Colonels upended by a 'buzz saw'

East Hartford - The Ledyard High School football team was still in the game early in the third quarter of Saturday's CIAC Class M final at Rentschler Field. Their defense forced Ansonia to punt on its first drive in the second half. The offense took over at their 29-yard line.

Ledyard quarterback John Rainey was sacked for a nine-yard loss on first down.

Rainey was dropped for a four-yard loss on second down.

Alex Manwaring, the leading rusher in Eastern Connecticut Conference history, was tackled for a seven-yard loss on third down.

Ledyard's offense spent the entire game beating its head against a wall. A big, blue Ansonia wall.

Ansonia 38, Ledyard 0.

Bigger. Stronger. Faster.

"Their defense was very fast and very physical," Manwaring said.

Colonels coach Jim Buonocore said. "We ran into a buzz saw. That's a great football team."

Ledyard finished the season 11-2.

It was a state-record 17th state championship for Ansonia (14-0), ranked third in The Day's Top 10 state coaches poll.

Arkeel Newsome ran 42 times for 364 yards and three touchdowns for the Chargers. In the process, he set the state's single-season record for rushing yardage (3,763). Former Ansonia tailback Alex Thomas had rushed for a record 3,596 yards in 2007.

Newsome also set state single-season records for touchdowns (62) and points (388).

Ansonia's defense was just as much a difference-maker as Newsome. It allowed just seven first downs and 145 yards.

Chargers' linebacker Tyler Wood had seven tackles, five of which were for a loss.

"Their defense was phenomenal," Buonocore said. "I think their defense coming into the game didn't get enough credit in terms of what they were able to do through their entire season because you often just heard about Arkeel and the offensive line.

"Defensively, they were big. They were physical. Number 48 (Wood) is an absolute stud. We didn't have an answer for him. Hats off to them. That was a great, great football team that just beat us today."

Manwaring had 23 carries for 116 yards. The bulk of that yardage came on runs of 43 and 42 yards in the fourth quarter.

"They stunted a lot and caused issues up front," Manwaring said. "We couldn't capitalize on some opportunities. I wasn't hitting creases like I should have and I didn't have my best game today."

Manwaring finished the year with 389 carries for an ECC-record 2,551 rushing yards.

Ledyard's own defense hung in as long as physically possible and kept their team in the game. They spent the majority of the first half on the field.

"I thought Ledyard did a really good job on defense," Ansonia coach Tom Brockett said. "We had to make some adjustments at halftime."

Linebackers Dallas Smith (12 tackles) and Matt Daggett (10) led the Colonels' defense.

The Chargers led 12-0 at halftime. Newsome ran for a 13-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Elliot Chudwick threw a 7-yard touchdown to Raeshaun Finney early in the second quarter.

Ansonia's offense kept hitting Ledyard with body blows, and it gradually wore down the Colonels. The Chargers rolled off 26 points in the final 13 minutes.

Chudwick threw an 8-yard touchdown to Andrew Matos with under a minute left in the third quarter.

Newsome ran for a 50-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Tyler Lester added a 6-yard with over five minutes left.

The Chargers stopped Ledyard on fourth-and-3 from their own 5.

Newsome ran for a 95-yard touchdown on the next play.

"It was a great run," Buonocore said of his team. "There's no shame in our kid's game. They had a helluva season. I think we overachieved to get to this point.

"It's going to take a while to kind of reflect back on all the great things that we did."

n.griffen@theday.com