Jacksonville vs. Sulphur Springs Preview: A battle between similar teams looming
Aug. 23—The 2022 football season will get under way at 7:30 p.m. on Friday when the Jacksonville Fightin' Indians journey to Hopkins County to take on the Sulphur Springs Wildcats.
The Tribe and the 'Cats share much more than the identical school colors. Both teams are hungry for a win on the gridiron and are anxious to bury the memory of last season — Jacksonville won one game last year; one more than Sulphur Springs.
Both teams have new head coaches this season. Former Indian Jason Holman was hired in the off season to take over the Tribe, while Sulphur Springs named Brandon Faircloth — who guided Port Neches-Groves High School to the playoffs in 12 of his 13 seasons — to come north to coach the 'Cats.
The parallels between the two programs doesn't end there.
"They (Sulphur Springs) are very similar to us," Holman said. "Not just in their situation, but in their schemes and what they like to do on the field."
Holman said offensively the Wildcats are balanced and have the ability to effectively run the ball or move the chains with their passing game.
"Their tailback isn't the biggest kid, but he is fast and he can find the holes real well," Holman said. "We've got to be able to slow him down."
Defensively, both clubs like to feature four down linemen in at least a couple of different looks.
"Sulphur Springs plays fast up front, they run to the ball well," Holman said. "What stands out to me is how polished they are. They just don't make a lot of mistakes defensively."
While Jacksonville won both of its recent scrimmages (17-14 vs. Kaufman and 7-6 vs. Bullard in the live periods), Holman said that his team still has to improve before Friday night.
"Overall, we were pleased, but we were not perfect by any means," he said. "We have things that we have to do better in all three phases of the game."
Holman added that he was not happy in his team's execution against Bullard.
"I think this showed us as coaches that there are things that we have to go back (this week) and make sure that the kids understand. We have some things that we have to get cleaned up," he said.
Offensively, look for the Tribe to use at least three or four men at the all-important running back spot. Holman stated that Jwaylon Kennedy, Jayden Boyd, Jermaine Taylor and Rolando Muniz are the leading candidates to be behind senior-quarterback Ryan McCown in the backfield.
As for the big unknown going into Opening Night, Holman said he would not be surprised if the game boiled down to which team won special teams play.
"I think the kicking game will be the wild card," he said. "Special teams accounts of one-third of the game and sometimes I don't think it gets as much attention as it deserves. I really feel if we can win special teams, we can win the game."
Holman said that Jesus Nunez is the frontrunner to handle the extra point and field goal duties, with Jordan Cabrera slated for kick off duty.
The depth chart at punter reads Davy Smith, who is the starting g goal keeper for Tribe Soccer, Skylar Whiteaker and Canyon White.
