By ARCHIE MOUNTAIN
LITCHFIELD — With only three weeks gone in the high school football season, it appears more and more likely that the Division III regular-season champion won’t be determined until the final week of the season on Nov. 1.
That’s when 3-0 Campbell will travel to Lebanon, also 3-0 after the first three weeks of action.
Campbell rolled over Newport Saturday, 36-0, and has now outscored its opposition, 106-6.
Lebanon, meanwhile, passed its toughest test of the season with relative ease, downing Monadnock, 47-28, and has now outscored its opponents, 227-41.
This week, the Cougars of Campbell will play host to Laconia, 2-1, while Lebanon will host 0-3 Kearsarge-Mount Royal.
The Tigers, now 1-2, are looking to get back into the win column, hosting 3-0 Hillsboro-Deering-Hopkinton in a 1:30 p.m. clash. Hillsboro has crushed its first three opponents,146-25. Keep in mind, however, those three teams have a combined record of 2-7 with Laconia on a two-game winning streak.
Newport could possibly end up in the middle of the pack when the regular season ends. Certainly, the next two weeks will be tough with a pair of home games against Hillsboro-Deering-Hopkinton and on Oct. 5, Monadnock comes to town on Homecoming Weekend.
On paper, the final four games of the season look to be easier for Newport. Those teams, Somersworth, Kearsarge-Mount Royal, Laconia and Epping-Newmarket are a combined 2-10.
Last Saturday Newport found out why Campbell’s Keegan Mills is considered one of the top running backs in New Hampshire.
The Tigers couldn’t stop the senior who picked up an unofficial 195 rushing yards while scoring three touchdowns.
During Saturday’s contest Mills reached the 4,000-yard rushing mark for his high school career. Not many players are in that club in New Hampshire. And, keep in mind Mills missed three games with an injury last year and he still has six regular season games this year to increase his total yardage even more along with a potential of two playoff games.
In Saturday’s romp over Newport, Mills picked up his first touchdown on a 24-yard dash up the middle to give the Cougars a 6-0 lead with 4:09 remaining in the opening period. In the end, that was all Campbell would need.
With 54.5 seconds remaining in the opening period, Hunter Caron went in from 12 yards out to increase the Cougar lead to 12-0. With 5:20 remaining in the second period Mills picked up his second score of the game and his brother Brody Mills caught a pass off a fake extra point kick for the two-point conversion upping the Campbell lead to 20-0 at the half.
In the third period, with 7:48 left, Conor Sweeney added a touchdown for Campbell and a pass to Carter Vedrani was good for two more points upping the lead to 28-0. Keegan Mills crossed the goal line for his third score of the game on a two-yard plunge with 2:27 remaining in the period and Caron found a hold in the middle of the Newport line for the final two points of the contest.
Newport worked its way to the Campbell one-yard line only to fumble the ball into the end zone with Logan Carney recovering for the home team with 1:58 remaining. Campbell ran two more plays with the quarterback taking a knee to end the game.
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