MIDDLETON -- That wasn't the nervous energy of his players that Middleton football coach Kurt Gundlach heard buzzing through his headset in the moments prior to kickoff. It was the electrical surges produced by the carnival rides at the adjacent Good Neighbor Festival.

Pardon Gundlach if he confused the two for a second.

"We were OK all day,'' he said, "and then I walk into the locker room and it's like, `Whoa. Better let the jockstraps loose a little bit. Holy mackerel.' ''

It took the most youthful of Gundlach's 18 Cardinals teams a while to shake those nerves, but the fallout was nothing short of spectacular.

Middleton allowed just 35 yards of total offense to Sun Prairie over the final three quarters, and its sharp play in almost every facet of the game made for a 27-6 whipping of its biggest rival in the Big Eight Conference season opener for both teams.

Junior quarterback Jeremy Ziegler passed for one touchdown and ran for another, junior kicker Brandon Hellenbrand made field goals from 24 and 35 yards and senior Eric Simon nabbed two of Middleton's three interceptions to help end a two-game losing streak against Sun Prairie.

"Our kids surprised me. I've got to admit that to you,'' said Gundlach, whose team returned just six starters. "It wasn't that I didn't believe we could win the game, it's just I didn't know we could do it as handily as we did. I cannot believe how well our kids played.''

They did play well -- from the aforementioned offensive stars, to run-jammers like senior defensive tackle Dannon Haas, to backup halfback Kyle Brodd, who resurrected a pair of two-hop center snaps on Hellenbrand's field goals.

And in some respects, the level they reached was shocking even to the Middleton players, who prepared for this game as if it was a final exam and expected it to be as challenging.

"I think what helped us was that a lot of people didn't expect us to win, and Sun Prairie just looked past us,'' said defensive end Casey Cramer, who woke up at 4:30 a.m. Friday in nervous anticipation.

Meanwhile, Sun Prairie was its own worst enemy. It was plagued by inopportune penalties, bad field position and four turnovers.

"I think we made more mistakes tonight than we made all last year combined, and that's the job of the coaches, right along with the kids. There's enough blame to go around,'' said Sun Prairie coach Mike Hahn, whose team has won nine of the last 10 Big Eight titles. "What did we do to mess it up? Boy, like I told the coach, get a second bulb for the film projector.''

Sun Prairie did manage an early 6-0 lead thanks to a 15-play, 80-yard drive capped by Feiner's 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end Matt Ohmen. But that about did it.

Middleton answered immediately as Ziegler culminated a 60-yard drive with a nice second effort on a fourth-down sneak from six inches out for a 7-6 lead.

Over the next two quarters, Sun Prairie generated 22 yards of offense and two first downs, one on a roughing the punter call.

While Hahn was disappointed at his team's ability to run the ball behind a sizable line, he also had problems at quarterback, where Dugan Gill and Korey Feiner combined to complete just 6-of-24 passes for 78 yards and throw three interceptions.

"We lost to them in a scrimmage game, and their quarterback had all the time in the world,'' Haas said. "Our coach told us to get in front of his face and he'd screw up a lot.''

The strain showed especially in the early moments of the fourth quarter when Middleton turned a pair of turnovers into touchdowns less than 2 minutes apart to break open a 13-6 game.

A forced fumble by Cramer on a sack of Feiner turned into a 12-yard scamper by Matt Meinholz. Then, after Simon's second pick, Ziegler connected with Ryan Oliversen for a 14-yard strike.

"It was ugly. I mean, let's face it: That's not a normal Sun Prairie-type deal,'' Hahn said. "And that's fine. We can live with that as long as the kids are ready to get back Monday and roll their sleeves up and get after it.''