Ledyard pulls off the upset

There was a feeling in the air on Wednesday.
A feeling of confidence.
It was almost palpable when I visited the locker room to do a preview story on the Ledyard-New London game that took place Thursday night.
It also turned out to be well founded.
The Colonels weren't cocky, but they weren't afraid of the mighty Whalers either. They spoke in praise of their upcoming opponents, but never put them on a much higher pedastal than they placed themselves.
Thursday night, the Colonels proved they knew what they were talking about as they dropped beat New London in Ledyard coach Jim Buonocore's words, "convincingly", 27-6.
Defense not only wins championships, it also wins games.
The Colonels didn't allow an offensive touchdown as the only offense the Whalers could muster came from the legs of Richie Vitale.
Quarterback J.J. Jablonski may have put himself into the same sentence as New London's injured Jordan Reed and Griswold's Sean Brackett with a 183-yard, two-touchdown performance.Barquis Haley, a former Whaler, scored the only touchdown the Colonels would need in the third quarter. Jablonski hit Drew Roselle twice in the fourth quarter for scores and later crossed the goal line himself to account for Ledyard's scoring.
Lost in all the hoopla of beating New London was the fact that the Colonels also qualified for the Class M state playoffs with the win.
No one really cared, no one even mentioned it.
After all, they had just beaten New London.