Campbell running back Braydon White gets wrapped up by Trinity's Dominic Detone (51) during Saturday's Division III title game at Souhegan's Calvetti Field. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

AMHERST — They’d been preparing for Saturday’s Division III championship game rematch for a year.

Everything the No. 1 Campbell and Trinity High School football teams did in the off-season and the regualr season was designed to come up with an edge when they would meet.

Unfortunately for the Cougars, the Pioneers knew exactly what they didn’t do in last year’s final and corrected it: Win the line of scrimmage. Add in a few incredible big plays, an early 21-0 lead and the result was a one-sided 42-12 Pioneer victory.

All the 10-1 Pioneers did was keep last year’s 16-14 loss in their minds and why it happened: Campbell ran all over them, led by dynamic power back Scott Hershberger’s 45 carry, 200-plus yard day.

“Last year at this time, we knew why we lost,” Trinity coach Rob Cathcart said. “We knew we could not play on the line of scrimmage with those guys, and they took it to us…We knew (this year) they felt the same way, but we didn’t think it was that way anymore.

“We knew we had put a lot of work into the weight room, gotten stronger, and we could stop them on the line of scrimmage. We felt that we could play their game, and then (offensively) get out in the open spaces.”

That’s exactly what happened, as Trinity enjoyed three big first half plays, two by sophomore Anthony DiGiantommaso – one that could be a national highlight – and the Cougars were handed their only loss (10-1) of the year.

Meanwhile, Hershberge was kept in check, held to 107 yards, but 54 of that was on a meaningless final possession in the last 1:43.

“They took it too us up front,” Campbell coach Glen Costello said. “That was kind of the difference in the game offensively that we couldn’t really get things going. And the DiGiantommaso kid is a real good athlete. We had difficulty tackling in space, (DiGiantommaso) is a helluva athlete, and when he was able to get loose, we had problems with that.

“Football’s a game of momentum, and at the end of the day, those Trinity kids executed better than our kids.My hat’s off to them.”

It was a pretty simple formula, taking shape from the opening series when Campbell went a quick three-and-out and the Pioneers went on a nine play, 65-yard drive, a 4-yard Paul Thibault run with 6:25 in the first keyed by QB Jack Service’s 33-yard jaunt.

After stopping Campbell in five plays, the Pioneers then went with a gamble, throwing on fourth-and-1 from the Cougar 46. It worked, as Service hit a wide open Thibault down the middle for a 46-yard TD that helped make it 14-0.

If that wasn’t bad enough, an incredible play by DiGiantommaso was. On a third-and-33 back at the Pioneer 12, the sophomore seemed completely trapped back at his own 5. Somehow he escaped, reversed field, broke several tackles and blazed his way down the sideline for an 88 yard touchdown that defied logic. Even his own logic.

“I caught the ball, and all I can remember is me being caught in a crossfield and everything went black,” he said. “The one thing I do remember is Devohn Ellis making a great block on Scott (Hershberger) and after that I just went. Next thing I know I’m waking up and there’s a bunch of kids on top of me and felt great. … One kid had my leg (at his own 5) but I just knew I couldn’t go down or it would’ve been a bad, bad play for me.”

Instead it was bad, bad news for Campbell. However, the Cougars did manage to rally to make it a game with two second quarter scores, a 1-yard Braydon White plunge and a 35-yard TD catch-and-run by Nick Hershberger off a Gavin Osgood pass. The two-point conversions were stopped on both, but with 2:28 left in the half, the Cougars were within 21-12.

But that was it for them for the rest of the day. DiGiantommaso was at it again, this time racing 43 yards for a TD off a Service pass with 56.5 seconds left in the half, and that gave the Pioneers a 28-12 lead at the break.

Campbell running back Braydon White gets wrapped up by Trinity’s Dominic Detone (51) during Saturday’s Division III title game at Souhegan’s Calvetti Field. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Campbell’s Scott Hershberger and his teammates wear a disappointed look after Trinity captured the Division III title on Saturday in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Campbell’s Scott Hershberger and his teammates wear a disappointed look after Trinity captured the Division III title on Saturday in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

The Cougars tried to gain some momentum by recovering an on-sides kick to start the the second half, but their drive stalled after a 10-yard Scott Hersberger run and Trinity answered with basically a game-clinching eight-play drive, DiGiantommaso scoring his third TD on a, for him, mundane 9-yard TD run. Their final score came on a 1-yard Thibault score with 1:43 to go when one would have thought the Pioneers could have simply taken a knee and run out the clock.

Either way, it mattered little. Campbell managed just 96 total yards in the second half, just 38 until a final meaningless possession.

Trinity’s plan worked to perfection.

“We were looking to get (defensive) stops and get off the field, and then looking at being able to make splash plays with our athletes. And as the game went on we wanted to show them we could pound the rock, too.”

“When you break it down, Trinity’s pretty athletic,” Costello said. “We just weren’t able to match their athleticism overall. … At the end of the day, we just had a fantastic season, it just didn’t end the way we wanted to.”