Except for taking different paths in high school, David Cooperstein and Kyle Webster have done nearly everything together since meeting for the first time as members of an Under-9 AAU baseball team.
Summer camps.
Same friends.
Same college, including same major and classes.
Same summer internship.
Same softball team, currently playing in the N.A. Summer League championship series.
All of those things have helped shape their 12-year friendship, but are second fiddle to their favorite thing to do together:
Play football.
This fall, the North Andover residents are returning as veteran offensive linemen for the Union College football team. It will mark the last time the best friends will play together, and they want nothing more than to leave the Garnet Chargers program with some hardware.
“We haven’t won the Liberty League since we started here as freshmen,” said Webster, noting the last program title came in 2019. “We have worked so hard since freshman year and this off-season to become league champions.”
Two years ago, that almost happened. Union finished 10-2, which included a first-round win over Delaware Valley in the NCAA Division III playoffs.
That season, Webster (6-4, 265) played all 12 games at right tackle and Cooperstein (6-5, 300) played in five games between tackle and guard. They were instrumental in opening mammoth holes for Michael Fiore and Jonathan Anderson, who became the 27th pair of 1,000-yard rushing teammates in D3 history.
In last year’s tough 3-7 season, they started every game and were part of a group that allowed just 14 quarterback sacks. Webster shifted from right tackle to left tackle and Cooperstein played the first half of the season between right tackle and right guard before shifting to center for the second half.
“David’s a completely different player than he was when he walked in here four years ago,” said Webster. “College football requires such a high level of intellect, and you really need to be able to understand the game. He has really matured in that sense.”
Second-year head coach Jonathan Drach said both players are instrumental to the program in many different ways.
“David makes all our calls and is truly the glue to what we do on our front,” said Drach. “His positive attitude and competitiveness make him an extremely valuable member to our team. Kyle adds great athleticism and finishes blocks well. He has worked tirelessly in the weight room. He is very polished in his communication and technique at the tackle position.”
“The two of them set the tone for how teammates are treated throughout the locker room,” the coach added.
Their strong leadership skills started back in high school. Cooperstein was a two-sport athlete at North Andover High. He was a catcher/first baseman on the baseball team and a captain of the football team. His senior year, as a two-way lineman, he was named to the Merrimack Valley All-Conference and Eagle-Tribune All-Star teams.
Webster excelled in football, basketball and baseball at St. John’s Prep. During his junior year, just a week after making his first varsity start on the baseball team, he belted the game winning home run in the Division 1 North final.
Fourteen months after that memorable round-tripper, they ventured nearly 200 miles on I-90 West to Schenectady, N.Y., to both study economics, while battling some of the best defensive linemen in the country from the Liberty League.
“We just constantly teach each other different things,” said Cooperstein. “That’s what helps build our friendship as well. We are sending each other technique videos, or we just hang out and talk schematically and that develops and helps both of us.”
“I have learned so much from Kyle. He is just a leader. He holds everyone on the field to the standard of excellence both athletically and academically,” added Cooperstein.
Over the last few months, the two worked together outside of football as Project Manager interns at Raytheon in Tewksbury.
“We sat next to each other in cubicles all day,” said Webster. “When there wasn’t much going on, we’d turn our chairs to each other and talk about whatever was on our minds.”
Most of those conversations centered around, of course, football and friendship.
“We have gone from those youth baseball days to now going into our senior year of playing college football together,” said Cooperstein. “Our friendship has only developed over time, which has been amazing.”