Wayland busted open a bruising defensive scoreless deadlock Thursday night with some opportunistic offense and a 20-point blitz in the first 13 minutes of the second half to post a shutout victory in its season opener.
The Wildcats, showing outstanding defense with the exception of three plays took a 20-0 decision over visiting Kenowa Hills.
On offense it was senior quarterback Carson Sevigny breaking loose on pseudo draw plays, stepping back and then finding his way by reading blocks and shifting gears and direction. Otherwise, it was the inside game of Ashton Ordway and Braeden Anderson to keep the Knights from keying on Sevigny.
But the real story was a fierce defensive unit that came up with big plays and forced fumbles and interceptions. Defensive back Seth Sevenski-Popma came up with two picks during the night and Tryston Sloan, Robert Bausick and Jared Rankin pounced on fumbles. In all cases, they stopped mild offensive threats by Kenowa or aided and abetted Wildcat scoring drives.
Caleb Wolf and Tyler Chiaramonte came up with drive-stopping sacks in the first half, during a time Wayland dominated the defensive side of the ball exept for a 26-yard pass and a 41-yard run by Murqone Fluit.
But the Wildcats’ offense sputtered in the first half because of a key holding penalty and an interception. Lineman Connor Henney saved a potential TD by the Knights with a tackle at midfield after the pick.
With a 0-0 deadlock at intermission, nobody could have predicted what would follow because Andrew Smith pounced on a feeble onside kick attempt to start the second half. His teammates proceeded to go 53 yards in just seven plays, with Sevigny picking up most of the yardage by following his blockers and looking for daylight.
The QB went the final nine yards to break the scoreless tie just three and a half minutes into the third quarter.
It looked like the Knights would find a way to retaliate after Ian Lhamon broke loose on a 19-yard scamper to the Wayland 30, but on the next play, Ordway and Anderson came up with a jarring tackle that enabled Bausick to recover the fumble.
Sevigny then broke losse for the longest run of the evening, a 61-yard TD romp that was brought back to the Kenowa 26 because of a holding infraction.
No matter, Wolf carried the ball down to the 15 and Ordway went another 11 yards to the four and Anderson wedged into the end zone.
With the third period barely seven minutes old, Wayland was up 13-0, including a booted extra point by McKenna Bruin.
The Knights had a nice runback on the ensuing kickoff, but Fluit coughed up the football just past midfield and Rankin found the pesky pigskin.
Wayland moved the ball down to the 12 and stalled, permitting Bruin to try her hand at a field goal, but Kenowa managed to block it.
Not long afterward, Sloan came up with a big five-yard sack on third down and pinned the Knights deep in their own territory. They punted to their own 34 and the ‘Cats wasted no time in pushing the ball into the end zone, this time on a 13-yard TD aerial strike from Sevigny to Ben Barnes.
Kenowa Hills put together its best offensive drive in the last six minutes of the ballgame, but Sevenski Popma’s second interception put a stop to it and sealed the shutout.
The Wildcats next Thursday evening will go on the road to Lansing Waverly for another non-conference contest.
COVER PHOTO: Carson Sevigny (5) chewed up a massive amount of yardage finding his hole, following his blockers and running to daylight. Behind him here is lineman Connor Henney (71).