Campbell football wins defensive battle with Stevens to return to D3 title game

MANCHESTER - Campbell High School football coach Glenn Costello wasn’t surprised about anything that happened Saturday afternoon at Gill Stadium.

Not a defensive struggle that led to a scoreless first half, not in the 8-0 final score, and certainly not in the performance of No. 2 running back Conor Sweeney that carried the Cougars back into the Division III championship game.

Stepping into the lead-back role after a second quarter injury forced fellow junior Keegan Mills out of the game, Sweeney rushed for 162 of the team’s 252 yards and scored the only touchdown in 48 minutes of action in third-seeded Campbell’s 8-0 Division III football semifinal win over No. 7 Stevens.

“Conor’s been our No. 2 back most of the season, so this is nothing too surprising to any of us,” Costello said. “Unfortunately the opportunity presented itself (Saturday) and Conor stepped up and did exactly what we expected him to do.”

The defending champion Cougars return to the University of New Hampshire in Durham at 11 a.m. Nov. 17 for a rematch with top-seeded Monadnock, which beat No. 4 Hillsboro-Deering/Hopkinton 43-12 on Saturday afternoon in Swanzey.

Mills had 12 carries for 58 yards before rolling an ankle. Sweeney filled in admirably the rest of the second quarter and for the entirety of the second half - touching the ball on 90 percent of Campbell’s second-half offensive snaps for 159 yards and the game’s lone touchdown.

“That first half was a battle - zero to zero at halftime,” said Sweeney, who scored on a 31-yard run just 1:34 into the third quarter. “We went in the locker room and it was just, alright boys let’s step it up.

“Coach was saying that as long as we keep pounding and get right back into it we can pull this out.”

The Cougars did just that, with a mixture of handoffs and indirect snaps to Sweeney from their first down of the third quarter until their last possession.

The only other player to get on the scoresheet was senior lineman Leo Carten, who took an indirect snap and bulled his way over the goal line for two points to punctuate Sweeney’s score.

“We expected it to be a second-half game,” Costello said. “Stevens is a good team. They play hard. I expected them to play all the way through the fourth quarter, and for coach (Paul) Silva to put them in good position.

“I knew it would come down to who had the ball last. Those were my expectations.”

Despite having the ball last, Stevens was unable to figure out Campbell’s defense, with Quentin Bicknell’s last-second heave getting caught in a gust of wind and falling incomplete.

Campbell’s defense, which held Stevens to 103 yards of total offense, was matched by the Cardinals in key moments. Stevens’ defense actually came within 14 yards of tying the game up with just under 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

With Campbell driving down the field and setting up shop in the red zone, the Cardinals’ defense denied Cougars quarterback Adam Breton on a pass toward the end zone. Defensive back Lucas Mudge hauled in a tipped ball and returned it 78 yards in the opposite direction to give the Cardinals new hope at evening the score.

That hope faded quickly.

On first down from Campbell’s 14 yard line, Bicknell returned the favor on a nice read and interception by Carter Vedrani.

“Lucas made a nice play, and then we couldn’t finish it for him,” Stevens coach Paul Silva said of his defensive back’s pickoff of Breton. “We had a play we wanted to run, but we didn’t have the wind. We thought we could get the slant in behind there, but their guy made a nice read on it and got the ball back for his team.”

With Stevens in good field position four minutes later - first down on Campbell’s 36 - Cougars defensive back Chad Martel would add an interception of his own to hold the Cardinals scoreless with 5:33 to play.

Campbell would feed Sweeney the ball nine straight times until forced to punt with 58.6 seconds left to play. Starting on his own 23, Bicknell completed two passes before his third fell incomplete to end the game.

For Breton, who plays both ways at quarterback and linebacker, he’s ready for whatever style of play the final rematch turns into.

“Shootout or defensive battle?” Breton said. “We’ve proven we can get it done. I’m comfortable knowing we can win a fight.”