Campbell rolls past Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough to take D3 football title

AMHERST – There weren't many nerves on the part of the Campbell High School football players prior to Saturday's Division III championship game vs. Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough.

And, as it turned out, there didn't need to be.

No, Saturday's win was total domination on the part of the No. 1 Cougars to the tune of a 48-7 thrashing of the No. 3 Lakers at Souhegan's Calvetti Field.

It was the Cougars’ game from the start, beginning with a muffed opening kickoff that pinned the Lakers (10-2) deep to an untimed down on a Cougar touchdown and subsequent two-point conversion on the final two plays of the first half that made it a 34-7 game.

The win caps off another successful era for Campbell football, this one highlighted by twin seniors Scott and Nick Hershberger, as the pair rushed for a combined 248 yards and six touchdowns, Nick getting four of them, in the win.

Together they played in three state championship games, winning two. Scott Hershberger, meanwhile, set the state’s all-time career rushing record this year and finishes with 6,214 yards.

“We won our sophomore year, we lost our junior year,” Scott Hershberger said after he ran for 148 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. “I knew what losing felt like. I was just as confident this year as I was my sophomore year. It (the 2023 loss) kept me focused and gave me a feeling I never wanted to feel again.”

They felt energized from the start, when the Lakers twice muffed the opening kickoff and had to settle to start from their own 9-yard line. It resulted in a red zone interception by Cougar freshman Brody Pinciaro, giving Campbell a first-and-goal at the 10.

Four plays later Nick Hershberger scored from 6 yards out and the Cougars were off and running.

“That first kickoff, that kind of just gave us a head start that every team wants in the championship,” Scott Hershberger said. “After that, our energy was obviously up. But going into the rest of the game, we just tried to keep turning up, we didn't want to let up at all. We wanted to keep going, keep rolling, and I think we did.”

“From the opening kickoff, we kick it deep, they muff it a little bit … And we were kind of in the driver's seat,” Cougars coach Glen Costello said. “We were able to play our best football when it counted.”

“They're state champs for a reason,” ILM coach Guy Donnelly said, his team managing just 96 total yards with three interceptions. “They played amazing and we made some mistakes. But even if we played mistake free, we were going to have to play our best game to win. They're undefeated, and only lost one game in two years. I'm proud of our kids to get here.”

The Cougars added two Scott Hershberger touchdown runs of 4 and 29 yards, and a Nick Hershberger 4-yard run to make it 26-0 with 7:27 left in the first half. Nick Hershberger finished with 100 yards on 15 carries and four scores.

However, the Lakers finally got on the board on a Alec Adorno 3-yard touchdown pass to Brogan Donnelly with 2:25 left in the half, set up a 35-yard connection between Adorno and Wyatt Buhrman, making it 26-7.

The Cougars took over at their own 25, and one had to figure it would be tough to march 75 yards in that time. But the drill worked, thanks eventually to a 15-yard Scott Hershberger run that had a 15-yard defensive penalty tacked on for a first down at the Laker 13 with zero time left.

Campbell quarterback Mikey Grace took advantage of the untimed down and hit junior Bronson Leduc in the end zone, with Leduc wrestling the ball away from ILM defender Milo Green. To add insult to injury, Grace found Braydon White for a two-point conversion. That's eight points without the clock ticking a single second, and a 34-7 halftime lead that killed any ILM momentum.

“It did,” Donnelly said. “We didn't stop them once (Saturday), you can't win football games if you can't stop people.”

“We were able to flip the script,” Costello said, “and here we are.”

“We could kind of see them through the game, getting a little down,” Nick Hershberger said. “When you see that, it kind of gives you a little extra boost to try and finish them off.”

Scott Hershbeger had suffered an ankle injury during last week's semifinal win over Gilford, and thus the plan was to spread the ball around in the backfield, especially with Nick Hershberger getting more than his usual load.

But he had runs of 22 and 18 yards on the opening second half drive that ended with brother Nick's 1-yard touchdown and his own 2-point run to make it 42-7 and begin running. Nick Hershberger added an 8-yard run with 15 ticks left in the third to account for the final and give the school its fourth football title overall.

And an end of an era on a great note.

“I think it's just a huge relief,” Scott Hershberger said. “Getting to play with everybody, and going out on top. Knowing in 30 years, I gave it my all, I kind of left my stamp on New Hampshire football.”

“I guess,” Nick Hershberger said, “it's surreal. It's like a dream, exactly how I wanted it to go.”

Tom King is a staff writer for the Nashua Telegraph.