Montville — Ryan Douchette was playing quarterback for the Montville High School junior varsity as recently as a few weeks ago.

"I worked my way up," Douchette said. "The coaches told me I was going to start the following Friday (against Plainfield). Throwing and running, I scored a lot on JV."

And so Friday, Douchette, the 5-foot-6 sophomore, earned his first career victory on the next level in just his second varsity start. He rushed 14 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns, getting away for a 68-yard carry down the right side to set up a second-quarter score for the Indians and generally helped orchestrate Montville's 21-7 victory over Ledyard on Friday night to snap a four-game losing streak.

He also helped head coach Tanner Grove to a win on the day he and wife Erika became parents to Adley Elizabeth Grove at 8:51 a.m. at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. Grove was sleep-deprived, but thrilled with both the baby and the victory.

"We said to the kids, at this point in the season it's a war of attrition," Grove said. "We're down four or five starters, we all have five, six, seven tapes on each other ... it's going to come down to who can make some plays."

"Everyone played great. I couldn't have done it without them," Douchette said. "I'll be honest; I'm a little short. Nik (Angell, 6-foot-3 running back) is a big dude and he's pretty strong. When he wasn't running, he blocked and I just follow whereever he takes me."

Angell had 19 carries for 85 yards, Emmanuel Mayfield added a rushing touchdown and on defense Nick Tibbetts fired off three sacks to go with timely interceptions by Marcus Velez and Matt Tobey, limiting a Ledyard offense which threw the ball 41 times.

Velez had a 65-yard interception return to set up Montville's first touchdown, a 2-yard rush by Douchette just as the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter. Diego Garces-Cortes made the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

The Indians (3-4) scored again on their next possession to make it 14-0, getting the 68-yarder from the quarterback on the first play of the drive and scoring three plays later on Douchette's 7-yard run with 8:08 to play in the half.

But that's where Ledyard quarterback Jacob Sylvia's ability to throw the ball made things interesting. On the Colonels' second drive of the half, Sylvia completed his first three passes for 42 yards, then ran the ball himself the next two plays, including a 2-yard touchdown run to pull with 14-7.

Montville answered with a 4-yard touchdown run by Mayfield on the first play of the fourth quarter, capping an 11-play drive.

Ledyard, however, in a sudden rhythm coming off its touchdown drive, continued to move the ball and gain momentum, creating a frenzy on the Colonels' side as Sylvia threw an 18-yard completion to Jaiden Bickham down to the 4-yard line.

This is when Montville's Tobey, a sophomore linebacker, earned his labal as "timely," stepping in front of Sylvia's second-down pass and bringing it out to the 28 with 9:58 to play. That was the closest Ledyard (2-5) would get, ending its final series with 3:58 remaining on Tibbetts' third sack on fourth-and-10.

Sylvia finished with 97 yards passing and several near-misses.

"We establish a game plan each week based on what they give us," Ledyard coach Jonathan Hernandez said of the abundance of passing. "We had our opportunities, but we didn't come up with big plays. We have faith in our guys. We just want to play hard and play assignment football; at times we did that.

"You've got to give it to Montville. They're a physical team, well coached, made plays when they had to. They did a good job moving the football."

v.fulkerson@theday.com