Sulphur Springs Wildcats open season with big home win
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The Sulphur Springs Wildcats opened their 2022 season against Jacksonville Friday night, looking to open their season with a win for the first time since 2018. Sulphur Springs went into the game as a five-point, and looked like one from the very beginning.
The Wildcats opened the game looking very strong on the defensive side of the ball, getting a number of three-and-out’s in the first half. The offense played just as well, scoring a pair of touchdowns on the ground, as running back Malachi Roland opened his junior campaign looking even stronger than he did in his sophomore season when he led the team in rushing.
Sulphur Springs controlled the entire first half, and went into the locker room leading 12-0, putting themselves in great position to pick up their first win since Nov. 27, 2020, when they took down Crandall in a huge 72-44 win.
Jacksonville did make some adjustments, and were finally able to slow the Wildcats offense down a bit. They were also able to get on the board for the first time, making the score 12-6. As Jacksonville went for their PAT, the Wildcats were able to block it, and safety Riley Hammons recovered the ball and took it back, extending the lead to 14-6.
Looking for a little cushion, the Wildcats were able to add another score in the fourth quarter, when quarterback Brady Driver found freshman receiver Jackson Haire for his first varsity touchdown. Sulphur Springs finished the game strong, winning by a final score of 21-6.
Offensively the team was led by Roland, who had an impressive 107-yard game, as well as a pair of scores. Driver had a strong debut as well, throwing for 125 yards while also rushing for 85 yards.
Senior Cooper Faircloth led the team in receiving, catching four passes for 49 yards, including a huge first down on third and long which set up the touchdown pass to Haire.
Haire had a pair of grabs for 34 yards and one touchdown, while Matthew Mitchell had two catches for 22 yards and sophomore Skyler Lewis had two catches for 12 yards.
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The Wildcats defense was great from top-to-bottom, consistently putting Jacksonville in tough positions and only allowing them to score once. Arguably the player of the game, was Hammons, who made huge plays for Sulphur Springs all night, as well as a pair of interceptions and more than 10 tackles.
“I’m just so happy for the kids, honestly, I mean that’s why we do it,” head coach Brandon Faircloth said, after getting a win in his debut with the Wildcats. “I’m so blessed with a great group of guys.”
“That’s our first goal, to win our first game, so that’s a big deal to be able to check that off our goal list,” Faircloth added. “But I’m just so happy for our players, the credit goes to them, they just kept fighting and battling.”
After the game we were able to catch up with defensive back’s coach Keenan Clayton who talked about the defense strong performance. “Yeah we did play great, Riley Hammons, he brought the energy, he had everybody flowing and rolling back there.”
“Our goal is to be the best DB’s in 4A and we made a stride towards that.”
“It means a lot,” Clayton added, in reference to getting a win in the season opener. “That was one of our goals we set going forward at the beginning of the season and for these guys to get a win and know that they can, it says big things.”
“We definitely needed that to start our season off right,” Clayton said. “I feel like we’re about to get the ball rolling and this is about to be a good year for us.”
Sulphur Springs is back at home Friday, this time to play host to Mt. Pleasant, who is also 1-0.
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