Middletown - Ledyard High School assistant Jose "Pasta" Sanabria likes to drum up different songs in his head while coaching the defense at practice.

Sometimes it's hip-hop. Sometimes it's heavy metal. It's whatever fits the tempo of the day ... and then he translates that rhythm to his players.

"When we're in harmony," Sanabria said, "we take over."

Saturday, the Ledyard defense was screaming for vengeance in the CIAC Class M semifinals. The Colonels pitched their second straight playoff shutout by battering Wolcott, holding the Eagles to 67 yards.

Ledyard 35, Wolcott 0.

Colonel Ledyard is going to The Rent.

"Shutouts in the states are pretty unheard of," junior defensive end Kyle Wilson said. "It was a good accomplishment for us."

Third-seeded Ledyard will play No. 1 Ansonia for the championship either Friday or Saturday at East Hartford's Rentschler Field.

Ansonia (13-0), ranked third in The Day's Top 10 state coaches' poll, trounced fifth-seeded Berlin 48-14.

It will be the 10th state championship appearance for Ledyard (11-1).

"At the beginning of the year, we wouldn't have thought this (was possible)," Wilson said. "This is a blessing that we're all here."

There was nothing fancy about what the Colonels did Saturday at Rosek-Skubel Stadium. Their offensive and defensive lines just dominated the point of attack.

Ledyard's offensive line of Benjamin Morales, Evan Stockman, Alec Gabriel, Robert Bozym, Dallas Smith and Wilson allowed the Colonels to run the ball with ease.

Alex Manwaring ran 36 times for 189 yards and two touchdowns. Ledyard ran 50 times for 268 yards and four touchdowns.

End Joshua Lawrence, nose guard Colin Grim and Wilson led the defensive surge. Wilson had a sack and a fumble recovery. Linebackers Cal Williams and Calton Karpi each added a sack.

The Colonels made it look easy against a Wolcott team that ran a pass-first spread offense. It was an offensive look they hadn't seen much at all during the Eastern Connecticut Conference regular season.

"We really didn't see anyone with that type of style outside of New London," Ledyard coach Jim Buonocore said. "We took a little bit from our preparation and from our game plan for New London, tweaked it a tad just to make sure that we could account for No. 3 (DeVante Bonvillian)."

Michael Nicol completed 11 of 21 passes for 109 yards with an interception for the Eagles (8-4). Wolcott had minus-42 yards rushing. That included a 33-yard loss after Lawrence sacked Nicol and jarred the ball loose. Wilson recovered the ball.

"We felt that we wanted to get a little more pressure," Buonocore said, "and that we could play man against them, whereas against New London we weren't really able to do that as much. The kids did a nice job getting themselves ready with the quick turnaround.

"We showed a variety of different coverages. We brought a lot of different pressure from various points. I think we had them confused quite a bit."

Wolcott had just 12 yards and two first downs in the first half. One of those first downs was the result of a Ledyard personal foul, its only penalty of the game.

The Colonels scored the first three times they touched the ball. Manwaring ran for a 9-yard touchdown less than five minutes into the game.

John Rainey scored on a 1-yard keeper early in the second quarter.

Slade Baxley took a screen pass for an 48-yard touchdown with over seven minutes left in the half.

Baxley had four catches for 83 yards and a touchdown and four carries for 46 yards. He also had an interception.

Manwaring ran for a 7-yard touchdown late in the third quarter. Matt Daggett scored on a 2-yard run with over three minutes left in the game. He had nine carries for 32 yards.

Minutes after the game, Sanabria crouched on the field, took in the celebration and downloaded a new song to his brain.

"'We Are Family,'" Sanabria said. "The parents were involved, and it just felt like a good aura.

"It was a good harmony going on."

n.griffen@theday.com