MANCHESTER, N.H. – On Saturday, for the second time in two days, a team from Trinity eliminated a team from Campbell in NHIAA postseason play.
This time it was in football, with Trinity defeating Campbell, 33-8.
Trinity took the ball away from the Cougars four times, including three picks, with Bobby Kinsella almost nabbing a fourth interception, catching the ball just beyond the cusp of the end zone on what was a fourth down in any case.
Meanwhile, Campbell was unable to capitalize on any turnovers of its own, missing a golden opportunity to recapture a muffed short kickoff late in the second quarter.
That play came immediately Campbell freshman Nick Harshberger’s touchdown gave Campbell an 8-7 lead, their only lead of the day.
Instead of facing another Campbell drive in their territory following that previous scoring drive, Trinity sophomore Jack Service would end up capping Trinity’s drive with a goal line touchdown, following senior Jimbo Thibault’s goal line touchdown on the opening drive of the day for Trinity.
Service would add a passing touchdown later in the contest, finding Jameson Farley for a 24-yard strike, as well as a second rushing touchdown that just made it within the endzone with just over five seconds left in regulation. Devohn Ellis added the other rushing touchdown, also accounting for two of the interceptions.
Campbell Head Coach Glen Costello hoped to reverse his squad’s 14-0 loss at the hands of Trinity earlier in the season, but admitted that Trinity was the better team on Sunday.
“We didn’t play our best football today, period,” said Costello. “You can’t turn over the ball in November if you want to win a game.”
For Trinity Head Coach Rob Cathcart, there were fears that Saturday’s contest could resemble their 8-3 loss against Kearsarge a week earlier, with Cathcart noting that Campbell’s hard-nosed running attack resembled that of Kearsarge.
While Campbell did string together several long drives, Trinity was able to prevent those drives from turning into points outside of that one score.
“This game easily could have gone the same way, because they were moving the ball pretty well,” said Cathcart. “We were just fortunate enough to get some big plays in this game as well as defensive plays that went our way.”
Kearsarge was Trinity’s only loss in the regular season, but they did not play Pelham, who defeated Kearsarge 46-6 in the other Division III semi-final of the day. So far this year, Pelham has scored at least 40 points in every game and has won by 32 points during their 8-0 regular season.
Trinity will head to Pelham for the Division III Championship next Saturday at 1 p.m.