Yoe 7-on-7 show rust in week one, improvement in week two

There were some good moments and some not so good moments in Cameron’s opening week of 7-on-7 league play last Thursday. The Yoemen started strong, easily getting by Caldwell, 20-0, but signs of rust showed in the final two loses to Hearne, 25-18 and La Vega, 8-0.

The mixed bag of results was not too big of a surprise to Yoe football coach Tommy Brashear.

“The kids are down on their performance tonight. In some areas they should be down, but they did some good things, too. I was probably a little more disappointed in the argument amongst ourselves. I was much more upset with that than anything we did on the field.”

In the opening win, Cameron scored on three consecutive possessions while holding the Hornets out of the end zone the entire game. Quarterback Anthony Layne was in for the first series of the game, and came through with a touchdown pass to Kadrian Hammond. Layne also hit Ki’Zirrius Holt later in the game to put Cameron up 20-0.

In-between that, Braden Brashear, who rotated in every other series at quarterback, also connected with Holt to put the Yoemen up 14-0.

In the loss to Hearne, Cameron scored, but could not keep Hearne from scoring, giving up four deep passes over the top of the secondary.

“I think we got a little better defensively in that last game, figuring out coverages,” Brashear said. “We had some busted coverages. We do this to learn those things.”

In the 8-0 loss to La Vega, the defense managed to step up and fix some of the coverage issues, but the offense went cold, not crossing the goal line in the 20-minute game.

“I saw some younger kids stepping into rolls and they are doing pretty good,” said Brashear. “We have a long way to go with younger and older kids. There is a lot of rust to work off. The running of the routes was not as good as it needs to be and the quarterbacks are getting rid of the ball just a little bit late.”

Both Layne and Brashear took an equal amount of reps with the number one unit. Incoming sophomore Zach Hafley also saw some reps with the varsity squad. Expect to see much more of the same throughout this league play and throughout the state qualifying tournaments.

“We are going to see a rotation and we will be getting them reps,” said Brashear. “I thought both Layne and Braden did a good job tonight. I also thought Hafley did a good job. I thought we had too many dropped passes at times. All three of them made some wrong reads at times, but made some great reads at times. They are all good kids and work hard. I think we are going to be alright at that quarterback position.”

Monday update and Robinson tournament

On Monday, the Yoemen had positive results with wins over Caldwell, Milano and Hearne, and one loss to La Vega to finish 3-1 on the day. Layne, Brashear and Kirk Lara all took snaps at quarterback with the varsity unit in week two. Cameron will host two more weeks of league play the next two Monday’s.

On Saturday, Cameron will be traveling down to Robinson to compete in the McLennan County state 7-on-7 tournament.

This is Cameron’s first of three state qualifying tournaments on the schedule.

Cameron is going to be positioned in pool B, which will be played at Robinson High School. Cameron’s pool consists of China Spring, First Baptist Academy and Groesbeck.

Cameron will play China Spring at 9:00 am, Groesbeck and 10:00 am and First Baptist Academy at 11:00 am. With a four-pool setup, Cameron must win their pool and also win their semifinal game in order to quality for state.

“It’s a pretty tough tournament,” said Brashear. “We will be playing in Robinson and we have to win our pool and win the game against the pool next to us to qualify. It will be tough, but it will be good for us to get some reps in. We will probably have a few guys gone for that tournament.”

Pool A: Robinson, Academy, Midlothian Heritage, Brazos Christian. Pool C: Lorena, La Vega, Hillsboro, McGregor. Pool D: Gatesville, Whitney, Melissa, West.