Yoemen top Lago Vista with big second half
The Cameron Yoemen kicked of the 2023 season with a convincing 45-21 win over Lago Vista on Friday night at Yoe Field.
Cameron kicked off to start the game. The Yoemen defense was solid and forced a punt. The Cameron offense responded with a 37-yard catch by D’Auntray Bradley (5) on a nice throw by Braylan Drake (1). That was soon followed with an amazing 31-yard touchdown catch by Kason Goolsby (3), breaking three tackles on his way to the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
Lago Vista came back on offense and marched down the field. Cameron held strong on defense and forced a fourth-and-4. The Vikings went for the fourth down conversion, but the Yoenmen stopped them to force a turnover on downs. Cameron marched back out on offense and Drake threw a 27-yard pass to Brody Aguirre (9), but they couldn’t go much further and were forced to punt. The first quarter ended with Cameron ahead 7-0.
The Viking offense was faced with a fourth-and-1 in the second quarter. They went for the fourth down and converted. Lago Vista would score on a long touchdown, but it was called back due to a Lago Vista penalty.
Cameron used that second chance to their advantage and forced a punt assisted by a clutch third down tackle by Cade Hubnik (12). The Yoemen offense stormed down the field with an incredible 58-yard run by Drake. Cameron was held to a 20-yard field goal kicked by Homero Najera (10) to take a 10-0 lead.
The Yoemen defense started to bend and allowed a 35-yard run, then gave up a 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 10-7. The Yoemen unfortunately gave the ball right back to the Vikings on a fumbled kickoff return with less than a minute left in the half. Lago Vista took advantage of the short field with a 2-yard touchdown run to take a 14-10 lead, which would be the score going into halftime.
“I think we did a good job of setting the tone early, but then I think we made some mistakes, particularly in the kicking game that hurt us later on in the half,” Yoe Coach Rick Rhoades said. “But that’s part of football, you’re going to make some plays and you’re going to give up some plays, and I was really proud of the way our kids responded. One of the things we talked about at halftime, and really all through the offseason, was how do you handle adversity. Going into halftime, we weren’t in the best of shape. We had just given up an easy touchdown and lost the lead, and that’s what we focused on. We talked about this all offseason: How are you going to handle adversity? And I think they responded very, very well.”
Cameron received the ball to start the second half. The Yoemen kicked off the third quarter with a bang and scored on an amazing 55-yard touchdown run by Kardarius Bradley (8) to take back the lead 17-14.
Lago Vista responded a few plays later and scored on a 43-yard touchdown pass to give Cameron a 21-17 deficit. Cameron tried to respond but faced a fourth and 2 conversion and came up short for a turnover on downs.
The defense for Cameron came up clutch and forced a fumble recovered by Ja’Quorius Hardman (6). The offense took advantage of that fumble with a 17-yard catch by Zach Evans (11). The Yoemen continued to march down the field and scored on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Drake to Hardman to retake the lead 24-21, which would be the score at the end of the third quarter.
The Yoemen would add to their lead with an unbelievable defensive play by Goolsby as he stripped the ball from the Lago Vista receiver, returning it for 28 yards, burning down the sidelines to make the score 31-21.
The Yoemen defense continued to be dominant in the second and forced fourth and 4. The Vikings went for the conversion and were stopped on a great tackle by Cody Webb (16). Cameron returned back out on offense and Elijah Goodrum (14) caught a pass from Drake and ran it 39 yards for a touchdown, making it a 38-21 lead.
The Yoemen defense continued to be stout and forced fourth-and-9. Lago Vista went for the conversion and were stopped for a turnover on downs. The Yoemen offense came back out and remained aggressive with a 30-yard run by Kardarius Bradley, followed up with a 49-yard touchdown pass from Drake to Goolsby for a commanding 45-21 lead.
The Cameron defense helped give the offense the ball back quickly and recovered a Lago Vista fumble. At that time, Rhoades made a quarterback change. Hubnik came in for Drake.
The Yoemen would drain the clock and win the game 45-21. The Yoemen defense was phenomenal, holding Lago Vista to just 56 passing yards, forcing three fumbles, and only allowing seven points the entire second half. They struggled with the Viking offense at first, but once they figured them out, the Vikings could barely move the ball.
“It’s a difficult offense to emulate,” Rhoades said. “The option football is hard. You got to have someone responsible for dive (runs), you got to have someone responsible for the quarterback, and somebody for (the) pitch. If you don’t run that offense, which we don’t, it’s hard to give our kids a good look. So, I think it kind of took them a half to kind of get to game speed where they kind of saw the things that we were telling them through the week, but they finally saw it at game speed and were able to make the plays they needed to make.”
Along with contributing big on defense, Kason Goolsby was also incredible on offense. He had two catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns. Kardarius Bradley was also outstanding, rushing for 149 yards and a touchdown. Braylan Drake was an absolute nightmare for the Viking defense, throwing for 252 yards and four touchdowns.
“That’s the whole idea is that we want to be balanced,” Rhoades said. “We want to be able to throw the ball and we want to be able to run the ball, and I thought we were able to do that tonight.”
Up next, the Yoemen will travel to Yoakum to take on the Bulldogs, the team they defeated in the Bi-District round of the playoffs last year. The game will be on Friday and kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Yoakum.