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Saturday’s Division III championship game should have been played on grass, in mud. Running back Scott Hershberger’s jersey should have been covered in dirt by the time his 45-carry, 208-yard day was done, with the Cougars downing Trinity 16-14 for the title.

Instead, the game was played on the plush, neat, field turf carpet of Souhegan High School’s Saber Field. Welcome to old time football at the home of one of the most modern football factories in the state? The Sabers are a team that flies around like crazy with the ball constantly in the air. They weren’t around, up north battling Gilford-Belmont in the Division II semis on a field that would more fit this game.

You see, for the Cougars, a spread is something put on a piece of bread. Late former Nashua High coach Ken Parady had to be smiling watching from high above the clouds, because it was run Scott Hershberger, and run him some more. And some more.

Old time football. Not just that, but old time football at its best. Hershberger and teammates just pounded away, keeping the football for an astounding 38-plus minutes of a 48-minute game.

“In November, despite it being 70 degrees today, it’s important to be able to run the football,” Campbell coach Glenn Costello said. “I don’t think there’s a ton of teams that rely on passing the ball in November.

“We schematically were able to do a bunch of things and take advantage of people, so that it was all execution. The kids grew each week.”

Oh, they grew all right. This one was simple: Size beat speed. Not by much, mind you, but just enough.

“They were bigger and stronger than we were,” Trinity coach Rob Cathcart said. “So that makes it a little bit, no matter what three (linebackers) we ran in there, they were going to be bigger than those three.”

“We’re a grinding team,” Hershberger said, “and they’re a big play type of team. It was a grind type of game, so we just came out on top.”

For a sophomore, Hershberger gets it. Give me the rock, and I’ll turn it into one huge jewel.

“He’s developing as a running back where we got rid of the Pop Warner bounce to the outside, now he’s coming downhill,” Costello said. “No one could tackle him in the third and fourth quarter.”

“You could see them putting their hands on their hips, on their knees, you could see them getting down,” Hershberger said. “They were winded. We were more intense and we came through.”

Campbell’s Jackson Kanaley (11) tries to pave the way for back Scott Hershberger (5) en route to a two-point conversion run during Saturday’s Division III title game at Souhegan High School. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Costello felt his offensive line was the best one in the division, and even the Pioneers knew that the Cougars were running behind senior Dominick Silva and junior Evan St. Pierre, they were powerless to stop it.

“I love those boys, their really my leaders,” he said. “They won the game for us today. I couldn’t do it without them.”

Plus, there was Jackson Kanaley, sometimes a quarterback, most often a fullback, and another fullback, Hershberger’s brother, Nick. They had his front, he had their backs with yards.

“All year long, Dominic Silva and Evan St. Pierre were the leaders of the football team,” Costello said. “Those guys were the ones getting everybody to the football field at 5:45 in the mornning in July. And those guys are the ones we were running behind. Jackson Kanaley is the best fullback in the state, and those two dominated. I couldn’t be prouder of the team at this point in time.”

And Hershberger most often would get the ball on a direct snap. The Cougars cut out the middle man.

“I don’t understand why more don’t do it,” Costello said. “It’s a numbers game, if I could outplus you by two or three players in formation, obviously it works. I hope more people (chuckling) don’t do it.”

This was a great story in a lot of different ways. One of the best was the brothers Hershberger winning a state championship together.

In fact, after all the bruising, grinding, running, it was time for the burly back to soften up. It was fun to win a state title with Nick by his side, blocking for him as well.

“Yeah,” Scott said. “It’s the best feeling in the world. I never cried like that. I never felt a connection that strong with him.

“It was us vs. the world.”

And Us won. The old fashioned way.

tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.