East Lyme — It was evident from the first drive Friday night that the East Lyme High School football players were not about to let last week's loss to Killingly bug them.

"I think the biggest part of a football team is recognizing that you're going to get taken down," East Lyme senior fullback Isaac Tomblin said. "The biggest test is whether you can stand back up. Killingly definitely earned our respect last week, but we earned theirs, too. We work hard every practice, every down."

East Lyme ran the ball six times for 60 yards on the first series, capped by a 12-yard touchdown run by Tomblin, and went on to beat South-West Conference opponent Stratford 27-14.

Tomblin carried 24 times for 156 yards, East Lyme scored on a double-pass that went from quarterback Chris Salemme to wide receiver Dylan Hatajik to wingback Tyler Valdez for a 46-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and the Vikings forced Stratford (0-2) to turn the ball over on its first three possessions.

Even after Stratford raced 71 yards down the field to score on six plays to open the second half, East Lyme remained confident, chewing the clock with each possession, allowing the Red Devils only four series in the second half (two each in the third and fourth quarters).

"They punched that first drive in and our guys stuck together. I don't know if in years past we'd be able to recover from that," said East Lyme coach Rudy Bagos, whose team was 1-9 a year ago.

"They played well (in the summer passing league), they had a good preseason. For them to realize they could play with people is an eye-opener. I've been starting them since they were freshmen and sophomores. Now they're upperclassmen. ... The offensive line was terriffic right off the get-go; Tom Bartok, Travis Clement, Sam Angiolelli, Mike Quick and Liam Whaley were able to get a push."

The Vikings, who rushed for 301 yards overall, did not attempt a pass in the second half. Valdez finished with seven carries for 81 yards, Marshall Mason with five for 39 yards and Hatajik five for 31.

Holding a 6-0 lead after its first series, East Lyme's Blake Bragaw recovered a fumble on Stratford's first possession. On the Red Devils' second drive, Andrew Haase intercepted a wobbly pass from Stratford quarterback Jack Ryan that was headed for the end zone and brought it back out to the 36, setting up the Vikings' next score.

That's when Hatajik took the ball in the backfield from Salemme and rifled it unhesitatingly down the field to find Valdez in stride for the 46-yard touchdown. Tomblin rushed for the two-point conversion to make it 14-0.

Stratford's next miscue came in the form of what appeared to be an incompletion by Ryan which was ruled to be a backwards pass and a fumble and was recovered by East Lyme. The Vikings needed only five plays to give themselves a 20-0 cushion, as Salemme threw a 28-yard touchdown to Hatajik. Hatajik made a leaping catch, then turned and lunged into the end zone.

East Lyme got some insurance in the fourth quarter when Mason scored from the 1-yard line with 3 minutes, 49 seconds remaining to make it 27-7.

Stratford got rushing touchdowns from Kyle Long in the third quarter and one from Toure Hall with 1:01 to play for the final margin.

"We had a lot of success running the ball," said Tomblin, who rushed for two touchdowns last week in the 47-28 loss to Killingly, as well. "That's what was working. Why shake it up (in the second half)?

"... I think it started this summer. In the passing league, 7-on-7, we went 12-3 and in past years that was not even close. We've been working hard; this game just clarified that."

v.fulkerson@theday.com