Ledyard — The Ledyard football team, quite simply, had enough.

The Colonels had enough of the losses, enough of the beatings, enough of the embarrassment, enough of being disjointed. So they used their bye week to reflect, regroup and reenergize themselves for Friday night’s game against unbeaten Waterford.

What a difference a bye week makes.

Stanley Green had a fumble recovery and interception to set up both of Ledyard’s touchdowns as it stunned the Lancers, 12-6, at Bill Mignault Field.

“Just another day,” Green said in remarkably understated fashion. “We worked hard. We had two weeks to prepare. We came out and showed what we had.”

Asked if his team had surprised him, Colonels interim coach Mark Farnsworth said, “Honestly, no. I believed that this group had this in them. We just had to make sure we were in a spot that we all believed together.”

Ledyard (2-3) had been under siege through the first four weeks of its season. It was overwhelmed and outscored in their losses, 138-24. That included being clubbed by Montville, 40-0, prior to its bye.

The Colonels used the bye to tweak things. Among the changes were ditching the spread offense and bringing back the double wing that worked so well for them in 2015.

Manny Deshields-Sanabria ran 25 times for 106 yards and a touchdown for Ledyard.

“We played as a team,” Deshields-Sanabria said. “Finally. (We had) communication, energy, brotherhood. You’ve got to play as brothers. You have to have each other’s back. We had that tonight.”

Ledyard’s defense was the biggest difference, forcing four turnovers in the first half alone.

“The defense has been playing great all year,” Farnsworth said. “I know the scores don’t really show that, but the offense hasn’t been helping them out. The defense has been on the field a lot. It’s tough to defend (that way), especially against some of the teams we’ve played against.”

The Colonels' offense did just enough to aid the defense as it ran 43 times for 143 yards.

“Tonight, we were able to get the offense to keep the clock going, churning time off the clock and moving the ball,” Farnsworth said. “And that helped them out.”

The Lancers (3-1) turned it over at their own 23-yard line on the game’s first play with Green recovering the fumble. Herman Winston ran for a 20-yard touchdown on fourth-and-7 to give the Colonels a 6-0 lead with nine minutes, 53 seconds left in the first quarter

Waterford seemed to give itself some life when it turned the Colonels over on downs at its 2-yard line.

Three plays later, Kyle Cardoza ran a slant, grabbed a short pass from Spencer Hoagland, and headed down the open field. Winston caught Cardoza and knocked the ball loose. Ken Turner recovered the ball for Ledyard at its own 25. A 72-yard pass play, all for naught.

“This was an aberration,” Lancers head coach John Strecker said of the turnovers. “We’re coming off a bye week, a no contact week, and we were disrupted. The kids were loose. They’re 3-0, and they got a little loose. We have to tighten some things up and stop turning the ball over.”

The Lancers seemed to have survived that turnover as Peter Torello had an interception at his own 45. Hoagland threw a 55-yard touchdown to Devin Craig on the next play. The extra point failed. Hoagland threw for 179 yards with two interceptions and ran 19 times for 76 yards.

Waterford got the ball right back when the Colonels fumbled on their very next play at their own 41. It took the Lancers four plays to get to the Ledyard 4. Waterford had a third-and-1 from the 4 when Green picked off a pass in the end zone and returned it to the Waterford 30.

Deshields-Sanabria scored on a 4-yard run four plays later to put Ledyard ahead, 12-6, with less than a minute in the first half.

“I have no idea,” Green said when asked about the interception. “I don’t even know how I grabbed it. I just grabbed it and went.”

Deshields-Sanabria said, “I’m very surprised (by the win). We played as a team. Finally.”

n.griffen@theday.com