Howdy,

The upside to Ledyard High School’s offense is that it can score quickly.

The downside to Ledyard’s offense is that it can score quickly.

Quarterback Ty Ebdon, running back JoJo Shumaker, and the rest of the Colonels’ offense have averaged a state-best 50 points per game. That puts a lot of stress on an opposing defense, and it also puts Ledyard’s defense on the field a lot, too.

The Colonels’ defense has been up to the job as they’ve allowed just 80 points. They’ll receive their toughest tests of the season over the next two weeks as they play host to unbeaten Windham on Friday, and their good friends from New London next week.

“Early on in the preseason and even headed into Week 1, we had a lot of questions,” Ledyard coach Jim Buonocore said. “How will we do? How will we hold up? That unit has gotten better each and every week. When you’re scoring a lot of points, there’s always that tendency to get people thinking that we’re an offensive-minded football team, and you know, we love to play offense. But our focus, and what we hang our hats on, is defense. We know that’ll be the difference as we get down the road. I’m really happy with how it’s coming along.”

Ledyard (7-0), ranked eighth in The Day’s Top 10 state coaches’ poll, has been ridiculously efficient on offense. Shumaker has rushed for 1,121 yards and 22 touchdowns on just 78 carries, an amazing 14.4 yards per-carry. Ebdon has thrown for 1,413 yards and 18 touchdowns on 104 attempts. Phyllip Thomas has 520 yards receiving and eight scores on 20 catches. River Thomas has 473 yards and six touchdowns on 19 receptions.

The Colonels score fast, thus sending the defense back out on the field over-and-over again.

“The defense is out there quite a bit,” Buonocore said. “Sometimes we score in a play. They have to be ready. They have to be ready to take a lot of snaps. That’s something that they’ve gotten accustomed to, and that’s been a part of our evolvement as well.

“Again, I think we’re starting to create an identity there.”

Junior Tannor Daggett has been one of the defensive catalysts at nose guard.

“The defense starts right in the middle with Tannor,” Buonocore said. “He’s played outstanding for us on the defensive line. … He’s been disruptive. He’s a big kid (5-foot-10, 265 pounds), has great feet and runs well. He’s just a really tough, tough presence down there. He kind of gets us going.

“Collin Krauth (five sacks), Dwayne Brown, Mike Leandri and Matt Nova, those guys rotate in at those two defensive end positions and have done a nice job.”

Rashan Young (five sacks), Kyle Zeppieri (team-high 55 tackles) and Leo Clinton Jr. (41 tackles) led the linebacking unit.

Justin Carter, Luke Saccone and the Thomas brothers start in the secondary.

“The secondary is probably one of our most experienced areas,” Buonocore said. “Those guys have been there two-or-three years. We’ve been able to do much more back there in terms of coverage and keeping teams on their toes. (Opponents) are not getting the same look every snap.

“Saccone is kind of the unheralded, unsung guy of that group. He’s the fourth receiver that often gets overlooked. He got a couple of catches (in last Friday’s 49-6 win over Killingly) and was 7-for-7 on PATs.”

• • • •

Norwich Free Academy lined up to kick off during Friday’s game at the Montville 15-yard line.

Read that again — NFA kicked off from the Indians’ 15 during its 41-14 win.

Ordinarily, a team kicks off from their own 40. Montville was called for multiple personal fouls in this instance, moving the ball all the way up to its 15.

It made for quite an odd sight and, not surprisingly, the kick went into the end zone for a touchback, so the Indians too over at their 20, 5 yards downfield from where the Wildcats’ kicked off.

Football can be wacky.

• • • •

Here’s how those in The Day’s Top 10 teams poll fared over the weekend:

• Jasen Rose completed 20 of 25 passes for 345 yards and five touchdowns as top-ranked Southington bashed Conard on Friday, 41-6. Ken Lipshez of the Meriden Record-Journal, and Chris McLaughlin of the New Britain Herald reporting.

