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Sulphur Springs senior Weston Fields catches a pass in Friday's 57-34 loss to Crandall. Fields led the team with 137 yards on six catches. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer.
Roland rushes for 116 yards, 1 TD
The Sulphur Springs Wildcats hosted the Crandall Pirates for their Homecoming game. The battle was also the district opener for both teams, as the Wildcats looked to pick up their first win of the season and begin district play on the right note.
Sulphur Springs got the ball to start the game and set the tone immediately. With the buzz of the Homecoming crowd behind them, the Wildcats pieced together a strong drive. Sophomore running back Malachi Roland capped the drive with a 11-yard touchdown, giving the Wildcats a 6-0 lead.
After allowing Crandall to answer right back, Sulphur Springs kept their momentum going offensively, putting together yet another strong drive. This time it was junior CJ Williams who ran in a 39-yard touchdown out of the Wildcat formation.
With the package working successfully, Sulphur Springs allowed Williams to continue to run the Wildcat offense. Early in the second quarter he ran in another touchdown, this time from five yards out, to give Sulphur Springs a 20-8 lead early in the second quarter.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, their momentum would stop there, as Crandall completely turned things around. The Pirates put together a scoring drive and then followed it up with a 57-yard pick-six to take a 21-20 lead. Before the end of the half they scored one more time, pushing their lead to 29-20, when they once trailed 20-8.
The Sulphur Springs defense needed a stop to start the second half, and that’s exactly what they got. After Crandall drove inside the five-yard line, junior Riley Hammons recovered a fumble to give the Wildcats the ball back.
Looking like exactly the spark they needed to get themselves back in the game, the Wildcats offense went back to work. Despite picking up three first downs, they were forced to punt, and Crandall returned the punt 85 yards for a touchdown.
The Pirates scored two more times in the third quarter, once on a 56-yard pass, and once on a 27-yard pass. They kept their momentum going into the fourth quarter when they added one more score to cap off a 42-unanswered point run.
The Wildcats were able to find the end zone twice in the fourth quarter to cut their deficit down a bit. Senior JJ Hall had a 1-yard rushing touchdown, and quarterback Matthew Mitchell had one as well, but Sulphur Springs ultimately fell by a final score of 57-34.
Mitchell had a solid game for the Wildcats, going 17-31 for 247 yards. He also had 21 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown in the game.
Roland led the team in rushing, averaging over 8 yards per rush for the second week in a row. He finished Friday’s game with 116 yards and one score on just 13 attempts. Williams was next, rushing for 89 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries.
Hall had 69 yards on 13 attempts and Douglas Deloney had 43 yards on six tries, as every Wildcat rusher averaged five yards or more per attempt.
Senior Weston Fields led the team in receiving, catching six passes for an impressive 137 yards. The next closest was Williams who had 75 yards on seven catches. Landon Fields had two grabs for 10 yards, while Matthew Clarke had one catch for 14 yards, and Roland had 11 yards on one catch.
With 89 rushing yards and 75 receiving yards, Williams’ total of 164 yards was the most on the team.
Defensively it was senior Colt Silman who led the Wildcats with 11 total tackles. Junior Brayden Morris was jut behind him with nine tackles, and fellow junior Nick Cantillo had eight.
Senior Griffin Crawford had a strong showing, finishing with seven tackles, two of which were tackles for loss. Hammons had a strong showing as well, having five tackles to go along with his fumble recovery early in the second half.
The loss drops Sulphur Springs to 0-4 on the year, and 0-1 in district play. This week they will have their hands full as they face No. 6 Ennis, who is 4-0 to opener the season. That game will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. in Ennis Friday. The Wildcats don’t return home until Friday, Oct. 8 to host Royse City.