Top 10 Sports moments of 2016-2017

A week ago, we took a look at how all the sports at Yoe High fared this past year. This week, I would like to take a step further and list my top 10 moments from the 2016-2017 sports season. This includes all sports from the fall, winter and spring sports seasons.

10. Osorio advances to regionals for Yoe Cross Country

Yoe head cross country coach Dale Keen has built a program that always expects to have a participant at the regional meet. As Keen note back in October, “I started coaching in 1982 and we never missed a regional”. Yoe senior Jose Osorio made sure that streak stood intact after 2016, finishing in fourth place individually at the 20-3A meet while advancing to regionals.

9. Yoe baseball goes undefeated in own tournament

In a tournament that saw multiple ranked 4A teams in attendance, the Yoemen managed to finish a perfect 3-0 in pool play with wins over Gatesville, Giddings and Burnet. The Yoemen were set to take on Madisonville in the championship bracket semifinal, but weather forced things to end before play could resume.

8. Harris represents Yoe tennis at regionals

Yoe sophomore Houston Harris set the tone for years to come, capturing the 20-3A girls singles district championship, while nearly getting out of regionals. Harris easily won her first two matches at the regional competition, with a 24-4 game advantage in the two victories. Harris dropped a pair of matches the next day but finished in fourth place overall.

7. Yoe basketball clinches playoff berth

For the first time since 2011, Yoemen basketball managed to get back into the postseason. The Yoemen, which were tied for fourth place in the district with Little River Academy, knocked off the Bees in a tie-breaker game for the final playoff spot out of the district, 54-40. The Yoemen drew first place Marlin out of 19-3A in bi-district and bowed out in a tight one, 51-48.

6. Wrestling sends multiple to regionals

In only its second year in existence as a program, Yoe wrestling managed to send a total of four grapplers to the regional tournament. Rico Bolivar, Domanique Borgas, Destiny Merrow and Johnvanique Porter all managed to weave their way through an all 5A district meet. Bolivar and Borgas finished in third at district, while Merrow came in 4th on the girls side.

5. Yoemen hold off Franklin on the road

It was a game that was circled on the schedule before the beginning of the football season, and it did not disappoint, as the capacity crowd was treated to one of the better games of 2016. The Yoemen had what seemed like a comfortable two-touchdown lead in the second half, but the Lions made it interesting late as the Yoe defense had to come up with a goal line stand to win it, 42-38.

4. Yoe baseball wins Franklin tournament

The Franklin RBI tournament is one of the largest in the state year in and year out, with a total of 32 teams from all across the state competing on a five fields. Cameron did all that they could, advancing to the championship game before rain set in. The Yoemen had wins over Fairfield, College Station JV, Brazos Christian, and advanced on a tie-breaker over Navasota. Cameron was up 4-3 in the fourth to what was then #1 Lago Vista before the game was called off due to rain.

T2. Moorer advances to state

Yoe High junior Brittney Moorer put the Lady Yoe track program back on a pedestal that it expects to be on year in and year out. The shot put star won the district, area and regional championships, before finishing in 6th place at state with a throw of 37-3.75. Moorer, which will be returning in 2018, was only behind one other underclassmen ahead of her in the final rankings at the state meet.

T2. Golf sends both teams to state

The Yoe golf teams had seasons to remember as both the boys and girls competed at the state tournament in Austin. The boys, which were 3rd in district last year, managed to punch their ticket to state with a 2nd place finish at regionals. The Yoemen - which top 4 golfers are all sophomores and younger - finished in 10th at state. The Lady Yoe matched expectations set for the program with their 7th straight trip to state. The ladies finished in 5th place in 2017.

1. Yoe defense stymies Teague

For the third straight year, Cameron and Teague were meeting up deep in the 3A football playoffs. The Lions scored the opening touchdown of the game with 3:32 left in the first quarter, but that would be the last time they saw pay dirt as the Yoemen defense would bend but never break again. Cameron’s defensive unit held the Antonio Heard and Travis Coleman duo to just 128 yards on 43 carries.