The last thing the Campbell High School football program needed or wanted next year was to be placed in the new Div. V in the NHIAA’s six-division allignment.

But that’s where the Cougars were orginally placed, in a division that includes established programs like Bishop Brady, St. Thomas of Dover and Kearsarge Regional.

Campbell, with 575 students, just three more than Gilford, would have been the smallest public school in the division. But with a likely cooperative program being formed between Epping and Newmarket, the Cougars will likely be placed where they’ll be more competitive, in Div. VI.

Division VI will be the only division in the state with 10 teams. All the others will have have nine next fall, creating two open dates for schools in Div. I and Div. II, who play a 10-game regular season schedule.

Somersworth, whose school population puts it in Div. VI, will petition up to Div. V, allowing Fall Mountain of Langdon to drop to Div. VI. The Fall Mountain program has struggled to compete in recent years.