Wayland Friday night was able to accomplish something it hadn’t done in 53 years — beat neighborhood rival Hopkins on the gridiron, 42-25.
To be sure, the ‘Cats last defeated the boys in blue in 1969, but they went 33 years without playing each other at all, renewing the neighborhood rumble in 2012. Over the next four years, the Vikings prevailed every time, 35-6, 19-12, 27-8 and 34-28, before the “Border Wars” were halted until this year.
The victory was Wayland’s first after 14 consecutive defeats and only its second in its last 26 games.
Wayland jumped out to a 14-0 lead with a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter and the Vikings came back to cut their deficit in half at 14-7.
The Wildcats responded with two more TDs in the second period, marking the first time since Hector was a pup that they had scored 28 points in one half. They led 28-13 at intermission.
Hopkins scored six points in the first minute of the second half to draw within nine, 28-19. They got even closer, 28-25, with another touchdown less than three minutes later in the third quarter, but again suffered its customary trouble with PATs.
But Wayland salted away the game with two touchdowns to cap the evening’s scoring. It was the first time the Wildcats had scored as many as 42 points since 2018 in a 42-28 verdict over Forest Hills Eastern.
Wayland will play Holland Christian Thursday night at the same time Hopkins renews its non-league rivalry with Allendale.
