Not since Biddeford High in the early 1990s has a school dominated the Class A football ranks the way Bonny Eagle has over the past five years. With Saturday’s 26-6 victory over Skowhegan, the Scots matched the Tigers – who won in ’90, ’91, ’93 and ’94 -with a fourth state title in five years.

“Dynasty, legacy, we’re anything you want to call us,” said Bonny Eagle senior linebacker Dayton McPherson. “I think we’re the best football team in the state so far out of this whole entire decade. We’re a great team and I love playing with these guys.”

The Scots won their first title in 2004 with a 29-19 win over Bangor. They successfully defended their title in 2005, rolling over Mt. Blue 41-13. After falling in the Western Maine semifinals in 2006, Bonny Eagle was back on top last season, topping Lawrence 34-14 for the gold ball. The Scots are a remarkable 53-5 overall since 2004.

Head coach Kevin Cooper, who took over a struggling Bonny Eagle program 11 years ago, wouldn’t go so far as to call the current Scots a dynasty. But the humble coach doesn’t mind if others do.

“If that’s the way people are going to talk about us, we’ll certainly be very gracious and accept that,” Cooper said. “I’m very proud of what we’ve done at Bonny Eagle. It’s taken a whole community effort, from our booster club to our parents, to the staff members and administration at school, to our students and team.”

It’s a far cry from where Bonny Eagle was when Cooper took the reins.

“My first year in ’98 we were 1-7, and 2-6 the year after,” he said.

But even then, there was a plan to build a program.

“I think there was a vision there,” Cooper said. “There were obviously some pretty low points and some struggles in there. You had to have that belief that someday we were going to get there.

“It took a great group in ’04 to kind of turn around the fortunes and get a state championship. Since then, kids coming up have just gotten on board and continued to do what it takes to win state championships.”

Senior running back Josh Ruby, who’s now been part of three state championships in his four years, will use the word that Cooper won’t.

“This is a dynasty, definitely,” he said. “I hope the team next year comes to the state championship and makes us proud by winning another one. This program is unbelievable. The coaches are unbelievable. This is the best program in the state – by far.”

Coming off an undefeated campaign in 2007, the Scots were heavily favored to repeat this season. But after forfeiting a game against Westbrook for using an ineligible player late in a game it had comfortably in hand (an infraction the Scots self-reported), Bonny Eagle showed its mortality by squandering a late two-touchdown lead in a 29-28 loss at home to Deering.

The Scots bounced back with 40-point wins over Portland and Gorham to close the regular season, and then trounced Cheverus 35-0 in the opening round of the Western Maine playoffs. The No. 4 Scots had to travel to Deering in the semifinals, avenging their loss and handing the Rams their first defeat, 26-14. Again, Bonny Eagle took to the road for the regional championship, where the Scots shut out previously undefeated Thornton Academy 20-0.

Preparation, discipline and hard work have been the forces behind the Scots’ success.

“What’s key is the coaches and the effort we give,” Ruby said. “You can’t ask for more effort from all these kids. It’s like Bonny Eagle runs a farm just to raise football players. It’s unbelievable.”

The hard work starts at the top, said wide receiver Ryan Nason. The players see how hard Cooper works at preparing for opponents and it rubs off on them.

“He’s always up doing things for the team,” Nason said. “He’s always working on football. Always. He’s just a great coach.”

And while the emotions and physicality of football can get the better of young players – and even coaches at times – it is rare to see anyone on Bonny Eagle lose his head.

“Our No. 1 priority is to have class,” Ruby said. “There are no cheap shots. We try to be great sports. We love every other player on the field. I mean, they’re our enemies on the field, but off the field, they’re our friends, so let’s show them love. Discipline is Coach Cooper’s No. 1 priority, and we listen to him.”

Winning is now expected for the Scots. They take the field confident in each other, in their preparations and in their ability to outplay their opponent. When Bonny Eagle turned the ball over twice in the first half and entered halftime tied with Skowhegan at 6-6, there wasn’t a sense of panic. The Scots simply focused on the task at hand and fine-tuned some blocking schemes.

“We didn’t have any major halftime adjustments or rah-rah speeches,” Cooper said. “We just went in and tried to refocus. Skowhegan had run a lot of defenses throughout the year so we weren’t exactly sure what we were going to get. They ran something that we hadn’t worked on a lot in practice. We just refocused and talked about how we were going to block certain things. That was really it.”

With that, Bonny Eagle came out and dominated the second half, reaching the end zone three times while holding Skowhegan under 50 yards of offense.

The Scots will graduate a number of significant players from the 2008 squad, but with numbers and talent in each class, they expect to be one of the favorites again next season when they’ll gun for a fifth Class A state title in six years – an unprecedented feat in Maine.

Winning state championships has become the norm for the Bonny Eagle dynasty. Don’t expect anyone associated with the program to be satisfied with what’s already been achieved. The Scots want to continue to expand their stockpile of gold footballs.

“It doesn’t get old, I’ll tell you that,” Cooper said, cracking a smile. “It doesn’t get old.”