Numerous Wildcats Honored With All-District Awards

The 2024 season was one for the record books for the Sulphur Springs Wildcats, who reached heights they hadn’t seen in over a decade. Not only did the Wildcats make the playoffs for the third consecutive season, but they also made it all the way to the Regional Semifinal for the first time since 2009, continuing their trend of making both history and progress each season.
The future is incredibly bright for the Wildcats, as they return an overwhelming majority of their starters and contributors from their Regional Semifinalist team, but before we can look ahead to 2024, we first need to honor and acknowledge this years All-District recipients.
Utility Player of the Year
Jaxson Haire, Jr– Junior Jaxson Haire had an incredible year in 2024, after what he felt was a disappointing season in 2023 statistically. Haire was tasked with making the transition from wide receiver to taking most of his snaps from the running back position, but he more than made the most of the opportunity.
Haire was a huge catalyst of the Wildcats offense, and one glance at the stats proves it. The 2024 Utility Player of the Year had a combined 1,674 yards rushing and receiving and also found the end zone 18 times.
Haire will enter the 2025 season as a four-year starter, and with over 2,300 yards, plus 25 career touchdowns under his belt. While Haire is a player who always puts the team first, if his game continues to improve, he will be a likely contender for the District MVP in 2025.
Newcomer of the Year
Deuce Timmons, So- Speaking of potential contenders for future District MVP awards, we must also include the young Deuce Timmons. If you spent any time at all watching the Sulphur Springs Wildcats this season, Timmons being named the 2024 Newcomer of the Year should come as no surprise.
Timmons wasted no time giving Wildcats fans an idea of what to expect, as in his varsity debut in the season opener against Mesquite Poteet, the Sophomore had a 96-yard kick return touchdown and a 76-yard rushing touchdown, tallying 110 rushing yards on just three attempts.
Perhaps even more impressive than his varsity debut was his first district game. The Wildcats opened district play on the road against Aubrey, a team who was favored to beat the Wildcats by 12 points. The game was also crucial in the final standings, helping Sulphur Springs secure the No. 3 seed in the district.
With the pressure on, the sophomore came up clutch, finding the end zone four times, helping Sulphur Springs go into Aubrey’s stadium and walk out with a 35-14 win.
Continuing his trend of impressive firsts, Timmons’ biggest game of the year happened in his first taste of the postseason, when the Wildcats were paired with Dallas Carter in the Bi-District round for the third year in a row. To say Timmons had a dominating performance would be an understatement. On just nine carries he racked up 112 yards and set a new career-high with FIVE touchdowns. The sophomore who wears No. 8 for the Wildcats may have entered the night known as Deuce Timmons, but finished the night with the new nickname, Ocho Cino Timmons.
The final season stats for the newly coined Ocho Cinco are about as impressive as you’ll ever see from a sophomore. Between rushing, passing and kick returning Timmons finished the year with 22 total touchdowns. He also racked up 774 rushing yards on 105 carries, averaging 7.4 yards per attempt.
With senior Kaden Mitchell graduating, Timmons may see himself in a new position in 2025, but while his role within the offense still to be seen, Timmons could very well find himself going straight from Newcomer of the Year, to District MVP contention in the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
First Team All District
Quarterback, Kaden Mitchell, Sr- Mitchell’s journey to becoming QB1 for the Wildcats was a long but fulfilling one. As a sophomore, Mitchell had to step in for an injured Brady Driver late in the season, including their Bi-District loss to Dallas Carter. Unfortunately for the young quarterback, with a healthy Driver returning the next season, Mitchell had to make the transition to wide receiver in his junior season.
Finally, entering the 2024 season, the QB1 role that Mitchell had dreamed of since he was a child was his and he made the absolute most of it. Being handed the keys to the offense Mitchell’s experience lived up to the expectations.
Not only did he help lead the Wildcats to their deepest playoff run in over 15 years but he did so incredibly efficiently. The Wildcats quarterback threw for just shy of 2,700 yards and had 28 total touchdowns, all while completing 64.3% of his passes.
Whether it was stepping in late in the season when his name was called in his sophomore season, moving to a new position his junior season, or successfully taking over as the leader of the offense his senior season, every step of the way, Mitchell was the definition of a team player and set a great example for future Wildcats to come.
Wide Receiver, Skylar Lewis, Sr- While it’s every player’s dream to cement themselves in program history and have their name remembered for years to come, few players have ever been able to fully actualize those dreams as well as Skylar Lewis. You can’t take one look at the Sulphur Springs Wildcats record books without seeing Lewis’ name appearing left and right, as he was able to set just about every receiving record in school history.
