FAIRFIELD – Even teams that had their glory days go through some rough times. That’s the way things are in high school and college sports.

Take the Lawrence High of Fairfield football team, for example.

Back in the late 1980s and early ’90s, the Bulldogs were one of the state’s top programs, led by one of the state’s top head coaches of all time, Pete Cooper.

Now the 64 players on the 2005 edition of the Bulldogs look to turn around one of the state’s storied programs, which finished at the bottom of the Pine Tree Conference Class A in 2005.

“They’d like to turn the program around; this could be a good season to get that started,” first-year head coach Scott Hersom said last week. “We’re starting to develop into a team that I think hopefully by the end of the week will look good in our exhibition game against Waterville.”

The Bulldogs only graduated 10 seniors, according to Hersom, and many of last year’s starters return for 2005, including quarterback-free safety Aaron Champagne and tailback-cornerback Cory Church, both juniors.

“I think offensively, at the skill positions, we’ll be pretty solid,” Hersom said. “We’ll have some depth in those positions.”

Hersom said the Bulldogs are more of a “run-oriented” team, as they will employ a wing-T and a straight-I, with some option thrown in.

“The strength of [Champagne] is his running ability,” Hersom said. “We’ll try and make use of that with Wing-T formations and some of the I-stuff that we try.

“He was a starting QB as a sophomore running the option, and we’ll continue to run it.”

Defensively, the Bulldogs will use a 52 set most of the time, with five linemen, two linebackers and four defensive backs.

Lawrence’s strengths will be its linebacking corps and secondary on the defensive side of the ball, Hersom said.

Hersom is hoping that the growing pains the team endured last year will lead to more success on the gridiron this year.

“They matured playing as sophomores, now being juniors, they can really make an impact for our team,” he said. “A lot of those kids are thinking that way, and I hope that the performance matches their attitude.”

And football season doesn’t really end in November. Players have to hit the weight room in the offseason, and that’s one of the ways Hersom feels that the Bulldogs have improved.

“They did some good things in the offseason to get ready; they really committed to the weight room,” Hersom said. “They’re ready to take the next step; we hope it pays dividends and leads to a few more wins.”

LAWRENCE BULLDOGS

2004 results: 1-7, 8th in PTC Class A

Head Coach: John Hersom, first year

Key players: Aaron Champagne, QB-FS, Jr.; David Wallace, FB-LB, Jr.; Cory Church, TB-CB, Jr.; Dylan Costigan, TB-CB, Sr.; Hunter Losthus, SE, Sr.; Nick Brochu, FL, Sr.; Devon Raven, TE-SS, Jr.; Ryan McKeen, OT-DT, Sr.; Wayne Morrel, LB, Sr.

Outlook: The Bulldogs are hungry for a playoff appearance. Lawrence only lost 10 seniors from last year’s squad, so it has a lot of experience returning in 2005. Look for the ‘Dogs to contend for a playoff berth in a tough Pine Tree Conference.