East Lyme — It doesn't require even a safe distance sometimes to hear Gary Wight's voice — spasms of yelling, almost — at his team. The coach saved his best for the postgame oratory to his players Friday afternoon.

"How bout them Vikes?!" Wight hollered, much to the delight of his happy bunch of champions.

How bout 'em indeed.

And for the 12th time in the last 13 years, Wight's Vikes, otherwise known as East Lyme High School's boys' lacrosse team, is the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament champion. East Lyme celebrated on its home turf, too, after its 17-11 victory over stubborn Stonington.

Nothing else, really, illustrates the quality of Wight's program than this: It is expected to win the league every year. And does.

"Every year is different," Wight said, not long after getting soaked with the water bucket. "You want it for each group of kids. We don't take this for granted. The teams in this league are getting better."

Among them: Stonington. The Bears (12-6) could have allowed frustration to ruin their day, especially after falling behind 13-4 early in the third period. Shortly thereafter, however, it was 14-9 and moments of discomfort for the Vikings.

Stonington coach Dean Patty, apparently, was a good learner. He played for Wight and coached under him.

"He is doing a great job," Wight said. "They never quit."

The difference, though, was that Erik Aarsand wore maroon. He scored six goals, none bigger than the one with 7:31 remaining, giving the Vikings a 15-9 lead.

"I saw an opportunity," Aarsand said.

Aarsand's brother, Anders, played quite well in goal in the first half, turning away several opportunities as the Vikings opened an 11-3 lead at the half.

"Every year you kind of hear the talk that we're supposed to win this," Erik Aarsand said. "But we really want to win this. It still has a lot of meaning to us. It's a big deal."

Aaron Dixon scored three times for East Lyme, while Kyle MacDonnell scored twice. Ryan deLaforcade's goal with 6:10 left made it 16-9.

Nick DeDominicis scored four times for the Bears, while Colton Robinson and Tyler Grills had two goals apiece.

"Stonington is a good team," Wight said. "We've been talking all year about playing a full game. I don't think we've done that yet."

Now the Vikings (13-5) head to the state tournament, where they must do something they haven't yet: defeat a team outside the ECC.

"We've played some good teams," Wight said. "Playing Guilford and Joel Barlow (recently), I think our timing and offense are getting better. That's the positive thing."

m.dimauro@theday.com

Twitter: @BCgenius