East Lyme — East Lyme High School avoided an early first-quarter deficit on Friday night when Middletown kicker Mike Aresco hit the upright on his 36-yard field goal attempt.

Aresco got a second chance, however, because the Vikings were flagged for roughing the kicker. Aresco succeeded on his next kick.

East Lyme forced the Blue Dragons to punt on their next possession.

The Vikings fumbled the return and gave Middletown the ball at the East Lyme 17, leading to a touchdown.

And so it went for East Lyme in its season-opener. It made too many mistakes against the eighth-ranked team in the New Haven Register media poll and lost, 37-12.

"The score isn't indicative of how close the game was," Vikings coach Rudy Bagos said. "We gave a good team opportunities, and they made the most out of it, and that's what you can't do.

"We really had a chance to make this a close game."

Middletown's Dario Highsmith ran for a pair of 5-yard touchdowns in the first half. The reigning Gatorade Connecticut Player of the Year was used sparingly as his back bothered him during the offseason, and the team was cautious with him during camp.

The Blue Dragons caught the Vikings on two big plays, a 61-yard run by Tre'Quan Weston and Tywan Scarborough's 60-yard punt return. Calvin Mackey Jr. added a 29-yard touchdown run.

"I have to give their defense credit," Middletown coach Sal Morello said. "We just never really got into a flow offensively. … That's a scrappy bunch of kids. They didn't lay down. They didn't lay down last year (a 41-14 Middletown win)."

Told that Morello called his team "scrappy," Bagos smiled and said, "That's what we are. We have some tough kids, and we're going to play as hard as we can."

East Lyme trailed 16-0 at halftime and advanced to the Blue Dragons' 45 when it fumbled. Mackey recovered it for Middletown, the second of his two fumble recoveries.

Two plays later, Austin Meeker threw a backward lateral to Weston by the Vikings' sideline. He broke a few tackles and ran for a 61-yard touchdown.

Middletown forced East Lyme to go three-and-out on its next possession. The punt bounced in front of Scarborough and, with the Blue Dragons' coaching staff screaming "poison" for him to not touch the ball, he caught it and scampered for a 60-yard touchdown return to push his team ahead, 30-0.

The game had an ugly finish as Middletown's Jay Nanfito suffered a leg injury on a kickoff with 2 minutes, 12 seconds left in the game. Both coaches agreed to end the contest.

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED