Wildcats fall short to No. 24 Royse City

The Sulphur Springs Wildcats hosted the No. 24 ranked Royse City Bulldogs Friday, looking to pick up their first win of the season. After an 0-5 start to the season, the Wildcats were hoping to find the win column for the first time.

Royse City got the ball to start the game and wasted no time building a lead for themselves, finding the end zone in less the a minute and 15 seconds.

Sulphur Springs didn’t get down, however, as they answered back with a strong offensive drive of their own. A pass to senior receiver Weston Fields got the Wildcats up to the Royse City 33-yard line before a screen pass to CJ Williams put Sulphur Springs all the way inside the five-yard line.

Unfortunately a pair of runs put Sulphur Spring in a third-and-goal situation still from the five-yard line, before quarterback Matthew Mitchell threw an interception, giving Royse City the ball on their own 35-yard line to keep the Wildcats off the board.

Later in the quarter the Bulldogs would add to their lead with another score on a drive that started on their own 27-yard line. Sulphur Springs opened the drive by putting Royse City in a tough third-and-13 situation, but they were able to pick up the first down.

The Bulldogs picked up another long first down on second-and-16 before running it in on a fourth-and-one from the eight-yard line. With just 1:24 left to go in the opening quarter, Royse City pushed their lead to 14-0.

It wasn’t until the second quarter when the Wildcats found the end zone for the first time. Sophomore Brady Driver was in at quarterback and put together a very long drive that took almost five minutes off the clock.

After picking up three first downs on the drive, Driver found Fields on a 29-yard touchdown pass, cutting the deficit to just seven points. Royse City answered right back with a touchdown of their own, however, and took a 21-7 lead at the end of the first half.

The third quarter was a defensive battle, as Sulphur Springs played some of the best defense they’ve played all year. Even though they weren’t able to score any points in the frame, the Wildcats forced Royse City to punt on both of their drives, allowing just one first down in the entire quarter.

The fourth quarter opened with a bang, as Sulphur Springs was forced to punt to Royse City. Royse City muffed the punt and Sulphur Springs’ Luke Caton recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchdown bringing the Wildcats within a touchdown.

Later in the quarter it was senior safety Korderrion Turner who recovered another fumble, this time on the Wildcats 35- yard line. With 9:42 left to play in the game, Sulphur Springs got the ball with a chance to tie the game.

Unfortunately they were forced to punt and Royse City went and scored, pushing their lead to 28-14 with 7:40 left to play. Looking to cut their deficit back to a touchdown, Mitchell was once again under center. The junior quarterback was in a tough third-and-eight situation when he threw an interception that was taken back to the end zone, giving Royse City a 35-14 lead.

Sulphur Springs tried their best to slow down the Bulldogs momentum and Driver was able to lead the Wildcats to another scoring drive. The drive was capped off by sophomore running back Malachi Roland who found the end zone on a four-yard run to bring the score to 35-21 with five minutes left.

Both teams found the end zone one more time in the final five minutes, bringing the final score to 42-28. Despite the lopsided final score, Sulphur Springs did have the ball in the final quarter with a chance to tie the game.

Mitchell was the leading passer for Sulphur Springs, completing 10 of his 18 attempts for 107 yards, although he did throw a pair of interceptions. Behind him was Driver who went 9-for-16 with one touchdown and 71 passing yards.

Fields was the leading receiver, finishing with five catches, 81 yards and one touchdown. Williams had four catches for 47 yards, and Cable Glenn had five catches for 36 yards.

Senior JJ Hall had an excellent night running, finishing with an impressive 123 yards on just eight carries, averaging just under 15.5 yards per rush. Roland and Driver each had 28 yards rushing. Senior Jesse Bailey had one carry, which resulted in a one-yard touchdown.

Defensively the Wildcats were led by Turner, who had a huge all-around game. Turner had one of the team’s two fumble recoveries, as well as the only tackle for loss in the game. Junior Nick Cantillo had a solid outing as well, racking up seven tackles while doing a solid job in stopping the run.

The loss drops the Wildcats’ record to 0-6 on the year and makes them 0-3 in district play. This week they will hit the road to face Corsicana, who is 4-2 but just 1-2 in district. Their one district win was a close 20-14 win over Greenville, who is now 1-5 and 0-3 in district.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.