• Michael Collins completed 10 of 16 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns as No. 2 New Canaan wrecked Staples on Friday, 35-2. Tom Evans of the Norwalk Hour, Ryan Lacey of Hearst Inc., and Dave Ruden of The Ruden Report reporting.

• George Reed ran for two touchdowns and Timothy Graham threw for two touchdowns as No. 3 Darien thrashed Ridgefield on Friday, 50-23. Anthony Parelli of Hearst Inc. reporting.

• Christopher Stanio (20 yards) and Kameron Matthews (99 yards) scored on consecutive interception returns as Notre Dame of West Haven upset No. 4 Xavier, 27-24. Ravishing Mike Madera of GameTimeCT.com Monolith reporting.

• Jaret DeVellis ran for 109 yards and a touchdown as No. 5 Newtown beat No. 10 Brookfield on Friday, 21-14, in a meeting of South-West Conference titans. Bobby Drysdale ran for 118 yards and a score for Brookfield. Jon Chik of Hearst Inc., and Peter Paguaga of GameTimeCT.com Monolith reporting.

• Colton Smith completed 13 of 24 passes for 343 yards and three touchdowns and ran 24 times for 202 yards and two touchdowns as Fairfield Prep smashed No. 6 Cheshire on Friday, 51-28. Bryant Carpenter of the Meriden Record-Journal, Chris Elsberry of Hearst Inc., Mark Jaffee of the Waterbury Anarchist-American, and Pooch Diggity Dogg of GameTimeCT.com Monolith reporting.

• Mark Piccirillo ran for 217 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 146 yards and two touchdowns as No. 7 Shelton used a late surge to beat Hand on Friday, 33-20. Doug Bonjour of Hearst Inc., and Dave Phillips of GameTimeCT Monolith reporting.

• Ebdon completed 10 of 18 passes for 201 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 58 yards in Ledyard’s win. Brett Poirier of the Norwich Bulletin reporting.

 • Lars Pedersen caught two touchdowns and ran for two more as No. 9 St. Joseph trounced Trinity Catholic on Saturday, 43-8. Scott Ericson of Hearst Inc. reporting.

An all-new Day coaches' poll will be unleashed TONIGHT during WFSB-3's news at six, as well as this website at 6:30 p.m. Prepare to seem some changes.

• • • •

There were three results of note involving teams not ranked in the Top 10:

• Valley Regional/Old Lyme had seven interceptions as it pillaged previously unbeaten Coginchaug on Saturday, 56-6. Andrew Tuscano caught two 20-yard touchdowns, ran for a 31-yard touchdown, and had an interception for the Warriors (7-0) and Evan Smith had two interceptions and ran for a 2-yard touchdown. Also, Chris Jean-Pierre ran for two touchdowns in addition to his two touchdown passses. Valley/Old Lyme plays host to Morgan (6-1) this Friday in a game of importance to the Pequot Football Conference Sassacus Divison and the CIAC Class S division.

• Eric Garcia ran 12 times for 113 yards and two touchdowns and caught a 37-yard touchdown as Berlin disposed of Northwest Catholic on Saturday, 27-8, in a meeting of two unbeaten Central Connecticut Conference Division III teams. The Redcoats (7-0) have allowed a state-low 30 points and are second in the Class M ratings behind Ledyard.

• New Britain rallied from a 20-point first quarter deficit and scored twice in the final 4 minutes, 18 seconds to stun Hall on Friday, 28-20. Amuel Blair caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Charles Gaskin to give the Hurricanes the late lead, then ran for a 15-yard touchdown with 1:42 remaining. New Britain also put itself in position to qualify for the Class LL playoffs as its rated eighth, but it has a fun stretch to end the season — at Glastonbury (5-2), Nov. 7; vs. Newington (4-3), Nov. 14; and at Berlin on Thanksgiving Eve.

• • • •

Thanks for reading. More soon.

Vaya con dios.