As a three-year starter, Lewis was a focal point of the Wildcats offense since Day One of the Faircloth Era. This year alone Lewis had 852 yards and 12 touchdowns on 49 catches, averaging 65.5 yards per game and an impressive 17.4 yards per catch.
Lewis was the leading receiver for Sulphur Springs in each of his three seasons on varsity and hangs up his Wildcats jersey with combined career numbers of 2,421 yards and 30 touchdowns on 131 catches, all of which are now the most in program history. Lewis also holds the record for receiving yards in a game, which he set in a 35-20 win over Kaufman his junior season. That night, fans at Gerald Prim Stadium were treated to the performance of a lifetime when the Wildcats all-time WR1 had a record-setting 264 yards. He also had a pair of touchdowns, and perhaps most impressively, did so on only five catches, giving him a ridiculous average of 52.8 yards per catch.
Records aside, nobody in Sulphur Springs was going to forget the name Skylar Lewis anytime soon, especially as he takes his talents to Texas State where he will continue his playing career. The records just ensure that nobody will ever be able to.
Offensive Line, Aiden McCarroll and Vincent Johnson, Jr- For anybody who had the privilege of watching the Sulphur Springs Wildcats during fall camp (or if you tuned in to our four-part Hard Knocks series), you could take one look at the offensive line and know it was going to be one of the key strengths for the Wildcats offense in 2024.
Johnson and McCarroll, each of which will be entering their senior seasons in 2025 already with scholarship offers and looking to play on Saturdays in 2026, anchored arguably the best offensive line in Wildcats history. As a team, Sulphur Springs rushed for 2,356 yards on the season, which came out to 181.2 yards per game and 6.8 yards per carry, both of which are prolific numbers.
They also helped Wildcats running backs find the end zone a combined 40 times, as well as bought time for Mitchell and the pass catchers to combine for 27 passing touchdowns. In 2025 Sulphur Springs will return four of their five starting offensive linemen and will look to have an even better season than the historic one they had in 2024.
Defensive Line, Nate Andrews, Sr- Despite the amount of talent and depth the Sulphur Springs Wildcats defense had in 2024, it was a young one, with just a few seniors on that side of the ball. One of those senior leaders was Nate Andrews, who went into the season hungry to end his career as a Wildcat on a high note.
While Andrews was sidelined with a preseason injury for the start of the season, he continued to be a leader in the locker room, and immediately got to work when he was cleared to return to action.
In his three season’s as a Wildcat Andrews’ tallied 108 tackles and seven tackles for loss, as well as 7.5 sacks and nine QB hurries. Andrews’ talent and contributions to the Wildcats defense over the last three seasons were clear to see, both on the field and in the stat sheet, but perhaps his biggest strength was the contributions he made in the locker room and off the field.
Fully embracing leadership roles and mentoring younger players, helping prepare them to be veteran leaders themselves one day, isn’t a role that all players are willing to embrace, but it was one Andrews’ was more than happy to. While Andrews may be playing football at a university in 2025, his presence will still be felt in Sulphur Springs.
Defensive Line, Truth Holmes, Jr- Junior defensive lineman Truth Holmes, or Cowboy Truth as he’s known by Chad’s Media viewers, had high expectations for himself coming into the 2024 season and he did not disappoint. Holmes played a huge role in his sophomore season, and was ready to step into a leadership role on the defensive line, a position group that was one of the Wildcats’ biggest strengths in 2024.
While Holmes didn’t see the individual numbers he wanted to in the first few weeks of the year, that would quickly change. Cowboy Truth went on to lead the team in both sacks and QB hurries, all while playing on the interior defensive line.
Holmes also finished the season with new career-highs in both tackles (52) and tackles for loss (4) and has already received scholarship offers from The University of North Texas, UTEP and East Texas A&M University. While Holmes still has plenty of time to decide where he will go to play on Saturdays, Wildcats fans have the pleasure of looking forward to another year of seeing him play on Friday nights in 2025.
Linebacker, Alex King and Alex McCormick, Jr- The defense for the 2024 Sulphur Springs Wildcats was one with a ton of talent and depth, so choosing individual areas of strength could be a bit of a challenge at times, or up for debate at the very least. One thing that wasn’t up for debate, was the impact that the linebacking duo of Alex King and Alex McCormick played in the Wildcats’ 10-win season.
