By Ray Curren
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — There will be no playoffs in 2021 for “Playoff” Paul Silva and the Stevens football team. But their postseason hopes didn’t exit quietly.
Stevens took an early lead on favored Campbell and were in the game until the final whistle, but fell 15-7 on Senior Night at Barnes Park, officially ending any hopes of returning to the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) Division III playoffs, which were reduced from eight teams to four this season.
“If it was still the old playoff format with eight teams, I think we still would have sneaked in. But it is what it is,” Silva said. “Early in the season, I wasn’t too happy with our effort physically, but ever since the Kearsarge game, we’ve dialed it up. We’re not a big team, so we’re asking a lot of them, and I think they did a heck of a job tonight.”
Campbell, of all teams, knows just how tough Stevens can be to play in the postseason. As a No. 7 seed in 2019, the Cardinals upset the second-seeded Cougars. The year before, Stevens was a big underdog in the Division III semifinals, but pushed Campbell to the limit before falling 8-0. Stevens also crushed Campbell on the way to its state title in 2016.
“I have the utmost respect for Coach Silva,” Campbell coach Glen Costello said. “For whatever reason, we are never at our best when we’ve played these guys in the six years I’ve been at Campbell, and this is another example of that. A win is a win against Coach Silva no matter how hard you get it, especially in the month of October.”
The Cougars (6-2) knew from their opening possession they would be in for a struggle Friday evening when junior Colby Shepard’s interception stalled their drive. Stevens forced a punt on Campbell’s second possession and — after a penalty that nullified a first-and-goal — went back to a play that backfired weeks before against Laconia: a middle screen. This time (on a second-and-21 play), the Cougars were completely fooled and Kaden Thyne took Zack Bundy’s short pass and went 32 yards for a touchdown that put Stevens up 7-0 with 10:50 left in the second quarter.
However, the Cardinals (3-5) would run only 18 offensive plays the rest of the night as Campbell chewed up time with several long drives. The Cougars had to settle for a field goal after having the ball for 13 plays after the Stevens touchdown, but would finally break through just 30 seconds before halftime when Scott Hershberger scored from 11 yards out, allowing Campbell to take a 9-7 lead at the break.
There was no scoring in the third quarter, but Stevens had the ball for only three plays. Campbell finally scored again after having the ball for eight more minutes, Jackson Kanaley barreling in with a 3-yard touchdown run with 10:19 remaining.
The Cougars could not put the conversion in, though, meaning Stevens stayed down just one score. But with the Cardinal running game shut down, Bundy (6-for-11, 75 yards) couldn’t find time to throw, either, as he was sacked six times, including on a fourth-and-15 from the Stevens’ 45 with 2:15 to go.
The Cardinals would not get the ball back.
Stevens had just 11 total yards of offense in the second half, and 0 yards rushing for the entire game. Jai-Lique Ribeiro was held to just 10 yards on five carries. Hershberger was the workhorse for Campbell, carrying 22 times for 135 yards.
Even with the lack of offense, there were several points in the contest where it seemed Stevens was on the verge of a momentum-switching play, but it was denied every time, a couple of times by the smallest of margins, such as Campbell getting a fourth-down conversion at midfield midway through the third quarter by a couple of chain links.
“If you’re a coach, all you can ask your kids to do is play hard. And that’s what we did,” Silva said. “That (Campbell) is a five-win team coming in and only lost to Trinity 14-0. We played hard. They just made a few more plays than we did in the end.”
The young Cardinals will finish their 2021 campaign Friday night at Monadnock.
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