Sandwich moves to state semis

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:06PM

MENDOTA - The Sandwich football team has been in uncharted territory for the last couple of weeks, but the Indians have had no problem navigating their way.

After never winning a postseason game in the schools history, the Indians (11-1) picked up their third of these Class 4A playoffs after dismantling Mendota, 42-13, on Saturday afternoon. Sandwich moves on to the state semifinals, where it will meet Rock Island Alleman, which squeaked out a 21-20 win over Richmond-Burton.

"This means a lot to all of us, and I'm so proud of the kids on this team," Sandwich coach Derek Avery said. "They have worked harder than any group has worked for us and done everything we have asked them to do."

The Indians put this one away with the big play, scoring four times on plays of 24 yards or longer. The biggest came from junior Trent Webber, whose 93-yard kickoff return broke a 7-all tie with just over three minutes to go in the first quarter and opened the floodgates for 35 unanswered points for Sandwich.

With Connor Voss out for the season after breaking his right leg last week against Geneseo, Webber was back returning kicks for the first time in his career. He looked like a seasoned veteran though as he got a key block from Zach Brooks, found a seam and sprinted straight up the field.

"I just saw a big hole and ran right on through it," Webber said. "It felt unreal, it was incredible."

It was also a key play as it swung momentum back to the Indians after Mendota had tied the game on a 53-yard run by Evan Carroll (19 carries, 120 yards) just moments before and the Indians didn't look back on their way to scoring 40-plus points for the second time in the playoffs. After Webber's runback and a subsequent Trojans punt, Justin Wegener scored on a 59-yard keeper to open the second quarter, and Tyler Crane (11 carries, 54 yards) capped the half with a one-yard plunge as Sandwich took a 28-7 lead into the break.

"We hadn't given up a lot of big plays on the ground this year, and we were a bit shocked I think," Avery said. "But to come back like that, from there it kind of snowballed and we never gave that momentum back."

Wegener accounted for 103 totals yards, adding scoring tosses of 30 and 24 yards to P.J. Crotty to his only run of the day.

"Given the situation, that was the best football game I've ever played," Wegener said.

Crotty added 60 yards on 10 carries as Sandwich put up 282 yards of offense while holding the Trojans to 196 yards, most of which outside of Carroll's run came late in the day when Sandwich substituted freely while Mendota left its starting offense in the game.

Mendota, a 16 seed, which knocked off Rockford Christian and St. Edward in the first two rounds, finished the season 7-4.

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