East Lyme — East Lyme, between games against Norwich Free Academy on Oct. 5 and Saturday's matchup with Montville, was facing a bye week. And rather than spend it sitting around, coach Rudy Bagos and his staff set forth to overhaul the Vikings' offense.

"We added some wrinkles to it," Bagos said, "to get our athletes more space for them. We've been talking. We've got some good players, skill players, just trying to adjust to life without (injured running back) Blane (Hart), it's tough.

"Coach (Aaron) Zrenda suggested we go two-by-two in our spread, two receivers on both sides."

East Lyme had plenty of space Saturday, finishing with a 44-20 victory over Montville. The Vikings' previous best this year was 17 points in a 17-0 win over RHAM on Sept. 21, with Bagos' team drawing more headlines for its defense than on offense.

A big part of the equation against Montville was senior quarterback Noah Perry.

At 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, Perry is more what Bagos refers to as a "prototypical pocket passer." With Perry running up the middle three times for 81 yards and his first career rushing touchdown, that created room for the wide receivers to maneuver along the edges. Perry was 7-for-12 for 189 yards and two more touchdowns.

The Vikings (4-1) led 30-6 at halftime on on a 58-yard hook-and-ladder play that went from Perry to Owen Robbins, who then pitched the ball back to Cam Hart who celebrated his 18th birthday by taking it the final 50 yards for a touchdown with 10 seconds remaining in the half.

"We've still got most of the same plays," Perry said. "I definitely run more. We designed runs to me. It was definitely fun."

"Rudy always knows what's going to work and what's not going to work," Cam Hart said of the hook-and-ladder. "He put that in right before (the game), Friday, the day before. That gave us a lot of momentum."

East Lyme, which still went to its run-based double-wing formation in certain situations, scored on its first three possessions.

Scott Galbo recovered Hart's fumble at the goal line for a touchdown and the Vikings scored again 18 seconds later following a Montville fumble when Perry raced 26 yards for a touchdown on East Lyme's first play from scrimmage. Montville fumbled out the back of the end zone on its next possession, awarding East Lyme a safety and giving the Vikes a 16-0 lead after one quarter.

On East Lyme's next possession, Perry hit Galbo for 32 yards to the Montville 14 and eventually connected with Galbo for a 13-yard touchdown pass with 11:03 remaining in the second quarter. Perry hit Galbo with a line drive so hard Galbo juggled it for a moment before collecting it in the end zone as the Vikings made it 23-0.

Montville, who lost quarterback Ryan Douchette to what coach Tanner Grove called a high ankle sprain in the first quarter, scored with 24 seconds left in the half on a 9-yard pass from Chas Terni to Antonio Brown. Brown caught a 41-yard pass earlier in the series while lying on the ground after the ball was tipped by a defender.

But East Lyme scored on its trick play just moments later.

The Vikings then got the ball to start the second half and went 75 yards in seven plays, capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Robbins for a 37-6 lead. That was the last series for the varsity offense, but East Lyme scored again on its next series on a 29-yard run by Patrick Tolley to make it 44-6.

Montville completed the scoring, getting an 8-yard pass from Terni to Christian Dio and a 44-yard fumble return by Brown for the final margin.

"Our starting quarterback got hurt on the third play of the game," Montville coach Tanner Grove said. "So we're dealing with some physical ailments. But the kids hung in there and competed and that's all you can ask."

Robbins finished with three catches for 59 yards for East Lyme and Galbo had three for 64.

Miles Sarmiento ran 16 times for 68 yards for Montville (2-3).

v.fulkerson@theday.com