The perfect milestone has been reached by Bremerton Knights assistant coach Joe Kennedy, who moments after the football season opened Sep. 1 with a 27-12 win against the visiting Mount Douglas Rams, walked to the center of the field at Memorial Stadium.

With some cheering him and a few boos to follow, Kennedy celebrated a win of his own by taking a knee and praying on the 50-yard line, the first time he’s done so as a coach at Bremerton High School since 2015.

“I said ‘thank you’ probably thirty times,” he said when asked what he offered up in prayer. “I had no other words. What do you say to the one who got me here to begin with?”

The assistant coach’s return to the field came after his controversial race for religious freedom that started when the Bremerton School District requested that he cease his on-field post-game prayers.

He refused, arguing his prayers were protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as both freedoms of religious expression and speech. His contract was not renewed following the 2015 season, setting into motion a long, exhausting legal battle between Kennedy and the district.

The United States Supreme Court ultimately awarded the victory to Kennedy on June 27, 2022, but there was no doubt the long years took a toll on the Kennedy household.

His wife Denise, who was also a former employee of the district, said, “It was not easy at all. It felt like being on an island by myself being in the HR department. We might have had some intense fellowship at times, but we prevailed, and I would say our marriage is stronger than it ever has been.”

“I feel like I, we, have fought the good fight,” Kennedy added, “we finished this race, and we kept the faith the whole entire time, and it was absolutely, 100% worth it.”

Taking into account all those years of history between the two sides, the hyped-up first game of this season had become an impossibly awkward scenario. A tough media approach and heightened security among other precautions had many wondering if those making up the crowd under the Friday night lights would be fans, protesters or a mix of both.

What ultimately transpired was nothing more to the naked eye than a typical high school football game. Fans attending the contest, an official estimating somewhere around 1,300 of them, decked themselves out in the school colors of gold and blue and cheered proudly for their Knights.

There had been concern about the spotlight on Kennedy taking away from the gameday experience, but both sides of the legal dispute found a rare moment of agreement and relief in that it was the players that were celebrated that night.

“We are very pleased with how it went,” said Karen Bevers, director of communications for BSD. “It’s been a great evening, and we are really appreciative of some of the changes we’ve made for safety and security.”

Kennedy admitted he was terrified of what the situation could become, but later said, “The best part of tonight was the crowd that came out to support our team.”

He added, “That was an answered prayer that there wasn’t 10,000 people. It was the right amount of people, (a) great crowd. You heard nothing but cheers for Bremerton.”

The milestone first game is out of the way, but some questions remain unanswered as to the future of the assistant coach’s time at Bremerton. Kennedy is currently a Florida resident, but it was certain details about the coach’s on-field mannerisms that led to speculation of a resignation to come.

Multiple times, he was seen as many as 40 yards away from the larger packs of players and coaches. Rather than immediately following his team into the locker room at halftime, he embraced old players and shook several hands, a smile on his face the entire time.

When Kennedy was asked about these things, he responded several times with the phrase, “I did what I was told to do.”

He used that same language while describing what the district’s rules were as to when, where, and in what way the coach could conduct his prayers. This included when he could enter what he called “the prayer zone”, also identifiable as the yellow center circle painted around midfield.

As to the question of a resignation, Kennedy said that he’ll be at the next team practice.

“We haven’t even talked about it,” he said. “Tonight was the milestone and where we wanted to get to.”