Coach Faircloth and Co. Prepare For Their Most Exciting Challenge Yet
When Coach Brandon Faircloth and his staff came to Sulphur Springs, things were far from sunny and cheerful. Although winning HAD been tradition for the Sulphur Springs Wildcats football program, that seemed more like folklore and tales of the past, than it was truth.
After winning their first and only State championship back in 2008, the Wildcats continued their strong play for the next half decade, going 43-19 and making it to at least the second round of the playoffs in each season.
Then the drop-off began. In the 2014 season the Wildcats, who hadn’t won less then eight games in over half a decade, went just 5-6. While it was good enough to earn a trip to the postseason, they lost a 52-47 nail-biter to Ennis, putting an end to their streak of multiple-round playoff trips. Little did anyone know, they wouldn’t see the second round of the playoffs again for over a decade.
The drop-off wasn’t huge, but it was there. The Wildcats went on to go just 16-26 over the next four seasons, but they were able to make the playoffs all but once in that span.
It wasn’t until the 2019 season when things really took a turn for the worse. Starting in 2019, over the next three season’s the Wildcats would go just 4-23, and would end that run with their worst season yet, a 2021 season that saw them go 0-10.
That’s what Coach Faircloth and Co. were walking into when they came to Sulphur Springs. They were inheriting an 0-10 team, who hadn’t seen the playoffs in four years, and hadn’t seen the second round of the playoffs in almost a decade.
The lack of recent success didn’t matter to the new staff. They saw a program who HAD been capable of going 57-21 over a six-year stretch. They saw a program who HAD been capable of not only making the playoffs, but winning at least one playoff game every year. They saw a program who HAD been capable of winning a State championship.
Over a 15-year stretch, Sulphur Springs fans experienced the highest of high’s, and the lowest of low’s.What would a new staff and a fresh new start to the program bring them next?
In Coach Faircloth and Co.’s first year in Sulphur Springs, they immediately brought them their winningest season in almost a decade, going 7-4 and making it back to the playoffs for the first time in four years. Over night, they almost made you forget that the town hadn’t seen a single win the year prior.
They followed that with an even better Year No. 2, this time winning eight games, though they would ultimately lose in the first round again.
In the FIVE years prior to Faircloth and Co. taking over in Sulphur Springs they had mustered just 15 wins total, while losing 33. In just two season’s as the head coach of the Wildcats, Faircloth and his staff had already matched that number of wins, while only losing seven games in the process.
Compared to what they had been seeing, nobody could look at what the Wildcats had done over the past two years as anything but a success. But for the people running the program, it wasn’t enough. Winning seven and even eight games was great, but losing in the first round was not. They were bound and determined to find a way to continue winning once they got to the playoffs.
In Year No. 3 they had somehow found a way to do it again. They not only matched their regular season win total of eight, but they got back to the playoffs, and were given the ultimate chance of revenge. After losing in the opening round to Dallas Carter in back-to-back season’s, they were given the chance to finally prove they could win in the playoffs, against the exact same team who had proved otherwise in the last two seasons.
This time, Faircloth and his Wildcats didn’t just finally get over the hump. They didn’t just finally beat Dallas Carter, they beat them 55-14. For the first time in over a decade, the Wildcats were back in the second round of the playoffs.
They didn’t just stop there, either. The Wildcats would face Springtown in the second round of the playoffs, and once again, their explosive offense propelled them to another win, beating them 56-39.
Finally, in the third round of the playoffs, a place the program hadn’t been in 15 years, the Wildcats run would come to an end. They fought Alvarado as tough as they could and even had a chance to win at the very end, but would ultimately fall 42-39.
After three consecutive season’s of an increased regular season win total, the Wildcats found a way to do it again, this time, in arguably the toughest district in 4A. Their only loss before the playoffs came to #1 ranked Celina, going 9-1 in the regular season.
