Ledyard — Over the years, Jim Buonocore's football teams have earned the tag of being offensive-minded. He's not so sure that's an accurate perception, and that's for certain this year.

Running the double-wing and relying heavily on their defense to hold up, the Colonels improved to 4-1 Friday night with a 20-7 win over Griswold.

"We've scored lots of points, particularly over the last two, three years, so people think of us as an offensive team," Buonocore said. "But we've always hung our hat on the defensive side of the ball since Day One when I began coaching. I understand defense and special teams are going to be the backbone of any strong program. That's who we are and that's what we're about.

"To this point our defense has really carried us and been our backbone."

Ledyard bent quite a bit Friday but never officially broke, as Griswold (2-3) had two touchdowns called back because of penalties.

"We knew how physical Griswold was going to be," Justin Carter said. "We knew they were going to be tough and punishing. But I had faith in our defense. Our defense played excellent. We had a lot of adversity near the goal line, they were down there close to scoring a couple of times. We let up one score, but other than that, we held them."

The Wolverines turned the ball over on downs twice deep in Colonels territory, once when the game was scoreless in the second quarter, and then trailing 14-7 late in the third. On the third-quarter series, Carter recovered in time to knock away a pass intended for Alan Rondeau, who was open in the end zone.

"We definitely have a good defense," Ledyard's Manny Deshields-Sanabria said. "We take pride in that. Blue Steel, that's what we call ourselves."

Carter got Ledyard on the board late in the second quarter. He followed up a punishing nine-yard run with a one-yard plunge into the end zone.

"I was so close (on the nine-yard run) and I knew he might not give me the ball on the next play," Carter said. "I looked at Coach and (motioned) to give me the ball, give me the ball. He fed me, and I had to get in for that touchdown."

The lead went to 14-0 just two plays into the second half when Deshields-Sanabria ran right up the middle for a 56-yard scoring run. Griswold answered with a long drive, going 65 yards in five-and-a-half minutes, capped by 10-yard pass from Cole Mileski to Bryce Mileski.

Griswold forced a three-and-out, then marched downfield for what appeared to be the tying score when Mileski hit Jordan Baker for a 20-yard touchdown. But the score was called back for an illegal formation penalty.

"They may be absolutely right and we misinterpreted what happened," said Griswold coach Gregg Wilcox, who lamented the 11-1 penalty disparity. "We went toe-to-toe with Ledyard. We played a great game. They're a very good team. We scored as many touchdowns as they did. We just got them called back."

Deshields-Sanabria's eight-yard run at 9:13 of the fourth quarter finished off the scoring.