Three out of the last four football seasons have ended the same way at Bonny Eagle, they’ve all ended with the Scots holding a gold ball state championship trophy. Most recently, the Scots were the Class A state champions last year after another perfect 12-0 season. But the Scots aren’t content to rest on their laurels. This week, Bonny Eagle got back to work rebuilding a championship football team.

“I didn’t see anyone out here today handing us a gold football,” said head coach Kevin Cooper. “They are not putting rings on our fingers. High school football is something where you have a new team each year. Juniors become seniors, now they are your leaders. The seniors have graduated. For the new seniors, it’s their first time in a leadership position. Each year in high school football you have to rebuild.”

One of the biggest rebuilding efforts facing this year’s team will be at wide receiver. Last year the Scots had a pair of deep threats in seniors John Onesti and Ricky Hoyt. This year they are gone and new players will need to step in and fill the void left behind.

“Our receiver corps are new,” Cooper said. “We’ve made a couple of moves to put guys in there. Joe Davis, who was backup quarterback last year, we’ve moved him to receiver. He will be the backup quarterback too, but he will be a receiver. We moved Ryan Nason, who was a backup running back last year, to a position we call the ‘R’, which is a hybrid running back/receiver. That is kind of the position John Onesti played last year. So we made those two moves to bolster our receiving corps. Along with those two, we have Wade Severance and Travis Dunn. I think they will grow into those positions nicely.”

Dunn is sort of the wild card for the Scots. He started last year as a tight end and was utilized in the spread offense. He wasn’t the highly visible target that Hoyt and Onesti were, but was an important piece. This year his role will be more significant.

“He is big, he’s physical, he plays very intensely,” Cooper said of Dunn. “Kids look to him for that intensity on the field. As a tight end he has great hands, he runs great routes and he has a good feel for the passing game. It gives us another weapon. A lot of times in the past, teams have said we don’t throw to our tight end much. I don’t think they’re going to say that this year.”

Returning starting quarterback Nate Doehler also sees stability with Dunn out there.

“I already know what he’s like from playing with him so he will be a target I know I can always go to,” he said.

As for his new targets, Doehler is confident that Nason, Davis and Severance will be able to fill the shoes vacated by Hoyt and Onesti.

“I really think we have some people coming in that can make the same plays,” he said. Joe Davis and Ryan Nason and Wade Severance can go out and do the same thing they did; just make good plays.”

Josh Ruby returns this year at tailback, which will also provide a bit of familiarity for the Bonny Eagle offense. Ruby is not concerned about having an all-new receiving corps.

“We’re not going to change the offense much,” he said. “It will still be the same spread offense. We’ll still throw the ball. The receivers will catch it.”

Plugging in new pieces to make up for departed seniors or injured players is nothing new in high school football. What is different is the fact that Bonny Eagle has been able to stay at the top for the last four years with a different group each year.

“The team has been consistently good since my freshman year,” Doehler said. “I haven’t had anything bad to say about (the coaching staff). They come in and know what they are doing and know how to go out and win games.”

Ruby credits team-building measures as one of the reasons for the continued success.

“Going to Camp Samoset, working as a team and having three a days up there,” he said. “We practice 100 percent every day. We never let down. Our coach pushes us to the limits. He is a class act and I don’t know if we’d be the same team without him.”

Once again this year the Scots will enter the season with a target on their backs. As the defending state champs, every team knows who they have to beat in order to be the best. But the Scots are ready for that challenge.

“I think defending your title is always harder,” Cooper said. “It’s always a more difficult challenge. Every team wants to beat us. Every team in the league today when they went out to practice this morning, at least in some part, talked to their players about what they have to do to win a championship, to beat Bonny Eagle. So we have to rise up and meet those challenges each week. And it’s just more difficult to repeat and defend your title and I also think it’s that much more satisfying when you do.”

So with the spotlight on them and the rest of the league looking to knock them down, do the Scots feel any pressure?

“There is a little pressure, but I kind of live for that,” Doehler said. “I like that.”

“There is pressure, I’m not going to lie,” Ruby said. “But (the media) puts a lot of pressure on us to be the best. We know we’re good, other people know we’re good, we’re just going to try to stay at the top.”

“I don’t think there is a lot of pressure yet on this team,” Cooper said. “Pressure is something that can build over the course of time as different things happen during the season. But I don’t feel a lot of pressure. I don’t think our guys feel pressure. We look at it like it’s a new team, a new year, we’re starting off fresh. If you look at it in those terms the pressure hasn’t hit yet.”