Nick, left, and Scott Hershberger will go down as two of the best football players in the history of Campbell High School. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

LITCHFIELD – It was well over five years ago, and word was going around in town about these Hershberger brothers who were tearing things up for the Hudson Bears youth football team.

“I’m not sure there’s been two kids that have had a target on their back in terms of hype about these two are going to be great football players,” Campbell coach Glen Costello, who has grown up in the Hudson-Litchfield area and has been the Cougars’ head coach since 2016. “Philosophically I don’t really care about what people say about middle school kids, it can go about 1,000 different ways.”

But Scott and Nick Hershberger have been the real deal, and no hype could match it. They’ve helped produce one Division III championship and will try to win another Saturday when the top ranked, unbeaten (10-0) Cougars take on No. 2 Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough (9-1) at Souhegan High School’s Calvetti Field in Amherst Saturday at 1 p.m.

Scott Hershberger last weekend became the state’s all-time career rushing leader last weekend while brother Nick has spent four years doing all the little things that have become big.

The day will be incredibly special, especially if the Cougars can pull it off, as that will be it for twin seniors Scott and Nick Hershberger on the football field.

“It’s just the culmination of everything we’ve worked for our whole entire lives,” Scott said. “Football is one of the strands that holds our family together. We’ve played our whole lives, so it’s just going to be amazing to play with (brother Nick) again.”

“From Day One, they came and they just worked hard,” Costello said. “They did it their own way, which I think is unique about them. Their twins, there’s a bond above everything else, but they’re two uniquely different football players. And two different people.”

Scott remembers when he and Nick played together for the Bears.

“I remember it, back then we had much more fights and disputes,” he said. “It was always a battle every single day to like try and prove yourself and get ahead of the other one.”

“We were more competitive back then,” Nick said.

But now it’s different. Now the competition is to challenge each other, in Nick’s words, “to be the best that you can be.”

“It’s more constructive than comparative,” Scott said, remembering he played center, quarterback, fullback, running back, linebacker, defensive end. Nick said he was a fullback on offense and nose guard on defense.

Nick Hershberger has played a ton of different positions with the Cougars. He was a tight end as a freshman, has played fullback, running back, linebacker etc.

They each do different things but together they have been such a formidable pair. As a captain, he takes the responsibility to be a coach on the field, and he’s become a heckuva blocker as well. If the Cougars need short yardage, Nick Hershberger is almost more of a bet to get the ball than Scott.

“I’ll be the first to say Nick is much better on defense,” Scott said. “He just has a passion and a drive for defense, to put the hurt on some people that I don’t think you can really learn. And I carry more of the weight offensively.”

“What’s been cool to watch is how they’ve almost separated, and grew into kind of independent people,” Costello said. “You give me 100 times to draft who the better football player is, I’m not sure I would get it right.”

As Costello said, Scott gets the statistics – yardage, touchdowns, and made a push after his freshman year to become stronger and a better player. But Nick, Costello feels, since his sophomore year has been the best blocker in the division, and in the last couple of years dropped weight to about 185 from being a 225-pound freshman, becoming more athletic. “And he’s (Nick) one of the most dominant defensive players I’ve coached,” said Costello.

It’s two players who remind Costello of another Campbell great, Keegan Mills, who was exceptional on both sides of the line. Two in this case is better than one.

“I could nominate either one for Player of the Year, and make a case for both of them,” Costello said. “And then to watch how they’ve both kind of grown as people, neither one of them gets fazed by anything.”

How much time together do they spend together off the field?

“I don’t know,” Nick said with a chuckle. “We live in the same house so I see him all the time.”

“Over the weekend we kind of do our own things,” Scott said. “We’re preparing differently for our futures, so there’s definitely a lot of individuality.”

The different futures? Scott wants to study IT and play football in college, he has a lot of schools on the list, including WPI, Amherst, Endicott and even UNH. Nick, on the other hand, will more than likely be done with football after Saturday and wants to study business in college. One school he’s interested in, besides those around the region, is Penn State. That means they’ll be apart beginning likely next August.

“I feel like we’re different from other twins,” Scott said. “I’ve seen it in other twins where they’re inseparable and try to be like each other, copy each other and try the same stuff. I’m excited to go off to college and do my own thing, but just as excited to see what (Nick) does and where he’s going.”

As Nick said, “Support, really.” Last Saturday was a special day with Scott becoming the state’s all-time rushing leader, and their parents there to see it in the final home game of their sons’ careers as Saturday’s title game is in Amherst.

“My Dad said he was going to the field to watch one of our practices, and he saw all the banners my Mom put up to fundraise, and he got kind of teary-eyed, sad to see the final home game.”

For the brothers, Saturday will be special win or lose, but they’re counting on a win.

“It’s the last day to prove ourselves,” Scott said, “and show everybody what we’ve worked for.”

“I think it’s going to be a statement,” Nic k said, “and that it wasn’t a fluke that we were meant to be here.”

But don’t cry for the Hershbergers just yet. They’ll have one more season together in lacrosse in the spring.

Still,they hope to leave a championship mark before then. They’ve certainly left a football legacy.