Traditionally tough Gatesville travels to Cameron on Friday

If you look at the all-time record books, there is a short-list of teams that can actually say they have a winning record versus the Yoemen. The Gatesville Hornets are one of those lucky few programs. Even with Cameron’s 69-31 win last season, Gatesville still holds a slight 11-9 edge in the all-time series.

It’s something Yoe head football coach Tommy Brashear knows about first-hand.

“Those Gatesville kids always play hard, and I think sometimes we go in their underestimating them,” said Brashear. “They shouldn't, because those kids play hard. I spent a couple of years over there, and they are hard-nosed and physical. It is a very tough win to get.”

In last year’s win, Gatesville had scored a touchdown with three minutes left in the third quarter to go up 31-27. It was all Yoemen in a big way from that point on as 42 unanswered points were reeled off to close out the game. Cameron struck with multiple big pass plays and also cashed in on two interceptions returned for touchdowns by Levi May.

Gatesville generally struggled throughout most of 2016, dropping games to Connally (35-14), Cameron (69-31), Burnet (38-35), China Spring (46-21), La Vega (42-14) and Liberty Hill (30-15) to miss out on the playoffs. The Hornets did win four straight over University (38-35), Hillsboro (37-21), Robinson (53-35) and Lampasas (56-42) after falling to Cameron.

Gatesville is already off to a better start in 2017, capturing a convincing 38 to 14 win over the Cadets in week one.

Offense

A total of six starters are returning from an offense that averaged 31.4 points per game a season ago.

Leading that group will be quarterback Jett Truss, which threw for over 1,200 yards and rushed for 820 more in his junior season. Running-back Alex Thompson, who ran for 101 yards in this game last year, has moved on to another school. The strength of the Hornets offense should be their line.

“They are big up front on the offensive line,” said Brashear. “It’s probably one of the biggest we will see all year. I hope we don’t see one bigger because they are huge up there and move pretty good for their size.”

Brashear noted that Gatesville will be around 60/40 with regards to the run-to-pass ratio.

“They are going to try and run smash mouth football and get in a lot of different formations,” said Brashear. “They don’t run a whole lot of different plays. It’s like seven or eight plays but we

have over 40 formations on them. They are trying to get good angles and get the blocks they want for the plays that they run.”

The Gatesville offense actually outgained Cameron last year with 451 total yards. 291 of those yards were on the ground.

Defense

On defense, Gatesville is returning a total of seven starters from a team that gave up nearly 40 points per ball game.

“On defense, they have some hosses on the line, including Cairi Chansler,” said Brashear. “He is strong as a bull. #18 plays defensive tackle and end. He is tall, lean and quick.”

Anticipate Gatesville giving the Yoemen some different looks. They will base out of the 3-4, much like the Yoemen, but will move around a bit at times. As Brashear noted, the Yoemen are going to “take what they give us”.

In the game last season, Gatesville gave up 228 yards through the air and another 147 on the ground.

Key Points

Like most teams Cameron lines up against, the opponent is going to have a size advantage. But, you can’t teach speed.

“They are going to have the size and strength and try to power us,” said Brashear. “Our advantage is going to be our speed and our quickness, and we will have to use that to our advantage. We did that last year in the win. I can see a similar situation this year as well.”

Additionally, Brashear noted that he wanted his defense to show improvements in tackling while having the offense pick up on week one’s rushing attack.

“We will have to get some stops and tackle well and get them off the field. Our running game was good against Bellville but this is going to be a tougher defensive line. We have to get the tough yards when we need it.”

District 10-3A

Rockdale (0-1) will try to bounce back by hosting a tough Taylor (1-0) team, Franklin (1-0) looks to dominate Caldwell (0-0) for the second straight year, McGregor (0-1) has a tough road tilt at region II power Sunnyvale (0-1), Troy (0-1) has what appears to be their most winnable game of the non-district schedule with Marlin (1-0), Academy (1-0) hosts Whitney (1-0), and Jarrell (0-1) will look to get on the scoreboard for the first time this season at home versus Florence (0-1).