They kept their postseason success going as well, blowing out Dallas Kimball 62-9 in the opening round. Unfortunately their season would end in the second round, falling in a close 51-43 loss to Alvarado, the same team who ended their season the year before.
Through the first four seasons with Faircloth at the helm, the Wildcats have gone a very impressive 35-12, making the playoffs in all four seasons. They’ve also found a way to continue improving year-after-year, now making it to at least the second round in each of the last two years, and finishing with double-digit wins in each of the last two season’s as well.
That brings us to now, in what might be both the toughest, but also the most exciting task they’ve been given yet. For all of their sustained success, Coach Faircloth and Co. have had the privilege of returning a ton of talent in each season. This year, they will see by far the most turnover they’ve had from one season to the next.
Offensively the Wildcats are in a unique position. They have the luxury of returning their starting dual threat quarterback Deuce Timmons (who combined for 1,337 yards and 21 touchdowns in just six games last season), as well as three of their five leading pass catchers (Jaxon Virgel, Quin Harris and Deacon Carpenter), who combined for 986 receiving yards and 15 of the team’s 31 receiving touchdowns. They also will be returning Dobson Martin, who wasn’t the lead running back in 2025, but did finish the season with 525 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns, on a very efficient 6.6 yards per carry.
However, for as much contribution as they’ll be returning from skill players, they only return one starter from the offensive line. An offensive line, that last year, was considered to be one of the very best in the State of Texas.
Defensively, the Wildcats aren’t as lucky. Coach Faircloth and Co. had one of the most talented defenses in all of 4A in 2025, and sent a huge number of those players to play at the next level.
They will have to try to replace this defense with almost entirely new faces, as they return just five players who recorded at least one tackle for the Wildcats in 2025.
While some coaching staff’s would be terrified of this, the crew in charge of leading the Sulphur Springs Wildcats are not. They don’t look at this as a negative, but a chance to see how much their hard work as paid off.
Of the 748 tackles that were made last year, only 105 of them were made by players who will be back for the Wildcats in 2026. Likewise, of the 52 tackles for loss that were recorded in 2025, only six of them were recorded by players returning in 2026, along with just one of the 18 sacks.
To put that into comparison, in Year 1 of the Faircloth era 70% of the tackles made and 50% of the TFL’s made were done so by players who would be returning the following season. In Year 2, each of those numbers jumped, to 75% of the tackles and 58% of the TFL’s.
Going into last season, they saw an even more remarkable number. This time, 83% of the tackles and 76% of the TFL’s made, were done so by players who were returning the following season.
Those numbers are no doubt incredible, and no doubt play a huge role as to why the Wildcats defenses had been so stout. The had a solid group of guys who started contributing early, and only got better and better each year.
Now, for the first time in the Faircloth Era, those numbers aren’t increasing. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, almost their entire defense graduated, leaving just 14% of the tackles and 11% of the tackles for loss made by players who will be wearing a Wildcats jersey in 2026.
Some coaching staff’s might see this number and panic. They may look at it as an impossible mountain to climb and accept that there’s going to be a drastic drop-off in production on the defensive side.
For Coach Faircloth and his staff, they look at it as an opportunity. This group of players will be the first one’s that have gotten to experience the entire life cycle of their system. This will be the first group of kids who started their career’s as seventh graders, learning this and ONLY this system.
When Coach Faircloth and his staff entered the doors as SSISD, nobody could expect that the same team we watched go 0-10 the previous fall, would win seven games and return to the postseason. Nobody could have predicted that the same program who had gone just 10-27 over the last four years, would skyrocket into a program who would go 35-12, and become a team who makes it multiple rounds into the Texas High School Football Playoffs every year.
While the expectations are obviously much higher now, than they were when Faircloth and his crew were inheriting an 0-10 team, this will be their first chance since, to once again show how they are capable of reinventing themselves and continuing their winning ways, with players who are new to the Friday Night Light’s.
