This season, the same group — now seniors — made sure they weren’t going to have that 2023 feeling again.

Top-seeded Campbell left no doubt as the Hershbergers combined for 248 rushing yards and six touchdowns in a 48-7 victory over No. 2 Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough in Saturday’s Division III championship game.

Campbell finished 11-0.

“My sophomore year, I was all in, every chip was on the table, and I didn’t even comprehend losing,” Scott Hershberger said. “We lost my junior year and I knew what losing felt like. I came in here super confident. That loss kept me focused and gave me a feeling I never wanted to feel again.”

Scott Hershberger ran for 148 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns a week after breaking the state’s career rushing record during a 50-22 semifinal win over No. 4 Gilford. He ran for 688 yards in three playoff games and ended his career at the top of the list with an unofficial 6,208 yards.

“I think it’s just a huge relief getting to play with everybody and going out on top,” Scott Hershberger said. “Knowing 30 years from now, I can look back and say I played great in that game and I kind of left my stamp on New Hampshire football.”

The Lakers (9-2) struggled from the outset of the game by mishandling the opening kickoff return that left them deep in their own territory. Brody Pincairo then intercepted Lakers quarterback Alec Adorno to set up a 6-yard touchdown run by Nick Hershberger to give Campbell a 6-0 lead with 8:34 left in the first quarter.

“From the opening kickoff, we kicked it deep, they muffed it a bit and we were in the driver’s seat,” Campbell coach Glen Costello said. “We just played our best football of the year today.”

After Scott Hershberger had touchdown runs of 4 and 29 yards, Nick followed his brother with a 3-yard TD run to give Campbell a 26-0 lead in the second quarter.

Nick Hershberger added a 1-yard score in the third quarter and closed out the third with an 8-yard scamper for his fourth touchdown of the game. Nick Hershberger ended up with 100 yards on 15 carries.

“That first kickoff gave us the head start that every team wants in a championship,” Nick Hershberger said. “After that, our energy was obviously up. But going into the rest of the game we just wanted to keep turning it up and we didn’t want to let up at all.”

The Lakers’ lone highlight was a 3-yard touchdown pass from Adorno to Brogen Donnelly. Campbell responded with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Michael Grace to Bronson Leduc on the last play of the first half, giving Campbell a 34-7 lead.

“They’re state champs for a reason; they played amazing,” Lakers coach Guy Donnelly said. “We made some mistakes, but even if we were mistake-free, we’d have to play pretty close to perfect to beat them.”

Costello knew from the end of last season that the only goal this year was to win the program’s fourth championship.

“We had the mindset from the beginning that if we stayed healthy, we’d be one of the better teams in the division and we were able to overcome some injuries,” Costello said. “I thought it would be a good year, but I didn’t think it would be this good.”