Sports Shorts - 4/5

Both soccer teams bow out to Liberty Hill

It was known going into Friday’s bi-district matchup with Liberty Hill that it was going to be an uphill battle.  Both Cameron teams had finished fourth in 25-4A, and had to match up with the district champions from 26-4A. 

Both the Panthers and Lady Panthers proved they were power players as the Lady Yoe fell in the first matchup 15-0, while the Yoemen also could not turn the fortunes in a 8-0 loss.  

Lady Yoe coach Laura Dickson pointed out how poised and seasoned this Liberty Hill team appeared to be.  

“I’m sure there were not girls out there that haven’t played before.  They were definitely a fine-tuned machine out there, and they went hard at us the whole game but we never gave up.  I watched film coming in with them playing Salado, and I realized that this was going to be tough.”

The Lady Panthers scored their opening goal just over three minutes in and and held a 9-0 halftime advantage.  Cameron never had a shot on goal the entire match.  

“We talked about how this was going to be a tough matchup and until you really see it in action, it’s hard to prepare for that,” said Dickson.  “We knew what we were coming up against.”

Despite the loss, Dickson did take a moment to see the big picture and what this could mean for a program still in a growth mode.  

“Our goal now is to go into the playoffs and not just be the fourth team in our district,” Dickson said.  “The girls were excited and pumped and we were playing to win and they weren’t just satisfied to be here.  It’s always good when an official or someone from the other team comes up and says your girls played hard the entire time.  You can be proud of that.”

For the Yoemen, it was four early goals in the first 20 minutes of the match that put things away early.  

“We knew the talent they had and we knew what we were coming in to,” said coach Kamol Nohe.  “They are a solid program and solid team with solid players.  We had to play a certain way to compete against them.  “The first half we just didn’t do the right things and allowed them to get those goals.  The second half we came out a little better.”

Despite giving up some early goals, Chandler Barton, Cameron’s goalie, did play well, coming up with five diving stops to prevent the score from ballooning further.  

“He made some great saves,” said Nohe.  “He has worked hard for us and has had a good senior year.  I think he has proven a point to be a very steady player for us.”

Nohe also hopes this team has raised the bar and that it can bring further excitement to the program as a whole. 

“I told the group that we made history in a lot of ways.  Hopefully the juniors, sophomores and freshmen will help to carry it through to the next year, next year and so on.  I hope we can bring a little motivation for the younger kids to want to come and play soccer."

Milano boys earn district golf title

Milano’s Tucker Taylor was co-champion of the district boys golf tournament on Monday at Mustang Creek Golf Course in Taylor and the top Milano boy’s team earned the district championship.  The group, along with female golfers Faith Walton and Mary Brown, have advanced to the Class 2A Region IV meet on April 23-26 in Corpus Christi.

The Eagle team of Kaleb Dodd, Noah Benavides, Mason Westbrook, Coby Doelitsch and Taylor won the team district title with a score of 374.  Taylor shot an 84, earning him a co-district individual title with a player from Thrall.  Dodd hit a 91, Benavides a 99, Westbrook a 100 and Doelitsch a 107.

Milano’s other boys squad shot a 443 overall.  Team members (and scores) included Ryan Blakely (109), Brett Czajkowski (110), Michael Zurovetz (110), Cade Gordon (114) and Tristan Massey (121).

The Lady Eagles golf team of Faith Walton, Mary Brown, Kristian Taylor, Kayle Foster and Mackenzie Woolverton shot a 452, good enough for third place in the team race.  Walton was a second place finisher with a score of 106 and Brown third with a 108.  Both advance to the region meet, the first for any female golfer in the program’s history.

Kristian Taylor shot a 117, Foster a 121 and Woolverton a 112 to finish out the Lady Eagle scores.

Yoe High graduate takes 5A/6A job

It was announced on Tuesday that former Yoemen Kenneth Gilchrist had been hired as the next head football coach at Frisco Heritage.  Gilchrist is a 1992 Yoe High graduate and coached at his alma mater from 2004-2007.  In his time in Cameron, he coached defensive line in football and also assisted with other sports such as baseball and basketball.  He left Cameron for Lake Travis, where he was on staff for a state championship for the Cavaliers.  Gilchrist had another stop at Duncanville before taking the head job at Whitney at 2009.  He left the Wildcats in 2012 for Caldwell before returning to Whitney in 2013.  Gilchrist has a 41-52 record as a head coach.  

Firsco Heritage competes in 5-5A, division II.  The Coyotes were 4-6 and 3-4 in district play a season ago.  

Softball picks up win over Hearne, has Jarrell game suspended

The Lady Yoe got back in the win column on Monday, easily coasting by Hearne, 19-2.  Cameron tried to extend the win streak to two on Tuesday, but weather caused the Jarrell game to be suspended in the bottom of the fifth inning with the game knotted at 0-0.  As of press time, the game was scheduled to continue on Wednesday.