Childhood friends help lead Vikings to bowl victory
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For four returned missionaries from Lehi, Utah, this year's Real Dairy Bowl in Pocatello, Idaho, was the highlight of a friendship that spanned many years. It was also a bittersweet time, because the probability of them ever suiting up together again to play football appears remote.
Cole Cooper, Matt Ekins, Richard Peterson and Jay Hill have shared many experiences in athletics and in the Church.Karen Ekins, Matt's mother, remembers them playing as young boys. She said they turned on car lights so they could finish a basketball or football game in the yard after dark in their hometown midway between Salt Lake City and Provo.
Freshman quarterback Cole Cooper, who served in the Chile Santiago North Mission, says playing together again "would be the ultimate goal. But I don't think it will happen. We've got to move on in our lives."
Cooper, who completed 21 of 40 passes for 354 yards and five touchdowns in a back-up role during the season, is the leading candidate for starting quarterback at Ricks next fall.
Matt Ekins, a wide receiver who scored four touchdowns during the 1997 season and caught 21 passes for 306 yards, said: "It's going to be very hard to adjust. We've been best friends since first or second grade. It's been a dream come true to be able to play with these guys."
Ekins, who served in the Bolivia La Paz Mission, played one year at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, and transferred to Ricks as a sophomore.
Richard Peterson, a defensive back with 18 solo tackles and a like number of assisted tackles, will be back at Ricks next season. "It was a good opportunity to play this year . . . but I knew it would come to an end sometime," he said.
He served in the Nebraska Omaha Mission.
Jay Hill, who had 23 solo tackles and 16 assists as a defensive back during the regular season, said: "Hopefully we'll be able to reunite someday. It was a great year. It's amazing to go 11-1 together."
He served in the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission.
True friendships transcend time and place. Peterson, thinking of his three best friends following the game, might have said it best: "Wherever our lives take us, we'll always be together anyway."
