Yoemen Sports Network

Cameron had four wrestlers compete in a College Station tournament this past Saturday.  Yoe freshmen Domanique Borgas highlighted the team’s finish with a trip to the finals and a 2-1 mark overall.  The freshmen picked up wins over opponents from 5A Bryan Rudder and private school Strake Jesuit before falling in the final. 

According to head coach Dale Keen, Borgas has been wrestling for just 60 days in total, but has the talent and variables you look for in a wrestler to be successful.  “Being big and strong is just one part of that,” said Keen.  “You have to know your moves and know how to defend stuff.  Determination helps out a whole lot.”

Keen also pointed out that Borgas’ performance helped inspire other wrestlers to step up their game. 

Lady Yoe head coach Corey Cunningham and his team have had to deal with plenty of adversity up to this point in the season.  It’s one thing to play in arguably the toughest district in the region - with three teams in the latest rankings - but Cameron has had to deal with injuries to two key starters for a majority of first half of 20-3A play.  Cameron would try to overcome all of that as they rounded out the first half of district. 

Rockdale

Cameron hosted the Lady Tigers of Rockdale from Yoe Gym in one of the bigger rivalry games in the state on Friday.  The Lady Yoe led by three at the half, but could not hold off the Lady Tigers down the stretch in a 50-42 loss. 

Despite the loss, three different Lady Yoe players ended with double-digit scoring marks.  Terryn Adams (14), Zabrian Sowders (12), and Lauryn Leftwich (10) combined for 36 of Cameron’s 42 points. 

The Yoe powerlifting teams competed in the Academy meet this past Saturday.  A total of 10 boys and three girls represented Cameron in the meet.

Dortavis Lewis highlighted the Yoemen performances for the second straight week, finishing second in the 275-pound weight class with a total of 1,330 pounds.  The total weight was a 45-pound increase from last week’s 1,285 pounds.  Rogers’ Zach Solano was first with 1,370 pounds. 

Adrian Lewis also finished second in the super heavyweight division with 1,265 pounds lifted. 

Cameron had a total of four lifters finish third in their respective weight classes.  This included Alex Aguillon (970 pounds) in the 165-pound class, Tydrick Williams (1,150 pounds) in the 181-pound class, Garrett Roeder ( 1,090 pounds) in the 198-pound class and Nico Vargas (1,195 pounds) in the 220-pound class.

With young teams, improvement from week to week is something both Kevin Webb (Yoemen) and Laura Dickson (Lady Yoe) wanted to see from their soccer clubs. 

Both squads had struggled in their opening week tournaments, but most of the competition featured more established, and well-experienced 4A or larger schools. 

That stiff competition seems to already be paying dividends as both teams picked up their first wins of the season in the Cameron tournament this past week from Yoe Field. 

Yoemen

After tying Caldwell on day one, followed up by losses to Academy and Florence on day two, the Yoemen managed to defeat Hearne on Saturday to end tournament play on a positive note.  

Cameron scored two goals in the first half and added on another early in the second to coast to the 3-1 win over the Eagles.   

Following a three-game slide in district action, the Cameron Yoemen found themselves at just 1-3 in 20-3A play.  Up next on the schedule was Rockdale (0-4) and Academy (1-3) - two teams that were in the same boat as the Yoemen. 

Rockdale

For a good part of district play, Cameron has got off plenty of shot attempts on offense.  However, that has not resulted in buckets and points on the scoreboard. 

On Friday night from Yoe Gym, Cameron led 20-17 at the half, and it appeared that it was the defense that was going to carry the load.  That was until the Yoemen offense put up 35 points in the second half en route to a 55-32 victory over the Tigers.

The 35 points was tied for the most in a half for the Yoemen thus far in league action.  The only other time that mark was achieved was against Hearne, which coincidentally was Cameron’s (15-7/2-3) other district win.

This past weekend, TxHighSchoolBaseball.com released their fourth annual preseason baseball magazine.  The publication, which is similar to a Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine for football, features stories, rankings, top players, and predictions for every district across the state. 

THSB has the Yoemen pegged for second place in 20-3A - the same spot they finished in their 19-15 area finalist season a year ago. 

Rogers, with six starters returning from a 19-15 regional quarterfinalist team, is predicted to win the district.  Franklin, with seven returning starters, and Jarrell, with nine returning starters, are predicted to finish in third and fourth respectively. 

Last year, the Yoe High cheerleaders competed in the first-ever UIL state cheer competition.  With a year of experience and a full understanding of what judges were looking for, Cameron went into the competition with the goal of making the finals performance while improving on their 35th place finish from a year ago. 

After Thursday’s competition from the Fort Worth Convention Center all of that had been accomplished, as Cameron was one 20 teams to advance to the finals and finished in 15th place overall. 

The competition itself grew in size from year one to year two with amount of 3A squads increasing from 43 to 61. 

The initial year of competition was critical for Cameron in figuring out the basics and what they needed to work on from year to year. 

Dozens of community members and parents filed into the Yoe High cafeteria last Wednesday to spend a few moments with the next leader of Yoe High School - Joe Oliver. 

Cameron ISD hired Oliver on Monday during a regularly scheduled school board meeting.  He replaces Kenneth Driska, which took another position in the district in November. 

“Joe Oliver is a top notch individual,” said Cameron ISD superintendent Alan Sapp.  “He has great experience and he is a Yoemen.  He is an asset to our school.  He is just a perfect fit.”

Sapp added that there were a number of quality candidates, but at the end of the day Oliver was the clear choice. 

This past week, the Yoemen and Lady Yoe soccer teams took on their first opponents of the season in tournament action.

Yoemen

In their first action of the year, Cameron finished with a 0-3 mark in the Jarrell tournament. The Yoemen opened up tournament play with a 5-0 loss to host Jarrell on Thursday. Cameron also took losses to 6A West Brook (7-0) on Friday and 4A Robinson (6-0) on Saturday.

The matches did not result in wins, but valuable experience was gained in the early portion of the season.

“It was perfect for us because we got a lot of experience,” said head coach Kevin Webb. “Almost half of the kids there were freshmen playing against true varsity competition for the first time. They had a lot of things to deal with, including the weather on top of worrying about these much bigger schools. I think it was invaluable.”

Lexington

Down two starters due to injury, Lady Yoe head coach Corey Cunningham knows that his team has to shoot well in order to pick up district wins.

That offensive production was lacking last Friday night as Cameron shot just 26 percent (10/39) from the field and never scored more than nine points in any period in a 43-30 loss to the Lexington Lady Eagles.

Despite poor shooting on offensive end, a strong defensive effort kept Cameron (8-14/1-4) in the game most of the way. Lexington (1-4) averaged just over 10 points per period, but Cameron could not convert on the 16 turnovers they forced to build momentum.

“I thought our defense kept us in the game,” said Lady Yoe head coach Corey Cunningham. “Overall, it was one of the best defensive games we have played all year. The offense wasn't there tonight. We couldn't capitalize on the turnovers that we got.”