Wildcats open season with loss on the road

FRISCO—The Sulphur Springs Wildcats traveled to Frisco Friday for their season opener against Frissco Wakeland for a game that was held at Toyota Stadium. It was the third straight season in which these two teams faced each other in week one.

Wakeland got the ball to start the game and immediately drove the length of the field, getting on the board in the opening minutes and taking a 7-0 lead.

Neither team was able to get much going offensively for the remainder of the half, until Wakeland scored again with just a few minutes remaining in the second quarter. Wakeland was able to get the ball back, however, and scored again, taking a 21-0 lead into the half.

Wakeland would score first in the second half as well, pushing their lead to 28-0 before the Wildcats offense answered back. Trailing big late, senior quarterback Kaden Wallace put together a scoring drive that ended with him scoring on a 15-yard run. The extra point was good, and with under a minute left in the third quarter, the Wildcats cut the deficit to 28-7.

After allowing another touchdown and a field goal, Sulphur Springs got the ball back, trailing 38-7. The Wildcats were able to drive into opposing territory before stalling out. Junior kicker Josh Tavera knocked down a 47-yard field goal, making the score 38-10.

Wallace led the way offensively for the Wildcats, finishing the game with 128 passing yards in the season opening loss. The Wildcats quarterback completed just short of 60% of his passes, while also rushing for a touchdown.

Senior running back Caden Davis had a great game, racking up 125 rushing yards on 25 carries. His longest run of the night was for 17 yards.

Sophomore CJ Williams led the team in receiving, finishing just shy of 100 yards on seven receptions. Williams had an average of 13 yards per catch, with his longest of the night for 24 yards.

Defensively the Wildcats were led by senior linebacker Ryan Carrillo. Carrillo led the team in tackles with 13 and solo tackles with seven.

Just behind him was junior safety Korderrian Turner. Turner had eight total tackles with six of them solo tackles.

Also standing out defensively was Nick Cantillo who had the only tackle for a loss in the game. Cantillo also had a fumble recovery, recording the Wildcats first turnover of the season.

The Wildcats will look to bounce back this week and pick up their first win of the season. Sulphur Springs will host Lucas Lovejoy on Friday with kickoff set for 7 p.m. Lovejoy opened their season with a 58-20 win over John Paul.