missed PAT, the score was tied at six.
During the halftime break, the Scots discussed how to shut down the Skowhegan offensive attack, which despite the score, was having some success moving the ball in the first half. While the Scots made some adjustments, Cooper said the coaching staff didn’t make any major changes to the game plan. “Defensively, we just made a slight adjustment to combat their passing game, just a little rotation in our secondary,” he said. “On offense, we just tried to settle down.”
Doehler said the Scots knew they were in a good position at the break, but they had to make sure to avoid turnovers in the second half to win the game. “All we had to do was keep the ball, we couldn’t give them any more fumbles,” Doehler said. “We just had to execute on them.”
Which is just what the Scots did throughout the second half, pulling away from the Indians right from the start.
After the Scots were forced to punt on their first possession of the half, the defense got the ball right back. On a first down play from the Indians’ 39, McGowan dropped back to pass and Doehler made a nice leaping interception at the Scots’ 43 with 9:04 left in the third.
Doehler said the Scots’ defensive line played a big role in the interception. “I just feel the (Scots’ defensive) line really helped me because they got the quarterback pressured and got him to throw it up.”
Cooper said the pick was a big momentum-turner. “It allowed us to get our offense back on the field and limit their possessions,” he said. “They’re good when they can keep the ball and drive it down the field, to take it back away from them, it gives us a big advantage, so Nate coming up with that pick was a big moment in the game.”
The Scots took advantage of the turnover, with Doehler and Ruby gaining big yards on the ground and Nason and Joe Davis coming up with key receptions on the ensuing drive, which was capped off by Ruby scoring his second touchdown of the game from two-yards out. After Doehler kicked the PAT, the Scots had a 13-6 lead and they never looked back.
After the Scots took the lead, the defense shut down the Indians’ attack and didn’t allow them to get into scoring position for the rest of the game. Cooper said he was proud of the way his defense stepped up in the second half. “I think our defense gets overlooked, our offense is so explosive and everyone talks about Nate Doehler and Josh Ruby and people forget our defense is really good,” Cooper said. “We’ve been playing great all postseason and we talked all week that if our defense played well and held these guys off the scoreboard, we were going to have a chance to win the game, and they certainly did that. I’m so proud of how they played in the second half, to play like they did with the game on the line, I’m just very lucky to coach these guys.”
The Scots did add two insurance touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Just as the quarter began, Doehler rolled out and hit Nason in the back corner of the end zone from 18 yards out to make the score 20-6. Doehler then got a touchdown of his own with a three-yard run to make the final score 26-6.
After the game, Cooper said he would miss having Doehler on the squad next season. “It’s actually hard right now to think about not being able to coach that kid anymore,” Cooper said. “He’s brought so much to this program and he played great in the second half on defense with that interception, he threw a touchdown pass and ran the ball, he’s just a very special player.”
Cooper said while he would miss Doehler and all of the senior class, he has great memories of their time together and he was confident that the seniors would remain connected to the coaches and the program. “We’ve got a great senior class and it’s going to be really hard to see these kids go,” he said. “Not only are they great to coach, but they’re great to relate to off the field. It’s going to be a group of guys that, five or six years down the road, they’re going to be our friends, that’s just the type of kids they are.”
For his part, Doehler, clutching the state championship trophy, said the win was a perfect way to cap off the season and his high school career. “We come in every day for 14 weeks and do everything to prepare for this game right here,” Doehler said. “I couldn’t even picture this, this is just amazing, I’m loving every second of it.”
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