East Lyme - East Lyme coach Rudy Bagos said he harped on it with his players. Know where New London High School's No. 11, Jelani Lucas, was at all times.

"It was kind of hard to tackle him if you can't catch him," Bagos said. "You can't coach speed."

Lucas, always running with his head up looking to follow his next block, caught six passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns Friday night as New London topped East Lyme 34-17 in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division.

Quarterback Danny Maranda was 13-for-20 passing, 6-for-6 in the second half, for 217 yards and three touchdowns, leading an efficient Whalers offense that celebrated the return of running back Kevin Shaw Small from injury and the commitment of 6-foot-7, 260-pound senior offensive tackle Bryan Cespedes to the UConn football program.

"He's a scorer, he's a scorer," New London coach Duane Maranda said of Lucas, who led the way. "He can catch the ball, run the ball and he's always looking for other places to go. He always has the opportunity to punch it in."

"I'm going to stick with Jelani," Cespedes said. "I know I have to get out there anytime he has the ball so I can block for him."

Lucas' most enigmatic play for the defense came on a 35-touchdown pass from Danny Maranda with 33.9 seconds remaining in the third quarter, giving New London (5-1, 1-0) a 34-9 advantage.

Lucas caught the ball over the middle and broke free from a crowd of defenders to the left before cutting back all the way to the right. He reached the end zone, diving for the right pylon.

"A lot goes on in my mind," Lucas said. "Where everybody is. I don't want to get tackled hard from the side."

Troy Gray added five catches for 65 yards and a touchdown for the Whalers and Shaw Small rushed 20 times for 69 yards and two touchdowns.

The New London defense gave up 243 yards rushing to nine different East Lyme ball carriers. With the Whalers leading 7-0 in the first quarter, however, they stopped East Lyme (2-4, 1-2) at the 2-yard line after a 12-rush, 72-yard drive mainly featuring Hunter Waido (15 carries, 84 yards overall) and Mason Pagan (5 carries, 34 yards).

The Whalers got an interception from Tremell Scott on East Lyme's next possession and turned that into a 13-yard touchdown from Maranda to Lucas for a 14-0 lead. Small Shaw scored from four yards out to make it 21-0 with 1 minute, 31 seconds remaining in the half.

East Lyme's only points of the half came on a 35-yard field goal by Brett Bragaw with .3 seconds to play.

East Lyme received to start the second half, but was forced to punt and New London continued to score, getting a 22-yard completion to Lucas and a pass interference call on a Maranda attempt to D. Major Roman to set up a 14-yard touchdown run to Shaw Small, giving the Whalers a 27-3 lead.

The Vikings put together another long drive, going 68 yards for a score to make it 27-9, with Bragaw throwing a 5-yard touchdown pass to Owen Tretter. New London answered, though, getting the 35-yard touchdown from the elusive Lucas as the Whalers took a 34-9 lead after three quarters.

East Lyme finished the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run by Travis Franco with 2:09 to play.

"A win's a win," Duane Maranda said. "As long as they get better week to week and we did that."

"I was proud we moved the ball really well against this team," Bagos said of East Lyme. "New London got more stops than we did. ... Just Lucas is a special player. He's terrific. And (Maranda) is a good quarterback. He's never rushed. It's a well-oiled offense; you can tell they get their reps in practice."

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday