Yoemen stomp Bumblebees 48-13 on Homecoming
The Cameron Yoemen football team sent the crowd home happy on Homecoming night as the Yoemen handily defeated the Academy Bumblebees 48-13.
Cameron received the ball to start the game. The Yoemen offense kicked off with a bang as they would score with a 68-yard touchdown run by Kardarius Bradley (8) on the first play of the drive for a superfast 7-0 lead.
“He did a great job once he got in the open field, credit our offensive line, we ran a counter play, and they opened up a big hole,” Coach Rick Rhoades said. “They did really, really well.”
Cameron came out on defense and allowed Academy to complete a fourth and 1, but soon got an interception by Kason Goolsby (3). Cameron didn’t do much with that turnover and was forced to punt. They were forced into a fake punt attempt after the punter mishandled the snap, and the play was unsuccessful. That turnover turned out to not be costly as the Yoemen defense forced Academy to punt. That punt would be blocked by Armando Reyes (6) and Cameron would get great field position. That good fortune would not last long as they fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Academy. The Cameron defense allowed a 16-yard run, but stayed tough and forced Academy to punt once again. The first quarter ended with Cameron up 7-0.
The Yoemen started the scoring in the second quarter with an amazing 50-yard touchdown run by Bradley for a 14-0 lead. The Yoemen defense continued to play tough and forced Academy to punt, then their offense marched down the field. Cameron finished their drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Braylan Drake (1) to Charlie Mayer (22) to make the score 21-0. Cameron bent a little on defense as they gave up a 33-yard run. They would clamp down with an 80-yard pick six off a one-handed catch by Reyes for a 27-0 lead after a missed extra point. The Yoemen defense forced Academy to punt once again. The offense responded with an incredible 46-yard touchdown pass from Landen Greene (9) to Ja’quorius Hardman (2) on a brilliant trick pass play for a 34-0 lead going into halftime.
Cameron kicked off to start the second half. The Yoemen defense began to bend and allowed a fourth and 2 attempt. That was followed with a 23-yard pass then an 18-yard run. Academy ended the shutout with a 2-yard touchdown run to make the score 34-7. The Cameron offense responded with a 20-yard run by Bradley and a 13-yard run by Tavares Crittendon (32). The Yoemen scored on a 15-yard touchdown run by Bradley to take a 41-7 lead. The Bumblebees offense marched down the field and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run for a score of 41-13, which would be the score at the end of the third quarter.
Cameron went three and out on offense to start the fourth quarter. The Yoemen defense returned the favor and forced Academy to punt. Cameron came back on offense and scored on an 8-yard touchdown run by Crittendon to make it a 48-13 lead. Academy would put up a good drive and marched down the field, but was halted and would have to punt the ball. At that point, Coach Rick Rhoades made a change at quarterback: Connor Jeter (17) came in for Drake. Cameron would drain the clock and go on to win 48-13.
Braylan Drake threw for one touchdown and a total of 57 yards. Kardarius Bradley had a monster game, rushing for 179 yards and three touchdowns. The defense was outstanding, catching two interceptions, one for a touchdown, had four sacks, and allowed just 13 points in the whole game.
“I was proud of my defense,” Rhoades said. “I really went into this game thinking this was probably going to be a shootout, we’re going to have to outscore them. But our defense made some really big stops and did really, really good. I was very proud of them.”
The next matchup for Cameron will be on the road against the McGregor Bulldogs. Rhoades believes they are improving as a team and will continue to improve some more at McGregor.
“The big key is every week we want to get better,” Rhoades said. “We want to keep improving. I think we took a step in the right direction tonight, and we need to take another step in the right direction next week.”
The game will be on Friday in McGregor and kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.