A Wyoming football team with an unimpressive 1-5 overall record somehow became impressive enough to spoil Wayland’s homecoming Friday night and deal a severe blow to its post-season playoff hopes.

The visiting group posted a 47-14 victory that was more than unexpected. The host Wildcats were looking to go 5-2 and need only one more victory to claim an automatic berth. But just about everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

How could this happen? The defeat was almost as bad as the 47-6 shellacking at the hands of an underrated Middleville squad last month, and much worse than a 26-0 shutout loss at the hands of O-K Gold Conference powerhouse East Grand Rapids.

Was Wyoming a lot better than its record indicated? Was it because it is coached by wily old veteran Irv Sigler, who guided Belding and Olivet College teams? Did the Wolves come up with offensive execution that the Wildcats just couldn’t solve?

Wayland was in trouble almost from the get-go, despite a 25-yard pass from quarterback Carson Sevigny to Devin Jakey, who made a diving catch near midfield on the first play of the ballgame. That turned out to be the home team’s only big gainer for the entire first half.

Meanwhile, Wyoming employed an offense that featured QB Blake Munsell operating out of a shotgun with two setbacks. Munsell would give the ball to one of the two runners or fake it and keep it himself, with all ball carriers following their blocks to pick up an alarming number of five- to eight-yard gains at a clip.

The Wolves moved the football smartly all night long, having to punt only once. Had it not been for their nasty habit of getting called for holding penalties, things could have been even worse.

Wyoming relentlessly marched 43 yards to the end zone on its second drive and Munsell took it in from a yard out with just over two minutes left in the first period.

Things went from bad to worse for Wayland in the second quarter.

J.D. Jones scored on a 9-yard run to cap a 57-yard drive that overcame penalties. Not long afterward, Sigler reached into his bag of tricks and had the southpaw Munsell throw the Wolves’ first pass of the evening, a 25-yard scoring strike to sophomore receiver Mahki Matthews, putting an exclamation point on a 73-yard drive.

Adding insult to injury was a 23-yard TD return of a fumble by Demarion Parks with a little more than a minute left before intermission to give Wyoming an astonishing 25-0 advantage at the break.

Coach Mike Doupe apparently decided he had to shake things up in a hurry to get back into the fray. Even after a failed onside kick attempt to start the second half, lineman Tyler Sikkema came up with a big third down stop and an incomplete pass gave the ball to Wayland on downs.

The ‘Cats continued to struggle offensively, however, and faced a fourth down on their 31, but instead of punting, Sevigny tossed a 69-yard TD pass to Devin Jakey, who somehow was left all alone on the left sideline. Had the worm turned?

Late in the third quarter Wayland came up with a fumble recovery just 27 yards away from the end zone. Sevigny picked up 12 yards to the 15, and after a three-yard gain and an illegal procedure penalty, the QB found Caleb Wolf in the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown pass. McKenna Bruin booted the second of her extra points and suddenly Wayland had cut its deficit to 25-14.

Unfortunately, the play that seemed to turn the tide back in the other direction was a long kickoff return by Parks to the Wayland 30. Though a TD run by Rusheon Bash was nullified by a holding penalty, Rio Horton came back moments later to score on a one-yard plunge and Munsell was successful with the two-point conversion to make it 33-14.

Almost putting it out of reach was an interception at midfield by Kyle Ratliff, which led to an Ahmad Sims 11-yard TD run. Backup QB Dale Cross scored from a couple of yards out, as the Wolves took advantage of some Wildcat desperation near the end.

Wayland is now 4-3 and will travel to Hamilton for a nonleague contest next Friday evening. Then it must face a very solid Grand Rapids Christian outfit to conclude the regular season Oct. 19. It must win one of the two for any chance to be in the post-season for the first time since 2013.

COVER PHOTO: Selected king and queen for Wayland’s homecoming Friday evening were boyfriend and girlfriend Devin Westfahl and Kayley Bodenberg.