Wayland edges Hastings 34-32 for Coach Doupe’s 1st victory

Wayland varsity football coach Mike Doupe registered his first victory Friday night at Hastings, ending a particularly nasty 16-game losing streak that reared its head after a 17-game skid ended two years ago.

The Wildcats had their best offensive game of the season and the best since winning a playoff game against Plainwell in 2013, scoring 34 points and clawing out a 34-32 victory.

Doupe took over the reins on the Wayland gridiron after the team had gone winless in all nine games in 2014 and it dropped the first six games this season, but four of the losses had come against teams with pretty good records.

The Wildcats took a 21-10 advantage at intermission and added a couple of touchdowns in the second half, but had to hang against the determined Saxons.

Tanner VanDyke threw for 264 yards and three touchdowns. Gage Stancell had 131 yards receiving with two TDs. Justin Kiry and Brody Place combined to rush for more than 100 yards and one score each.

It had to be rated an upset. Hastings entered the contest with a 2-4 record.

Wayland now is 1-2 in the O-K Gold Conference and has a reasonable chance of winning two in a row in their homecoming game against a South Christian group that has been struggling this season as well. The Sailors, who were state Division 4 champions last year, are 1-6 overall this year, with their only victory also coming against Hastings.

PHOTO: Mike Doupe

(Teams’ post-game photo courtesy Tracy Wroblewski)