A capacity Homecoming crowd, beautiful autumn weather and a stirring victory made for a rather agreeable day of football for New Canaan fans.

The Rams returned to their winning ways by routing Wilton, 43-7,  at Dunning Field on Saturday.

Quarterback Matt Milano threw five touchdown passes, including three to wide receiver Kevin Macari, as New Canaan (6-1) rebounded from last week's 28-27 loss to St. Joseph.

"We all played our hearts out today," Macari beamed.  "Our timing is just kind of clicking."

The Rams were fired up coming off last Saturday's heartbreaking defeat in which they failed to convert a two-point conversion with two seconds left.

 "Coming off a loss like that was hard," said Macari, "but Wilton was another good test for us, so it was great to come out and win like we did."

New Canaan's Willie Gould, who also had a touchdown reception, agreed.

"We had to prove that we are a solid team," Gould said.  "Wilton has a great program, and we showed that we can play with the big guys."

The Rams set the tone on their first possession.  Milano engineered an air and ground attack that easily broke through the Warriors' porous defense.

New Canaan's John Brainard picked up 15 yards on a well-executed screen pass, and Macari added another 30 yards on a pass play which brought the Rams to Wilton's 2-yard line.

On the next play, Milano took it in on a quarterback sneak to put New Canaan on the scoreboard.

The Rams succeeded in their two-point conversion when Milano fired a slant to Connor Kilbane,  who did a toe dance to stay in bounds.

Two possessions later, the Rams marched down the field from their own 36- yard line.  The scoring drive was capped by an 18-yard pass to Gould, who hauled in a nifty  over-the-shoulder catch in the corner of the end zone.

The Warriors came to life on their next possession.  Quarterback Sean Carroll looked sharp as Wilton running back Ned Hemmerle found daylight on several rushing plays, including a 40-yarder.

Hemmerle's 2-yard rushing touchdown late in the second quarter proved to be the high water mark for the Warriors (3-4), who were blanked thereafter.

New Canaan's Corey Tarlow and Kevin McDonough led a stalwart defense that kept the Warriors at bay throughout the day.

At the half, the Rams owned a comfortable 22-7 lead, which included one of the Milano-Macari TD connections.

In the opening drive of the second half, New Canaan kept its foot on the gas.

A brief recap of the drive exemplifies New Canaan's dominance:  Joe Costigan runs for a 23-yard gain.  Macari connects for 13 yards.  Connor Goodwin runs 27 yards and adds another five yards on the next play. Milano throws to Macari for a 6-yard TD pass up the middle – and all this in under two minutes.

The Rams' Patrick Newtown's 52-yard touchdown pass,  followed by Macari's 58-yard touchdown pass,  was just icing on the cake.

"Wilton did a good job," said New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli, who was pleased with his team's performance. "They played hard and never quit.  I mean, they moved the ball on us," he said.   

The Rams, who likely can not afford another a second loss in a bid for a fifth consecutive state championship, could get a tougher test when they host Greenwich next Friday at Dunning Field.

"We control our destiny, but there is no margin of error," Marinelli added.  "The next thing we have to worry about is Greenwich."