Telegraph photo by TOM KING Campbell running back Nathan Perry breaks away from Laconia's Isaiah Sorrell (6) and Kayden Roberts for a long TD run during the Cougars' 41-24 win Saturday in Litchfield.

LITCHFIELD – Nathan Perry is best known at Campbell High School as a hockey player.

In just his third varsity football game on Saturday he certainly looked like he was still on skates.

Perry had touchdown runs of 60 and 30 yards in the second half to turn a tight 14-8 game into a 41-24 Campbell win, the Cougars’ (1-2) first of the season.

“Perry is a first year player, so we thought it would take him a couple of weeks to get going,” Cougars coach Glenn Costello said. “He’s a hockey player, so his leverage is pretty good and his burst has brought him to play varsity football, and I think now he’s starting to get the feel for it.”

Those scores were just a couple of several big plays on offense for the Cougars, who also got similar breakaway TD runs in the final eight minutes by senior back Ayden Lessard of 51 and 37 yards.

“We’re still in it, have a chance to compete and we give up the long run,” Laconia coach Craig Kozens said. “We’re inexperienced. Lot of freshmen out there, but we’ll be fine. When you play that young, hopefully you can grow. That’s our goal.”

Laconia (0-3) had closed to within 28-16

on a Cole Roy 1-yard TD with 7:50 left, but Lessard’s two runs helped spread things to 41-16 with 3:08 to play.

All this took some pressure off Cougar go-to back Hunter Caron, whose catch-and-run off a Jackson Kanaley pass went for 55 yards and a score with 8:38 left in the third quarter, giving the Cougars a 14-6 lead.

Big plays all around, adding up to 343 yards over the final three quarters after a scoreless first period.

“When we can get the ball in our playmakers’ hands, we can be pretty explosive,” Costello said. “We did a much better job than the last couple of weeks in terms of turnovers.”

Campbell actually trailed 6-0 with 5:05 left in the first half after Laconia’s Kaleb Daigneault ran in from 2 yards out. But again, that big play ability began when senior receiver Will McPherson shook a Laconia defender after catching a Kanaley short pass and turned it into a 56-yard play to the Sachem 1. He finished it with a 1-yard TD run and Caron got the 2-point conversion and the Cougars took the lead for good, 8-6, with 3:59 left in the first half.

The only time things appeared dicey came when the Sachems dropped Caron in the end zone to close to with 14-8 with just over five minutes to play in the third.

But enter Perry’s two long scores, and the Cougars were well on their way to their first win.

“We just got better this week,” Costello said.