The pair of junior linebackers combined for 171 tackles, with McCormick being one of just two Wildcats’ to join the 100-tackle club on the year. The pair also had a combined four tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks, as well as four interceptions, 10 pass deflections, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Both King and McCormick set the tone in fall camp that they would be taking huge steps in 2024. King also opened the season by winning The Way Bible Church Player of the Game in the season opener, which was just the beginning.
Week in and week out, two things would prove to be true, the Alex and Alex duo would not only make huge impacts, but would be even better than they were the week before. Wildcats fans get to look forward to seeing the Alex and Alex duo return in 2025, and if they can make even remotely close to the jumps of improvement they made from 2023 to 2024, they will be one of the best linebacking duo’s in the state of Texas.
Safety, Grayson Hardy, Jr- Telling the story of the season Grayson Hardy had in 2024 is tricky. On one hand, his numbers are so ridiculous, that to describe them as video-game like wouldn’t do it justice, and yet, they somehow still don’t tell the full story.
In 2024 alone Hardy racked up an almost comical 179 tackles, which is just shy of FOURTEEN tackles per game. Hardy also had a pair of interceptions, eleven pass deflections and one forced fumble, proving to be the complete package, excelling in every area a safety possibly can.
Whether it’s his unreal ability to stop the run, cover even the best of opposing receivers or simply his unmatched ability to make big plays, it’s hard to say what the best part of Hardy’s game is. Though it may be even harder, to say what his weaknesses are, as he has yet to show us what they are.
Hardy, who already played the role of veteran leader in the secondary will look to find ways to be even more impressive in 2025. To say the future is bright for the Sulphur Springs Wildcats defense heading into a new season would be a huge understatement, as they have the returning talent and coaching staff to be one of the greatest defenses in program history.
2nd Team All-District
Wide Receiver, Chris Adams, Sr- While the Wildcats were relatively young at almost every position group in 2024, the wide receiver room was one of the few exceptions. Chris Adams was one of three senior wide receivers this season and while he was on varsity for three seasons, his senior campaign was unarguably his best.
Adams only appeared in one game his sophomore season, but he made the most of it, catching four passes for 42 yards. He followed that up with a junior season in which he increased his numbers as his playing time increased with him, reeling in nine catches for 165 yards and his first career touchdown.
After making a huge jump from his sophomore to his junior season, Adams made an even bigger jump his senior season, more than doubling all his prior career totals. On the season Adams had 257 yards and three touchdowns on 21 catches, providing both senior leader ship and the threat of deep catches to the Wildcats offense.
Wide Receiver, Wyatt Watson, Sr- Yet another senior receiver for the Wildcats, Wyatt Watson entered the 2024 season after a breakout junior year in 2023, when he caught 33 passes for 373 yards and five touchdowns.
With high expectations after his breakout 2023 season, Watson and his game continued to improve in 2024. The Wildcats senior receiver finished the year with 595 yards and three touchdowns on 35 catches.
Even more than his numbers indicate, Watson excelled in two major areas for the Wildcats. One was his ability for big gains, as he averaged an impressive 17 yards per catch on the year. Just as big was Watson’s clutch ability. Anytime the Wildcats needed a first down, Watson found a way to get himself open and get the yards needed to move the chains and keep the drive alive for the Wildcats. Losing receivers like Lewis, Adams and Watson in any given year would be a big blow, but losing all of them in the same year will leave the Wildcats with a ton of shoes to fill going into the 2025 season and will be one of the few areas they won’t be stacked with returning talent.
Tight End, Andres Cerda and Offensive Line, Zach Brown, Sr- Due to their positions, stats will never be able to fully show the impact the seniors Andres Cerda and Zach Brown had for the Wildcats this season, but their teammates and coaches know exactly how important they were.
Both in primarily blocking roles, they are the only two starters who won’t be returning to block for Sulphur Springs in 2025, though they leave behind big shoes to fill, not only on the field but also in the locker room.
Defensive Line, Giovanni Solis, Sr- While the Wildcats are losing very few pieces from their top-tier defense, the few pieces they are losing are big ones. Senior Giovanni Solis was a three-year varsity player, who along side Truth Holmes, made huge contributions from the interior defensive line.
Over his three seasons, Solis accumulated 84 tackles and eight tackles for loss, making it incredibly tough for opponents to run the ball up the middle. He also had at least one sack in each season, along with a total of four QB hurries. The duo of Solis and Holmes were one of the best interior defensive line duo’s in the region, but with Solis graduating and with Holmes potentially making a move to defensive end, this could be one of the few holes the Wildcats will need to fill heading into 2025.
