By Patrick McGroarty
News Editor

Terry Cousins, coach of the Dorchester Eagles Pop Warner football squad, was scolding his A-squad players after practice early this week, and Rudy Schwab had it all on tape.

"This is such a phenomenal story," said Schwab. "These coaches are really incredible. They give these kids structure and something to do. Coach Terry is a star."

Schwab plans to follow Cousins, a handful of players, and the entire Eagle operation through a season at Garvey Park and beyond for a documentary film project he hopes to market as an eight-part television series. The Braintree-based Scout production company brought the concept for the show to Schwab after reading about a 2005 controversy involving the Eagles and several suburban competitors in the Boston Globe. Schwab was intrigued by the idea, and developed the project as a Scout/Element production.

Networks including ABC and HBO have expressed interest in the project, though Schwab declined to discuss any concrete plans. He did say that the debut would ideally coincide with the NFL play-offs, and that he hopes the series will end with an episode documenting the Pop Warner squad's sixth consecutive trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida to compete for the Pop Warner national title that has eluded them in years past.

Schwab is a seasoned commercial director making his second venture into documentary film. His first film, "Closed on Sundays," explored the closure of several parishes in the Boston Archdiocese in the wake of the church abuse scandal. Born in New York, Schwab says he has spent a good deal of time in Boston and now lives in West Roxbury.

Familiarity with the city of Boston made it easier to integrate into the culture of the team, he said.

"We're over at the coach's houses a lot of nights after practice, barbequing and hanging out," said Schwab. "The only way to really work is to become a part of the subject."

Cousins green-lighted the project after inviting Schwab to one of those evening barbeques to discuss his vision for the series.

"He saw that it was real, what we do," said Cousins. "It's supposed to be a reality TV show, and that's what it's all about right here: reality. These kids live real lives everyday, like all of us do, and football is just a part of it."

Waiting anxiously to be fitted for shoulder pads and helmets, many players said they had barely noticed Schwab and his handheld camera, and didn't even know they could likely end up on television. Others said they had heard about the project or spoken with Schwab, but that they were focusing instead on their first game against rival Everett in September.

"They want us because we're winners," said Daquon Hill, 14, of Mattapan. "We work hard, and all of that."

Dominique Dennis, a 15 year-old from Ashmont, said the camera hadn't been a big deal, but admitted the attention was intriguing.

"I've never been on TV before," he said. "Maybe I'll end up with a college scholarship.

Cousins said his only reservation is that allowing the filmmakers to concentrate on specific players would compromise a player's psyche and create inequality among his teammates.

"I hate singling kids out, because it does, it messes with the other kids. They all want to be that dude," said Cousins. "That was a downfall for us in Florida a year ago, we had a reporter with us interviewing four kids. You could tell the other kids wasn't feeling that."

Schwab defended the importance of fleshing out several specific personalities, but said the desired effect would be to create a character that highlights some trait common to the entire team rather than glorifying that particular teenager.

"I see the team as another character," he said. "It's their interaction with each other that will drive the story."

As practice wound down, A-team players, mentally tired and physically beat, limped across the field toward Cousins, not nearly fast enough to satisfy the coach's pre-season fervor.

"No way. Now I gotta take you over here where the parents can't hear what I'm saying," said Cousins, directing the squad to take a knee toward the center of the field.

"This could be good," Schwab whispered excitedly before flipping on his camera and trotting toward the huddle.