Yoemen Sports Network

The last time the Yoemen 7 on 7 team saw action on the field was when they qualified for the state tournament in Burnet on May 27. The over two week layoff appeared to have its impact in the early going of league action on Monday in Belton. However, Cameron managed to show improvement as the evening went on, capping the day off with a win over Temple to finish at 1-2 overall.

“We didn’t get to compete last week with Cove getting rained out,” said Yoe head football coach Tommy Brashear. “I was glad that we got to come out here and compete. I thought we started off kind slow and rusty. You could tell we had not played in two and a half weeks.”

The Yoemen lost the opener to Copperas Cove (30-23) and game two versus Belton (35-32) before bouncing back with a win over the Wildcats (25-20).

For the first time in program history, Yoe basketball will be playing in the summer state basketball championships in Grapevine. The Yoemen competed in the Salado state qualifying tournament on Saturday and finished with a perfect 3-0 mark to clinch their spot at state.

These basketball games are similar to 7 on 7 football, where you are required to qualify for state through tournaments that are spread across the state. Cameron defeated both Lampasas (63-61, OT) and San Saba (56-29) to win their pool, which automatically earned the bid for state. Cameron stayed to play the championship game as they defeated the Salado Eagles, 63-48.

For newly hired basketball coach Nicholas Burns, the experience that this young roster is gaining should prove to be invaluable.

State Baseball Tournament

The final sporting event of the year took place last Wednesday through Saturday with the state baseball tournament. Locally, one Central Texas team captured a state championship as Abbott took down Fayetteville in the 1A state game on Saturday, 11-7. In the semifinal round, Abbott overwhelmed Gilmer Union Hill, 12-0. In 4A, Robinson fell just short of their first ever state baseball championship. The Rockets fell to now two-time defending state champion Abilene Wylie, 6-5. In 2A, Muenster defeated Big Sandy, 6-2. Thorndale had fallen to Big Sandy in the regional find round. 3A saw Central Heights run-rule the Wall Hawks, 10-0. The Yoemen defeated Central Heights in the 2011 state championship game. In 5A, Port Neches-Groves defeated Grapevine, 4-2, and in 6A Deer Park bested San Antonio Reagan, 7-2.

Cheer Camp

If you’re like me, June and July are two of the hardest months to get through as a Yoe sports fan as there is just not a whole lot going on. However, we are now under two months away from the start of two-a-days, with scrimmages and the regular season not far behind that. This week I want to analyze what you should expect out of region III in 2017. The region should still be considered very dangerous, even though Malakoff suffered a shocking loss to Yoakum out of region IV this past season. Besides the Yoemen, here are some of the teams that I expect to see in the regional semifinals and state quarterfinals come December.

1. Teague (10-3/6-1; Regional Semifinalist)

# of seniors lost: 17 of 44

# of all-district players lost: 1 1st team offense; 2 2nd team offense; 4 1st team defense; 3 2nd team defense

# of all-district players returning: UTIL MVP; Offensive Lineman MVP; 3 1st team offense; 1 2nd team offense; 1 2nd team defense

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

7 on 7 Rained Out

The Cameron Yoemen were scheduled to compete in their first round of 5A/6A league games on Monday at Copperas Cove, but mother nature said otherwise as the games were rained out. Those games will not be made up. Three weeks of the league still remain on the schedule.

Academy softball wins state

For the first time in school history, the Academy Lady Bees are softball state champions. Academy drew Hughes Springs (34-4) in the semifinals. The Lady Bees scored three runs in the top of the first inning, which was enough for starting pitcher Gaby Hay, who went the distance giving up two two runs to pick up the win, 3-2.

With the completion of the state golf tournament and track meets, the 2016-2017 sports season has officially come to an end. Below is a review on how each of the programs within Yoe athletics fared during this past school year. Included is the team’s record (if applicable), district finish, playoff finish and Lone Star Cup points earned.

Fall Sports

Yoemen Football

Overall Record: 11-3

District Record: 5-1 (2nd place)

Playoff Finish: State Quarterfinals

Lone Star Cup Points: 8

Despite not getting to state for a fifth straight time, the Yoemen’s 2016 season would have to be considered a success. Cameron finished runner-up to Rockdale in 10-3A and ended up advancing to the state quarterfinals before bowing out to Malakoff, 37-34. Football earned nearly 60 percent of the Lone Star Cup points this past year.

Volleyball

Overall Record: 7-34

On Saturday, the Cameron Yoemen competed in their third 7-on-7 state qualifying tournament of the year. The third time proved to be the charm as Cameron went a perfect 4-0, qualifying for the state tournament later this month.

The Yoemen were not initially included in the original group of teams, but a late drop out by Hearne on Friday left Burnet tournament directors scrambling to find a replacement. Cameron was there to fill that void, and the late entry ended up paying off.

“What I'm maybe most proud of is the kids in the last minute,” said Brashear. “I called them last night and said we just got into this tournament and can you be here. It was overwhelming with a bunch of them saying yes, let’s go. That is real good to see when your kids want to compete and go play. I am proud of them for that.”

Sports Shorts

Baseball playoffs: Thorndale moves on; Franklin ousted by Central Heights

This past week, two local baseball teams were faced with difficult matchups in the regional semifinal round of the playoffs.

In 2A, the Thorndale Bulldogs brushed off a game one loss to Refugio (5-1), before bouncing back with wins in game two (4-3) and game three (9-3). In TxHighSchoolBaseball.com’s final regular season poll, Refugio came in at number three while Thorndale was at four.

The Bulldogs (25-4) now advance on to the region IV finals to take on Dallardsville Big Sandy (31-2) with a trip to the state tournament on the line.

Next month, everyone is going to be in full, blow-out football mode with the release of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football and TheOldCoach’s Friday Night Football magazines. Way back at the end of 2016, I released my own personal pre-season top 20. If you happened to miss that, here they are:

1. Yoakum, 2. Cameron Yoe. 3. Hallettsville, 4. Mineola, 5. Teague, 6. Rockdale, 7. Malakoff, 8. Wall, 9. Brock, 10. Grandview, 11. Jefferson, 12. Franklin, 13. Edna, 14. Whitesboro, 15. Goliad, 16. Pottsboro, 17. Woodville, 18. Farmersville, 19. Coldspring, T20. Howe, Sunnyvale, Littlefield, Muleshoe.

These rankings are based on last season’s success, returning starters, and tradition.