Yoemen run over Troy
The Cameron Yoemen football team defeated the Troy Trojans 57-22 on Saturday morning after a delay in Friday night’s game due to no referees showing up.
Cameron kicked off to start the game on defense and forced a punt by Troy. The defense was forced to go back on the field as Ryan Muniz (7) threw an interception on their first drive of the game.
The Yoemen defense allowed a 27-yard run and eventually a touchdown on a fourth and 1 at the 1-yard line for a 7-0 game. The Trojans tried to catch Cameron off-guard with an onside kick but it was recovered by Carlos Bolivar (14). Cameron found themselves in an early fourth and 2 and was successful on the fourth down conversion. The Yoemen wouldn’t go much farther in the possession and was forced to punt the ball back to Troy. The Cameron defense stood tall and forced a three and out for the Trojans. The first quarter ended with Troy leading 7-0.
The Yoemen offense started to click in the second quarter with a pass from Muniz to Javoun Goldsby (1) for a 17-yard completion. They found themselves in a fourth and 7 and decided to go for it. Not only did the Yoemen convert it but scored with a 21-yard touchdown catch by Trayjen Wilcox (88) to tie the game at 7.
On Troy’s next possession, the Yoemen defense gave up a fourth and two, which eventually led to a 32-yard touchdown pass for a score of 13-7 after a missed extra point. Cameron responded with a 26-yard run by Phaibian Bynaum (5), followed by a 38-yard catch by Kason Goolsby (3) on a pass by Muniz. Cameron took the lead for the first time in the game with a 2-yard touchdown run by Fabian Salomon (35) to make the score 14-13. Cameron came back out on defense and forced a fourth and two.
The Trojans tried to surprise Cameron with a fake punt but was unsuccessful and the Yoemen took over on downs. Cameron acted fast with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Muniz to Bynaum on the very next play for a 21-13 lead. The Yoemen allowed a 36-yard field goal by Troy at the end of the half for 21-16 lead for the Yoemen.
“I think that we settled in a little bit,” Coach Rick Rhoades said. “We didn’t start the game off real well, we ran one play then threw an interception. We got more in our rhythm to be honest, and once we got in our rhythm then things started clicking. I thought Fabian Salomon came in and kind of gave us a little bit of a spark and then Phaibian Bynaum had a big night. One of the things we concentrate on is being able to run the football and we were able to do that. We love throwing the ball, but in order to be great football team you got to be able to run it.”
To start the second half, Troy tried another onside kick but Cameron recovered. That celebration was short lived as the offense went three and out. The Cameron defense then allowed a 76-yard touchdown pass for a 22-21 Trojan lead after a failed 2 point conversion.
Troy shockingly tried another onside kick but Cameron recovered that one too. The Yoemen offense responded with a 19-yard catch by Jaidyn Sanchez (2), followed by a 19-yard touchdown run by Bynaum to take back the lead 29-22 after a successful 2-point conversion.
The Yoemen defense began to bend and allowed a 20-yard run then a 24-yard run but refused to break as they stopped a fourth and 11 conversion attempt for a turnover on downs. Goolsby helped out the Cameron offense and ran for 21 yards on a third and 13. That was followed up with a 46-yard touchdown pass from Muniz to Pharrell Hemphill (4) to extend the lead 36-22. The defense stayed relentless and forced a fumble that was recovered by Salomon.
The Yoemen would reward their defense with a 7-yard touchdown run by Bynaum for a 43-22 lead. The defense came up with another turnover on an interception by Landon Greene (9). The offense came out quick with a 28-yard catch by Sanchez from Muniz. The third quarter ended with the Yoemen having a commanding lead 43-22.
The Yoemen continued their explosive offense and marched down the field and scored on a 3-yard touchdown run by Salomon for a 50-22 lead. After more tough defense by Cameron, the offense went back out and continued the impressive offense with a 20-yard run by Sanchez followed by a 5-yard touchdown run by Bynaum for a 57-22 lead, which would ultimately be the final score. Overall, in the second half the defense stood tall and allowed only six points the entire second half.
“We gave up some silly touchdowns early,” Rhoades said. “We gave up that touchdown in the endzone where we just didn’t play good coverage, and we gave up a touchdown on a stop route which is a five yard route where we should’ve just come up and made the tackle. So, when we stopped making those kind of mistakes, then we played good defense. I thought our defense did a real good job against number 4 (Steve Jackson). He’s a good player, and he ran all over McGregor last week.”
Other than the early interception, Ryan Muniz was great as he passed for 263 yards and three touchdowns. Kason Goolsby had 68 receiving yards and Pharrell Hemphill had 46 yards and a touchdown. Phaibian Bynaum was incredible with 161 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns along with a 50-yard receiving touchdown.
“He’s (Bynaum) one of our weapons,” Said Coach Rhoades. “There’s no doubt he’s one of our weapons, but he’s not our only weapon, we got some really good receivers. I thought Hunter Hux came in and played right tackle for us and did a really good job, I was proud of the job he did without looking at the video, but I thought he did a good job. I was just proud of our kids and their resilience. I told them before the game there’s going to be mountain tops and there’s going to be valleys. And there were times we were in the valley and they hung in there and kept fighting and kept playing. In the second half we kind of got in a rhythm offensively and defensively.”
The next game for Cameron will be on the road against the Lorena Leopards who are the third ranked 3A team in the state.
“If we want to finish top two in our district, this is a huge game for us,” Rhoades said. “If we can get right and prepare right and beat Lorena, we could go into the last week of the season knowing that if we win, we’re the district champs, we’d go in as the #1 seed. There’s big implications in this game next week.”
The game with Lorena will be Friday night in Lorena. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.