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# Bedford's Purnell brothers excelling on and off the lacrosse field
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/bedfords-purnell-brothers-excelling-on-and-off-the-lacrosse-field/
- Published: 2025-06-07T16:30:14.000Z
- Updated: 2025-06-07T16:30:14.000Z
- Description: Steve Gaudreau was surprised last fall when a couple of trucks pulled up in front of his house and two teenagers he recognized got out. The new Bedford High School boys lacrosse coach had yet to coach a game for the Bulldogs, but some of his soon-to-be players were coming to the door, but not to tal
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, Bedford, boys lacrosse, Bulldogs, John Purnell, Luke Purnell, NH High School Sports Insider, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

Steve Gaudreau was surprised last fall when a couple of trucks pulled up in front of his house and two teenagers he recognized got out.

The new Bedford High School boys lacrosse coach had yet to coach a game for the Bulldogs, but some of his soon-to-be players were coming to the door, but not to talk about offseason plans or game strategy.

Purnell Brothers Landscaping was there to work on his yard.

"My wife surprised me last fall," Gaudreau said. "The trucks pulled up to the house and I didn’t know what was going on. She had arranged to have them do it. Let’s put it this way, similar to (their) lacrosse game, they were very efficient. Didn’t say a lot, but got the job done."

And did a good enough job, Gaudreau's wife, Kate, left a five-star online review for the business, run by Luke Purnell, a senior at Bedford, and his brother, John, a sophomore

"They have a crew of a bunch of different guys," Gaudreau said. "It’s a professional outfit, that’s for sure. It’s not like they’re handing out flyers."

They're not handing out flyers anymore, but when the Purnell brothers were first getting started, they were going door-to-door in their neighborhood, asking people if they would hire the pair to mow the lawn.

"We pretty much just started for our neighbor, doing around-the-house tasks, stuff like that, mowing his lawn, trimming his bushes," Luke Purnell said. "Then we were like, why not do as many different things as we can, go around the neighborhood with our mowers.

"Then eventually we picked up more and more lawns and then expanded our expertise into things we liked doing. We found new things every year and kept growing."

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/jmbedbgblax050125-b3-1.jpg)

Luke (above, and top on the right) and John (top, left) have been running their business for five years.

Their love of landscaping and outdoor work started before that, helping their father, Dennis, when they were young, which led to asking the landscaping crew that previously did work in their yard to test out their riding mowers.

Then, five years ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic left the boys at home that summer in need of something to do, they took it to the next level.

"We did flyers," John Purnell said. "We drove them around in the lawn mower around the 10 surrounding streets near our house. We’d go knock on doors with flyers. Whoever was there, we’d talk to them, whoever wasn’t, we’d leave a flyer. And then it was as lot of word of mouth after that."

As word got out and the Purnells began to add more jobs, they ran into a problem: neither of them was old enough to drive them outside of the neighborhood.

"We pretty much just searched around for somebody who had a truck," Luke Purnell said. "We were like since he knows how to drive one, we’ll pay him good money, and he ended up driving it for us and we’d ride along with him.

"It made it much easier once I got my license. I could just do it for us."

Their parents were excited to see their young sons willing to put in the work to build a business and make a name for themselves. But then it started going a little too far.

"At the start, they kind of liked it, thought we were hard working," John Purnell said. "As it kept growing, they were like you guys have to slow down and balance school and all this. We wouldn’t stop, we just kept going. We’d get home at 9 o’clock sometimes on school nights."

With the business growing, and Luke Purnell able to provide transportation, the pair were in a position to not only add to their repertoire, but to bring on employees.

They had the perfect pool of workers to select from - their friends.

"I really started getting close with Luke in eighth grade," Bedford senior Alex Cotnoir said. "We were in the same class together, we started hanging out more.

"Come freshman year, he started texting me, and this was when they where door-to-door, he said ‘I’ve got this lawn, if you want to come help just weed whack for 20 minutes.’ So I’d have my mom drop me off and I’d help him out whenever."

While he's seen the Purnells' work on and off the field, Gaudreau is still in awe of what the pair of high school students has been able to pull off. At times, they're getting to practice straight from a job, parking the landscaping trucks as far off as they can to keep them out of the way.

"They’re definitely motivated and I feel like they’re always working," the coach said, pointing to two trucks, one with a trailer. "This is the typical scene. I know they’ll be here, but sometimes there here 15 minutes before (practice) and they’re in full landscaping gear. They run into the locker room and then back out."

Gaudreau sees a lot of the traits that have allowed the brothers to build a successful business carry over on to the lacrosse field. While John Purnell is in his second year on varsity, and first as a starter, Luke Purnell has been a two-year captain for the Bulldogs.

"Luke is that lunch-pail type of kid. Hard hat, show up to work, just grind it out," Gaudreau said. "He’ll make a difference in the game one way or the other. Usually it is on the scoresheet, but for him, he’s one of our hardest workers. He’s a captain. He rides the ball really well. He’s a gritty kid. It fits."

Cotnoir, who has been out all season for Bedford with a knee injury, has seen firsthand how disciplined John and Luke have been, and he's been around them enough, it's worn off on him.

"They’ve learned how to get to a job, leave their phone in the truck, and just spend three hours fully focused on what they’re doing," he said. "They can get things done, which is good for them.

"As you start getting into those daily routines, getting up early, it helps build confidence. We’re going to college next year, we’ve got to wake up by ourselves, plan everything. It’s a lot of self-driven work."

Both brothers have been playing lacrosse for a long time, along with their older brother, Nick, who went to Holderness School and played at Swathmore College and for the club team at Vanderbilt University.

But when they started the landscaping business, both decided to quit playing club lacrosse. Neither was sure if he was a lacrosse player who also did landscaping, or a landscaper who dabbled in lacrosse.

"It’s hard to say," Luke Purnell said. "I’d say at the start of my high school, it was definitely lacrosse and we do that on the side."

Either way, with the playoffs set to start for Bedford, they know the last time they step on a field together as teammates is coming soon. Luke Purnell plans to attend the University of New Hampshire in the fall, and while he's considering playing for the club team, that's no guarantee.

"I’m assuming he’ll probably study something that will help contribute to the business," Gaudreau said. "I think he potentially has plans to play lacrosse at UNH, which is a solid club program. To have a player like Luke, and John, who is quiet and they don’t need the spotlight, they thrive on putting their heads down, working silently."

There is one more thing the Purnells are focused on before their time on the field together comes to an end.

"All we cared about was winning the championship," Luke Purnell said. "We’re just doing whatever we can to help the team. We’re going to do the most we can with the time we have, to make sure we can do it."