Bend’s Treyden Lucas, left, looks to turn the corner against Lincoln on Sept. 1 at Bend High. Bend plays at Caldera on Friday at 7 p.m.

Friday night was a long time coming, not just for Bend High football players, but also for the team’s new head coach Kevin Cooper.

Nearly all of the players who took the field for the Lava Bears were seeing their first meaningful varsity minutes. While Cooper, who has been an assistant coach for the Lava Bears for 15 years, is now the team’s coach.

“I said at the beginning of the night that I have been waiting for this opportunity my whole life,” Cooper said. “The only reason I was making the pregame speech about me was because I knew that you, as players, are feeling the same way. We have waited.”

It was worth the wait. Bend High took down Lincoln 20-0 to open the season and start the Cooper Era on the right foot.

“I know this win meant a lot to him — he has been waiting his turn,” said senior linebacker/tight end Jordan Kent.

“We have been working since May for this,” said junior running back Uriel Valdez. “We wanted the win. We really did it for coach Cooper. It was his first game as a head coach. We wanted to show up for him.”

Seeing minutes on the playing field was tough last season with the Lava Bears’ 34-player senior class. For underclassmen, it mostly came late in the game when Bend — who won 10 games and reached the 5A semifinals — had a comfortable lead.

After a scoreless first quarter, the youthful Lava Bears began to find their footing.

It was the defense and special teams that provided the spark for Bend. In the first quarter, while Lincoln looked primed to take the lead on a field goal, the special teams unit came up with a block to keep the Cardinals off the board.

The next Cardinals possession was cut short when junior safety Eii Bartenstein intercepted Liam Eldridge’s pass.

“That is what we call ‘total football,’” Cooper said. “Defense sets up the offense, then hopefully the offense can put the defense in good positions. It is not one side being more important than the other.”

The Lava Bears turned Bartenstein’s interception into points. Valdez tallied the first touchdown of the season, scoring on a short run to give the Lava Bears the early lead.

Valdez would then score his second touchdown of the game from 15 yards out on the next drive. Heading into halftime, the Lava Bears were ahead 14-0.

“I was just keeping my feet moving and getting low,” Valdez said. “Those were my first varsity touchdowns. It felt great to get into the end zone.”

The Lava Bears put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter when senior running back Wyatt McClain outran the Cardinals’ defense for a 72-yard touchdown, giving Bend the 20-0 lead.

The defense forced three interceptions on the night, two of them from junior safety Owen Thomas, while keeping the Cardinals out of the end zone.

“Everyone did their job, and we were just flying around ready to make a play,” Kent said.

The Lava Bears celebrated the opening game win, and will hit the road Friday to take on North Medford at Spiegelberg Stadium.

“You work so dang hard that you never want to focus on the things that you could do better,” Cooper said. “I’ve been doing this long enough to know that wins don’t come by all the time. I’m really proud of the boys, but we still have to get better after being 1-0.”

Down 20-14 going into halftime on the road against Canby, Mountain View scored 35 unanswered points in the second half to start the season off with a 42-20 victory.

Sophomore running back ran for 257 yards and four touchdowns while Connor Crum passed for two touchdowns and ran for another. Jake Lewis and Kaden Alaya each hauled in touchdown passes in the victory.

Tualatin 42, Summit 14

Tualatin, considered one of the top 6A teams this season, showed just why Friday night by taking down the reigning 5A champions to open the season, 42-14.

Tualatin raced to a 35-0 lead before Summit’s Jimmy Hughes connected with tight end Charlie Crowell for a 75-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Hughes then ran in for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Last year, Tualatin beat Summit in the season opener, but the Storm went on to win 12 straight games and claim the 5A title.

Pendleton 27, Caldera 20

Caldera came up just short, falling 27-20 on the road to Pendleton. Chase Sorensen caught a 20-yard touchdown from Tommy Morris and Harry Jennrich scored on a two-yard run, while Ivan Barrios returned an interception for a touchdown for the Wolfpack. Coach Mike Mitchell said this team — which is playing in its second varsity season and its first with seniors — is “head and shoulders above where we were last year.”

Redmond 19, Hood River Valley 0

It was quite the season opener for the Olmeda brothers in Redmond’s 19-0 win over Hood River Valley.

Issac Olmeda scored twice on the ground, and twin brother Joseph Olmeda hauled in a receiving touchdown from Colton Horner. Joseph Olmeda also had an interception for a defense that pitched a shutout.

Springfield 39, Ridgeview 21

Ishon Ortiz and Adam Millington each had rushing touchdowns, while Zack Asplund caught a touchdown pass from Millington in Ridgeview’s 39-21 loss to Springfield in Redmond.

“Springfield is a big and physical, good team,” said Ridgeview coach Patrick Pileggi. “We shot ourselves in the foot multiple times giving them short fields for easy scores.”

Crook County 22, Philomath 13

The Crook County connection between quarterback Hayden Allen and wide receiver Eddie Freauff was too much for Philomath to handle. Freauff caught touchdown passes of 15, 12 and 10 yards to vault the Cowboys to a 22-13 win on the road to start the season with a win. Gabe Love also kicked a 20-yard field goal in the win.

Madras 16, Sweet Home 2

Two rushing touchdowns by Michael Picard was all that was needed in Madras’ 16-2 win over Sweet Home Thursday night.

The Dalles 27, La Pine 0

In the first game with new coach Brandon Tirrill, La Pine was shutout against 4A The Dalles, falling 27-0.

Sisters 19, Burns 13

With 22 seconds left in the game and the game tied at 13, Sisters’ Landen Scott hauled in the game winning 35-yard touchdown pass from Hunter Bronson to give the Outlaws a 19-13 win over Banks Friday night. The Outlaws then recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff to end any chance of Banks making a comeback. Tony Gonzalez scored twice on the ground for Sisters.

North Douglas 38, Culver 36

Thursday night in nine-man football, Culver lost a close game to North Douglas, falling 38-36 on the road.