Linebacker, Zay Godbolt and TJ Bolden, Jr- We’ve already talked about one duo that made linebacker such a strong position group for the Wildcats, and here we have yet another one. Much like the other pair of junior linebackers in Alex King and Alex McCormick, 2024 was a breakout season for Zay Goldbolt and TJ Bolden.
The pair combined for 92 tackles and seven tackles for loss, all while playing more limited roles.
Godbolt and Bolden each started making names for themselves in the middle part of the season, and each of them seemed to only get better every following week.
Both Godbolt and Bolden were able to sack the quarterback at least once and they each brought a high level of disruption in opposing teams’ back fields, whether it was pressuring opposing quarterbacks or bringing down running backs behind the line of scrimmage. While 2024 was the year they made huge names for themselves, look for Godbolt and Bolden to be even better and more terrifying for opponents in 2025.
Cornerback, Jio Ibarra, Jr- Back in 2023, as just as sophomore, Jio Ibarra introduced himself to Wildcats fans with a huge three-interception game in a 36-7 road win against Community. Now, as a junior, Ibarra emerged as one of the top cornerbacks for the Wildcats in 2024 and he didn’t disappoint.
Ibarra joined Alex King, Alex McCormick and Grayson Hardy as Wildcats with multiple interceptions and did so while regularly containing opposing teams’ leading receivers. Sulphur Springs will have the luxury of returning their entire starting secondary in 2025 and Ibarra will be doing so with the experience of a three-year senior, looking to have his best season yet.
Safety, Creed Whisenhunt, Jr- Junior Creed Whisenhunt made his debut on varsity in 2024 and did so by joining fellow junior Grayson Hardy as the starting safety duo. Whisenhunt did a fantastic job in his debut season, impressing at every step of the way and finishing third on the team with 90 tackles on the year.
Whisenhunt was also great in the passing game, having four pass deflections and even coming up with a huge interception in their 42-39 playoff loss to Alvarado. After a huge breakout season in 2024, Whisenhunt should be even more dominant in 2025.
Honorable Mention
Running back, Kyshaun John, Jr- Junior running back Kyshaun John was the third-leading rusher for the Wildcats in 2024, which speaks to the amount of depth the Wildcats have. While he was a distant third with 371 yards on the season, he was also the most efficient, averaging an impressive 8.6 yards per carry. He also had three rushing touchdowns and caught three passes for another 31 yards.
With Timmons’ potentially moving to quarterback in 2025 and Haire being used heavily in both the running and passing game, John could see his role increase a good bit next season. While we don’t know exactly who will play what role in 2025, what we do know is the Wildcats offense should be a very explosive one again next season.
Tight End, Quin Harris, So- Tight End Quin Harris joined Deuce Timmons as the only two sophomores to start on offense for the Wildcats. Their connection was an obvious one, with Timmons finding Harris for his first career touchdown catch.
Harris had another touchdown catch later in the season and proved to be a threat, even in the deepest pass-catching group the Wildcats have ever seen. With three senior receivers graduating, 2025 could be the year Harris emerges as a constant threat in the passing game for Sulphur Springs, especially with classmate Timmons leading the Wildcats offense.
Offensive Line, Josh Lopez, Jr- To be able to return four starters from an offensive line this talented would be a dream for any team, and the Wildcats will get to see that dream come to life in 2025. Lopez will be a key member to an incredible returning offensive line for the Wildcats, which should be one of the very best in the state in 2025.
Kicker, Eric Rodriguez, Jr- As just a junior, Rodriguez is already a veteran in the Wildcats kicking game and that showed in the 2024 season. Rodriguez was as consistent as the come, making over 95% of his PAT attempts, a number which would be even higher it weren’t for a pair of blocked PAT’s.
Rodriguez finished just one shy of 60 made PAT’s and with as prolific as the Wildcats offense should be in 2025, he may be able to even eclipse that mark in his senior season.
Cornerback, CT Galloway, Jr and James Johnson, So- We’ve mentioned how the Wildcats will be returning their entire starting secondary, and with CT Galloway and James Johnson being named Honorable Mention, that means all five of them will be returning with district honors.
While neither Galloway or Johnson’s numbers jump off the page, they each did a tremendous job in coverage in 2024 as underclassmen. Now with both of them having a year as a starter and deep playoff run under their belts, they will be poised to making even bigger impacts next year.