Yoemen Sports Network

Last week, we took a lot at the teams that comprised 10-3A the past two seasons, and now I want to branch out a little further and examine what could be in store for the region in 2018 and 2019. A majority of these teams will remain in the region once realignment is released at the beginning of February, so this will give you a good idea of the teams to watch come August.

9-3A

Elkhart (3-7/1-6)

Number of seniors lost: 11 (Maxpreps)

Number of all-district players lost: 1 1st team defense

Number of all-district players return: Co-Punter of the Year; 1 1st team offense; 1 2nd team offense; 2 2nd team defense

Eustace (6-4/3-4)

Number of seniors lost: 14 (Maxpreps)

Number of all-district players lost: 1 1st team offense; 1 2nd team offense; 1 1st team defense; 2 2nd team defense

Jarrell

It’s not how you start, but how you finish. Unfortunately for the Lady Yoe, they did neither of those well on Friday in a home loss to the Jarrell Lady Cougars, 54-40. Cameron scored 14 points in the second and 13 points in the third periods, but only tallied 6 points in the opening period and then 7 in the fourth, which was too much to overcome against what should be a playoff team out of the district.

Lady Yoe coach Corey Cunningham pointed to poor free-throw shooting in the first, which ultimately led to an early 14-6 deficit.

“We started off slow and got behind early,” said Cunningham. “We were 1-10 from the free-throw line early, and with an 8-points game, everything matters right there.”

Things changed late in the second period and into the third.

Jarrell

When Cameron played Jarrell on Friday, it was one of the most meaningful games to be played in Yoe Gym in some time. Jarell came into the contest as the number on team in the state and undefeated at 6-0, but Cameron was right there at 5-1.

At the end of the night, the Yoemen did not pull off the upset, but proved their staying power in what was a tight and competitive 59-53 loss.

Cameron led 16-11 after the opening quarter and the game swayed back and forth and stayed within 2 to 3 points most of the evening.

Powerlifting posts strong results in Belton

The Yoe lifters competed in their third meet of the year this past week in Belton. The Cameron girls and boys both posted stronger results.

For the girls, Selene Vargas (1st, 132), Faith Kistler (1st, 148) and Daejanay Bell (1st, 259+) all finished first in their respective weight classes. Yieli Contreras (3rd, 259) also competed and placed well for the girls. Overall, Cameron placed fourth overall in the event with only the four girls competing.

Final girls standings: 1. Belton (46 points), 2. Mexia (31 points), 3. Gatesville (31 points), 4. Cameron Yoe (24 points), 5. Temple (21 points), 6. Waco Midway (20 points), 7. Copperas Cove (13 points), 8. Killeen Shoemaker (5 points), 9. Waco University (3 points), 10. Killeen Ellison (2 points).

Though realignment is just a few weeks away now, I want to go ahead and look at all of the teams from 10-3A and what to expect for 2018. Though there may be some minor shifts, I would expect a large majority of these teams to be placed in the same district for the next two football seasons.

What we will be looking at today is how each of these teams fared, what they have coming back, and how I believe the district may stack up.

The Teams

Academy

2017: 3-7/1-5: No Playoffs

Number of seniors lost: 13 (Maxpreps)

Number of all-district players lost: 4 1st team defense; 2 2nd team offense

Number of all-district players returning: 1 2nd team offense; 1 2nd team defense

Cameron Yoe

2017: 4-7/3-3; Bi-District Finalist

Number of seniors lost: 20 (Maxpreps)

Cameron’s Westbrook headed to AFC Championship Game

Jacksonville built what was an early 21-0 lead over Pittsburgh in this past week’s AFC divisional round game, and held on late for a 44-42 win to secure a spot in the AFC championship this week versus New England. The Steelers, behind Ben Roethlisberger’s 469 yards passing, had the more eye-popping stats, but it is the Jaguars moving on. Cameron’s Dede Westbrook had one catch for 8 yards, but was targeted 3 times. In total, 10 different receivers recorded catches for Jacksonville in the game. Game time for the AFC championship on Sunday is set for 2:05 on CBS.

Lady Yoe soccer finishes undefeated, Yoemen with only one loss in own tournament

After a slow start to the season, Cameron was able to turn the tides in the Yoe Classic as the girls finished with a perfect 4-0 record while the boys only suffered one loss and capped off their weekend at 3-1.

Regardless of records, rivalries games can tend to be a tad bit unpredictable and are generally always close. We got a pair of those on Friday night from Tiger Gym in Rockdale as the Lady Yoe fell short 51-44, while the Yoemen pulled away late for a 62-57 win.

The girls hung tight with Rockdale at the half, tied at 22 all, but could not keep pace down the stretch. The loss drops Cameron to 13-14 overall and 1-6 after the first round of 20-3A play. The ladies were scheduled to play Academy on the road on Tuesday, but weather concerns caused the cancellation of school, which pushed back all sporting events. That game was made up on Wednesday, along with the boys, and we will have a full report in next week’s edition of sports.

Meanwhile, the Yoemen improved to 14-9 overall and more importantly to 4-1 in 20-3A with two games remaining in the first half of district action.

Lexington

With 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game with Lexington, Cameron had a lead of 32-29 after buckets from Marquazia Workman, Lauryn Leftwich and NaQuiria Gibbons. It was Cameron’s biggest lead of the game, but it could not hold up as the Lady Eagles came back and snuck out of Yoe Gym with a 40-35 win.

It was not pretty throughout, as Cameron (1-4) shot just 8-44 from the floor and turned the ball over 21 times while Lexington (3-2) was 12-40 with 19 turnovers.

“I knew Lexington would put up a fight,” said Lady Yoe coach Corey Cunningham on what he expected entering the game. “They are always physical and I knew they would be tonight. We held them to 15 at half, and with our low output, it kept us right in the game. We preach defensive stops, but we just have to find a way to score.”

Before Friday’s game with Lexington, first-year Yoe basketball coach Nick Burns said that he had located an old Yoe basketball shirt. That shirt read “Running Yoemen”. He showed that shirt to his team and said that was going to be their theme this season and that they were going to bring that mentality back to the program.

That was validated on Friday, as Cameron totally dominated Lexington from beginning to end in a 76-30 win. The point total was impressive for Cameron, and the defensive statistics told all as 43 turnovers were forced with the full-court press causing the Eagles problems all night.

“We talk about putting together a buzzer to buzzer game, and I think that is the first one of the year outside of Whitney,” said Burns. “I felt our defensive intensity was there, and we were going to score off of it. We did not let up and I told the boys that we have to learn to put our foot on the pedal and not let up. I think we did that tonight.”

Yoe Powerlifting Results

Yoe lifters competed in the first meet of the year at home on Saturday. It was a successful meet, as hundreds of lifters from across Central Texas filled Yoe gym for the event. Cameron did find success on the boys side, with a fourth place finish overall. Below are full results:

Boys

Joe Rangel 4th in 132; Josh Lopez 6th in 148; Heath Hollas 5th in 148; Alex Aguillon 1st in 165; Kevin Avdic 2nd in 198; Alfredo Sierra 6th in 275; Adrian Lewis 1st in SHW.

Complete Team Standings (128 lifters): 1. College Station (26), 2. Taylor (24), 3. Anderson-Shiro (22), 4. Cameron Yoe (20), 5. Little River Academy (19), 6. Giddings (19), 7. Belton (19), 8. Mexia (13), 9. Coldspring (8), 10. Thorndale (8), 11. Thrall (5), 12. Hearne (5), 13. Waco Reicher (4), 14. Rosebud-Lott (2).

Girls