Wildcats Football Preview Part 3
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We hit the ground running earlier this week, with parts 1 and 2 of our Wildcats Football Preview. With eight parts to go, we are quickly approaching the district portion of the schedule, with just three non-district games left to look at.
Week 3, Hallsville
In Week 3, Sulphur Springs hits the road for the first time to face the Hallsville Bobcats. The matchup will be the first between the two teams since they went head-to-head in the 2017 regular season finale, when the Wildcats walked away with a 19-7 to win.
Hallsville is a team with a resume similar to that of Jacksonville and Mount Pleasant and will be looking to put together their first winning season since 2015, in which they went 7-5 and even made it to the Area round of the playoffs. Since then, the Bobcats are just 12-47, including a 5-24 record over the last three years.
Despite their struggles, Hallsville did have a better year in 2021. After a 2-8 season in 2019, followed by a 0-9 year in 2020, the Bobcats bounced back with three wins last season. Despite falling to Jacksonville by a final score of 49-20 in their district opener, Hallsville was about to pull out a home win against Mount Pleasant later in the season.
Hallsville will certainly be looking to continue to improve in 2022, as they return a number of key contributors from last years roster. Quarterback Jace Moseley is back under-center, after throwing 17 touchdowns and just seven interceptions a year ago.
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Mosely also had the second-most rushing touchdowns for the Bobcats last year with nine, to go along with 574 rushing yards on 120 attempts. The dual-threat quarterback got better as the season went on, racking up 11 of his 17 passing touchdowns in district play, as well as eight of his nine rushing touchdowns.
Hallsville also played better as a team in district play, with all three of their wins coming against district opponents. Winning three of their final five games, the Bobcats will look to take their late season momentum and see if they can put together back-to-back seasons of improvement.
As for Sulphur Springs, this will mark the third consecutive game against opponents with records under .500 in each of the last few seasons. After a pair of winnable homes games, Week 3 against Hallsville marks their first chance to see how their game translates on the road.
Sulphur Springs, who returns a number of key contributors as well, will be looking to build off strong individual performances late in the year, including that of running back Malachi Roland and safety Riley Hammonds.
In the final game of the season, Roland had one of his best performances of the year, rushing for 115 yards and a touchdown on just six carries in the season finale. Hammonds also had a standout game in the finale, grabbing his fourth interception of the year, to go along with seven tackles against North Forney.
Stay tuned for our continued breakdown of the Wildcats 2022 schedule. Tomorrow we look at their Week 4 matchup, as well as continue to look at strong individual performances from returning players.
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