Campbell's Kody Kham tries to escape a leg tackle by Fall Mountain's Brody Stone during the Cougars' 41-6 win Saturday in Litchfield. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

LITCHFIELD – Fall Mountain’s Josh DeVore caught a short pass in the flat on Saturday afternoon, but waiting for him was Campbell linebacker Scott Hershberger.

Hershberger didn’t even need to tackle, just a push sent DeVore mid-air.

Cougar Power.

That’s what Campbell coach Glenn Costello wants to see from his players as the “real” season begins next weekend, with Campbell headed to Monadnock for the Division III semifinals. Saturday’s 41-6 win over Fall Mountain was just a warmup.

“I’m very proud of the team over the past couple of weeks,” Costello said. “We’ve kind of just stacked together good practices, and we’ve had good games, and at this point in time I think we’re ready. I’m excited to see what happens.”

Costello wouldn’t have said that a few weeks ago, after the Cougars were blown out at home by Monadnock in basically what was perceived as the battle for home field in an anticipated semifinal that will indeed take place.

But now, the 7-2 Cougars, whose other loss was to top seed Trinity, have righted the ship with a couple of feel good wins. Hershberger is a key, as he rushed for 89 yards and a TD on just nine carries, and had a 35-yard scoring run called back due to a block in the back penalty. But, but Costello obviously doesn’t want his team to rely on just one player. That’s why he had senior quarterback Jackson Kanaley get heavily involved yesterday, as he ran for two TDs and threw for two others as Campbell scored on its first five possessions against the overmatched Wildcats (4-5). Weeks ago the ‘Cats looked like playoff contenders but an injury to QB Zach Patch changed that.

Kanaley opened things up with a 35-yard TD run. He capped off an 11-play, 63-yard march with a 1-yard score, then Hershberger got in the act with a 16-yard TD on the Cougars’ next possession.

Then two Kanaley TD strikes, each 19 yards, to Nick Hershberger put Campbell up 31-0 by halftime. That was about it.

They also got back junior Kody Kham into the act offensively (three carries for 37 yards, including two 16 yard runs), as well as in the kicking game, as his 28-yard field goal opened the scoring in the second half.

“We’re a very young team,” Costello said. “I think there are a lot of weapons that you’re starting to see, whether you see them this year or next year, the future is bright.”

But immediately, it’s all about the semis, and Saturday was a good lead-in.

“We executed across the board,” Costello said, as the Cougars held the Wildcats to just a miniscule 22 yards in the first half, when the starters were in. “We threw the ball more than we traditionally do. We blocked well, we threw well, we caught well, we worked obviously on special teams, field goals, kicking it deep.

“Overall our execution was great.”

He hopes to be able to say the same thing next Friday night.