East Lyme — Luke Saccone admits that he doesn't always love the new offense that Ledyard runs. He considers himself more of a wide receiver than a running back, but according to the double wing, he's more of a running back.

He also admits that a game like Friday night could change his mind. Saccone carried eight times for 130 yards and three touchdowns, both career highs, in Ledyard's 49-6 win over East Lyme in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division.

"That's like a dream come true," the senior said. "Scoring three touchdowns, I'm not going to complain."

Ledyard (7-1, 3-1) took command early. Very early. East Lyme won the coin toss, deferred, and the kickoff went into the end zone, setting up the Colonels at their own 20. Manny Deshields-Sanabria then took the handoff on the first play and went virtually untouched for a touchdown.

After the Vikings (2-6, 1-5) punted on their first possession, Saccone took a handoff on the second play of the ensuing drive and went 60 yards for a touchdown. The game wasn't three minutes old and the Colonels were up 14-0.

The teams traded possessions before an East Lyme turnover gave Ledyard a short field. Saccone capped a quick drive with an 8-yard run for a 21-0 lead with 29 seconds left in the first.

"It feels like we could do nothing wrong," Saccone said. "We executed, made plays, and the scoreboard shows it."

The second quarter was more of the same. Ledyard forced a punt, then scored a touchdown on Saccone's 24-yard run; Ledyard forced a fumble, then scored a touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Ty Ebdon to Justin Carter; Ledyard picked off a pass, then scored a touchdown on Tannor Daggett's 1-yard run.

It was 42-0 at halftime, and the Colonels had outgained the Vikings 319-72 and forced four turnovers.

"I know we're young," East Lyme coach Rudy Bagos said, "but we're three-quarters of the way through the season. At some point, young is no longer an excuse. We've got to start playing. We would do some nice things I thought, but then we'd have an interception or fumble. Those things are going to hurt you. And when you play Ledyard, those things are going to hurt you all the time."

As for the Colonels' new offensive scheme, it was something coach Jim Buonocore had to sell to his team. But the run they are on is all the sales pitch he really needs.

"Our kids enjoyed our former offense, obviously. It was a lot of fun," he said. "Initially...the most important thing is they need to have success. And they've had a lot of success.

"What we're telling them now is if you look at the points we're scoring, this is the same amount of points, if not more, than we were scoring in our former offense. So the kids are seeing this is a lot of fun to be a part of."