Sports Shorts - 2/8

Yoe offensive coordinator Abraham Vargas takes head job

The long-standing tradition of coordinators from Cameron to become head coaches held up on Monday when it was announced the Yoe offensive coordinator Abraham Vargas had been hired as the next athletic director and head football coach at Runge ISD, a 2A school located about and hour and a half southeast of San Antonio.

As you would expect, there was a connection that led Vargas to the position.

“I'm sure there are several people who are curious where it is at and why I would go there,” said Vargas. “I visited with a former superintendent who I worked for and with for several years. She spent a couple of years in Runge. She gave nothing but high praises on the students, faculty, and community. I see it as an opportunity to make an impact and a difference in the lives of other students and the community.”

Runge was just 3-8 in 2017, 1-9 in 2016, 1-9 in 2015 and 1-9 in 2014, and will be looking for any type of improvement.

Vargas had been the offensive coordinator at Bandera before coming over to Cameron for the same title the past three seasons. He said this was simply an opportunity he could not pass up.  

“I've been teaching and coaching for twenty-two years and I've always wanted the opportunity to be an AD/HFC,” Vargas said. “It's a position that many coaches strive for in their coaching career. Some coaches spend years trying to reach this goal and never do.”

Vargas also noted that he was pleased to have the opportunity to come back to coach in Cameron - a place where he grew up and graduated from.

“I am very thankful for having the opportunity to come back home to teach and coach,” said Vargas. “It was also an opportunity to spend time with my family and to teach and coach my nephew and niece. Having been raised and going to school here, I grew up loving the Yoemen and knew what it meant to represent the Yoemen. That is a special feeling that you carry with you no matter where you go. Once a Yoemen, Always a Yoemen!”

Yoe football still looking for week 2 game

Once realignment comes out, a large majority of the football teams across the state finalize their schedules. For Cameron, it appeared that was going to be the case until Friday, when Whitney decided to drop Cameron in what was going to be a week two contest.

“We had our non-district schedule set for 3 months now,” said Yoe coach Tommy Brashear. “After realignment, that can sometimes change. Whitney ended up getting into a tougher district and they were already in a tough one. They had an opportunity to play someone else that had

called them and so they dropped us and played the other team. I didn’t find out about that until Friday, which is the day after realignment.”

Now, Brashear is faced with the daunting task of finding a late game, which traditionally is not the easiest thing do accomplish. Cameron wants to find a replacement game for week 2, but has their open week scheduled for week 6, so the two are interchangeable.

“Ideally, it would be better to play week 2, to have the bye in the middle,” Brashear said. “We would play one district game and then be able to heal up. I feel like I have called all over the state of Texas the past few days trying to find a game 2. We had some people available that said no and others that said they already filled it.”

For now, Brashear will keep looking until something comes up.

“We still have a few schools I am waiting to hear back from. Hopefully something will pan out. There are a few in week 6 that are interested in playing, and if we have to do that, we will.”

Lady Yoe drops district opener, Yoemen win thriller in overtime

Tuesday was a big day for both the Lady Yoe and Yoemen soccer programs, as that was the scheduled start of 25-4A district action.

For the ladies, things did not go all that well as the ladies trailed 1-0 at the half and ended up falling in the end, 4-1.

The Yoemen had better fortunes, winning a double overtime classic, 2-1. Cameron’s Enrique Paredes scored the opening goal in the first half, but Jarrell tied it up inside the final two minutes to force the extra time. That is where Diego Martinez played the role of hero, sailing home the game-winning goal to move Cameron to 1-0 in the district.

Both teams will be back on the road at Florence on Friday and then at Academy on Tuesday.

Lady Yoe golf wins first tourney of the year

Success and Lady Yoe golf simply go hand in hand. On Tuesday, the ladies posted their first win of the year, capturing gold from the Taylor Invitational.

Cameron’s Keagan Galvan had an outstanding showing, placing first overall out of all the competitors while shooting a 84. Jazmin Vaculin (95), Emily Graham (106), Presley Berry (112) and Carley Tucker (101) made the total 386. That was 5 shots better than Georgetown East View’s 391, and 40 strokes better than Temple’s 426.

The Yoemen were scheduled to compete in Taylor on Tuesday, but weather forced that play back to Thursday.

The ladies will compete in Caldwell on Monday while the boys will be competing on Tuesday.