New Canaan came out for Friday night's game against Bridgeport  Central wearing all red.

It made sense, seeing as the Rams were out for blood after the pounding the Hilltoppers gave them last season.

They were able to get their revenge and then some, dominating Central, 56-28, behind a monster game from quarterback Matt Milano, to improve their record to 8-1.

Last year, Central crushed New Canaan, 42-7, handing the Rams their only loss of the season.

Milano put his name in the Rams' record books with the second-most passing yards in New Canaan history with 388, just ahead of Turner Baty's 383-yard effort against Wilton last season.

"Everybody has a chip on their shoulder after last year's game, and we just got it going today," Milano said in his typical understated fashion.  "It wasn't even that I was making big throws.

"The backs and receivers were just taking off with the passes, getting huge gains. The YAC (yards after catch) was huge."

New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli couldn't say enough about his junior signal-caller.

"He has come light years from where he was in spring practice,"  Marinelli said.

Milano added four passing touchdowns to the great yardage total, as well as one on the ground.

Marinelli noted that the offense is really firing on all cylinders, yet the Rams still might not stay alive to see postseason play. The FCIAC title game is all but out of the question, but a run for a fifth straight state title is still in the cards.

"It's beyond frustrating," Marinelli said of the possibility of the team missing out. "This is possibly the most talented team I've had."

The talent was on full display on the field Friday, as the Rams came out roaring on offense after Central grabbed a quick 7-0 lead.

Running back Joe Costigan took the second play of the possession right up the middle, broke down the left sideline, and outran the entire Hilltoppers' defense en route to a 72 yard touchdown.

Central fired right back, with Frederick Tucker breaking off a 70 yard run of his own to put the Hilltoppers down on the 1-yard line. A quarterback keeper from David Rhoden gave Central the lead again at 14-7, but it would be the last time the Hilltoppers would hold it.

"The big thing was just us adjusting to the speed," said receiver Kevin Macari, adding that the defense really turned it up a notch after they were able to settle into a groove.

"Our (defensive) line was key – they played fantastic, and just stood (the Hilltopper running backs) up at the line."

New Canaan's next score came on a deep pass from Milano to Macari, with the quarterback landing it right over his shoulder in the front corner of the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown, tying the game at 14.

The next possession saw Milano and Macari hook up again for a huge game, with Macari taking a quick slant across the middle and turning it into a 51 yard gain. Kevin McDonough took the ball four yard up the middle to give the Rams a 21-14 lead.

 A fumble on the ensuing kickoff gave New Canaan the ball back in scoring position, and seconds later Milano found Connor Kilbane over the middle in the endzone for a 28-14 lead.

After some solid defense, the Rams gained possession again, and Milano proceeded to find his favorite target again, this time hitting Macari on a 31-yard Hail Mary down the left side, putting the ball at the 1. Milano punched in it from there himself, cementing the 35-14 halftime lead.

"It felt good," Macari said of taking some revenge  on the team that ruined their hopes for an FCIAC title last season.

Tucker added a touchdown for Central on the first drive of the second half to close the gap to 35-21. But a 2-yard touchdown run from Conor Goodwin followed by a 42 yard, defense splitting pass from Milano to Willie Gould for another score, putt the Rams up 49-21.

Milano wasn't done yet, as he was able to find Cameron Armstrong for a 15-yard score on the next drive, getting the Rams over 50 as they grew the lead to 56-21.

"He's just spreading it around so well, not focusing on any one guy," Marinelli said of his quarterback.

Central was able to add a score from David Anderson, making the final score 56-28.

At this point New Canaan has doen everything it can to get into the state playoffs, and just needs to focus on the Thanksgiving Day showdown with Darien, a likely participant in next Friday's FCIAC title game.

 "Thirty years later,  we'd rather say we won the state championship than the FCIAC championship," Milano said, "so that's our goal."