The New Canaan football team is back where it always expects to be - in the state championship game.

Kevin Macari scored four touchdowns as the Rams pulled away in the second half to rout Hand 39-21 in the CIAC Class L semifinals Saturday night at West Haven's Ken Strong Stadium.

"It's unbelievable," Rams quarterback Matt Milano said. " It's what we've been striving for all season, and it's great that we're finally going."

New Canaan (11-1) is now one win away from becoming the first FCIAC team to win five consecutive state titles. Starting in the Rams' way, however, is undefeated Masuk, the state's highest-scoring team.

The Panthers, who are led by quarterback Casey Cochran, the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year, blasted FCIAC champion Darien 41-0 in Saturday's other semifinal.

"I am just glad to be there [in the championship game]," Rams coach Lou Marinell said. "I know we have a daunting task.  Masuk is so good.  I don't know what we're going to do, but I am just going to enjoy tonight."

New Canaan and Masuk will meet in perhaps the season's most anticipated matchup next weekend at UConn's Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

"We've come so far this year, and now we have to close out the right way," defensive trackle Conor Hanratty said.

New Canaan's offense struggled early Saturday as the Rams spotted the Tigers a 7-0 lead. However, Hand self-destructed with five turnovers.

New Canaan pulled even on Milano's 6-yard touchdown pass to Macari with 6:52 remaining in the first half before the Rams got a huge break on the ensuing kickoff.

Following a fumble, the ball bounced right into the hands of Macari, who returrned it 38 yards for a 14-7 Rams' lead and his second score in 11 seconds.

Hand answered on Zachary Miller's 7-yard TD pass to Nicolas Vitale with 3:18 left, but Colin Shapiro booted a 36-yard field goal as time expired to give New Canaan a 17-14 halftime lead.

"We were struggling offensively, and we got a glimpse of what they were doing in the first half, and we just had to make the right adjustments," Hanratty said.

"That field goal at the end of the first half really made statement," Marinelli added.

Early in the third quarter, New Canaan's Cameron Armstrong returned his second interception of the game to the Tigers' 25, setting up Joe Costigan's 11-yard TD run with 8:50 remaining.

The Rams stretched their lead to 25-14 later in the third period when Miller was sacked in the end zone for a safety.

"That was huge," Hanratty added.  "Me and Ryan Shullman at nose guard switch in passing situations.  I got double teamed and Ryan came free; we had great penetration and bottled the quarterback."

Milano and Macari then hooked up for scoring strikes of 38 and 12 yards to turn the contest into a rout.

"Early on,  they were giving us the flat routes, so we were trying to take advantage of that," Milano said. "But once we started to stretch the field a little bit,  things loosened up, and we moved the ball pretty well."

Macari now has 22 touchdowns for the season, including seven in the state playoffs. He had all three of the Rams' scores in their 21-12 quarterfinal victory over Naugatuck.

"Matt was awesome today," Macari said. " We mainly had to adjust to their speed, that was the big thing."

The Tigers ended New Canaan's run of 25 consecutive points on Mike Leone's 5-yard TD run late in the third period.

"The real key was defensively the kids really stuck together," Marinelli said. They were very physical."

Hand, which defeated North Haven 19-7 in the quarterfinals, finished the season at 10-2.