SANDWICH -- There weren't many people around the Interstate Eight Conference who gave the Sandwich High School football team much of a shot to win its week one matchup.

The Indians were heavy underdogs playing at perennial power Coal City Friday night to open up the I-8 Conference schedule. Not only were the Coalers the preseason second ranked team in class 4A, but Coal City had just come off a year in 2005 where it advanced to the state semifinals. Sandwich was 4-5 in '05, so not much was expected of the Indians during week one in light of its powerful opponent's recent achievements.

Well don't tell that to Indians head coach Derek Avery and the rest of his determined squad. Sandwich stunned the I-8 with a dominant effort on both sides of the ball to come away with an 18-7 victory. The Indians racked up a whopping 323 yards rushing on the ground while limiting Coal City's powerful run game to a meager 87 yards the Coaler offense to 207 yards overall.

"We know on any given night any team can win in our conference. Our kids played hard and as cohesive units on both sides of the ball. We put together four great quarters and never let up," Avery said. "It was the biggest win in my three years here so far and hopefully we can keep it going."

Sandwich got going as time elapsed in the first quarter and drew first blood on a five-yard touchdown by senior running back Gil Buttels. The point after conversion kick failed, but the Indians were up 6-0.

"Our offensive line was really clicking tonight and they dominated play in the first half," Avery said. "On our first scoring drive we really did a great job moving off the line and it paid off with Gil's touchdown."

Sandwich would go up 12-0 at 10:12 of the second quarter as senior running back Lance Futrell scampered 52 yards for the score to give the Indians a 12-0 advantage after their two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful.

"On my touchdown the hole seemed a mile wide," Futrell said. "I've got to give credit to my offensive line because it was like that for Gil and I all night. We just seemed like we could run the ball at will."

Buttels would provide a key interception on defense late in the second half before exploding for a backbreaking touchdown at 3:01 of the third quarter when he took a pitch from junior quarterback Jimmy Fowler and scampered 80 yards for the score.

The point after kick missed once again, but the Indians were firmly in command.

"I'm not sure how long my second touchdown was, but I know my calves were burning as I ran down the sideline," Buttels said. "I saw all the Coal City fans as I was running for the score and it was great."

"That play seemed to punctuate the Sandwich dominance and the Coalers never recovered. Coal City senior running back Zack Smith added a 2-yard touchdown run with 31 second left in the third quarter, but the Indians played stifling defense in the final period to go onto the 11 point upset win.

"At the beginning of the game Coal City shot off their fireworks and played their music and all along we were saying that's for us," said Sandwich senior lineman Greg Johnson. "We were just so excited and we knew we could come down here, play our game and come up with the upset win and we did it."

Buttels and Futrell led all rushers with 135 and 134-yards on the ground respectively, while the Indians limited all-stater Smith to only 60-yards on 17 carries.

Quite an impressive start to the 2006 season for a team that wasn't supposed to provide a challenge for its much heralded opponent.

"I've got to give all the credit to my kids," Avery said. "To go down here and play so well on both sides of the ball is such a shot in the arm for our program. It was a great overall team win for us tonight."

Sandwich will host Plano next Friday night in the "War on Route 34."

"I know our kids will be up for the challenge and so will Plano. Their kids always bring it and we'll have to figure out a way to stop Nick Nasti like we did Zack Smith tonight. Our win sets up a great game next Friday. If we play like we did tonight it should be one heck of a ballgame," Avery said.