For Fedora, it’s almost with regret that his team had to get that done against Cameron Yoe.
Yoe spotted the No. 4-ranked Rattlers 14 quick points and failed to score on three trips inside the red zone as Navasota captured no worse than a share of the district title by pulling away from the Yoemen 42-21 Friday night at Yoe Field.
“Our kids battled, but we can’t turn the ball over that many times and have breakdowns in the kicking game against a good team like that,” said Yoemen coach Mike Mullins. “We still control everything we need to do.”
Yoe is now 6-2 overall and 4-1 in district. The Yoemen are still alone in second place with a trip to tough Caldwell remaining on the schedule. Navasota is unbeaten through eight games.
“I’m proud of our kids and we had a great game,” said Fedora, who coached at Rogers from 1998-2002. “This was a hard game for me because we had to play Cameron and Coach Mullins. He’s my mentor. He’s one of the reasons I’m in coaching and offered me my first job.”
Yoe was forced to play catch-up from the moment the game started as Rattler returner Kye Hildreth took the opening kickoff back 95 yards for a touchdown.
Navasota made it 14-0 on its first possession, going 54 yards in six plays. Kesnick Jones went through the right side of the line untouched on a 9-yard touchdown romp. Oscar Barron added another point-after for the two-touchdown spread at the 7:35 mark of the first quarter.
The Yoemen got on the board midway through the second quarter with a 57-yard march in six plays. James Wells peeled off a 26-yard run to help set up a 1-yard plunge by quarterback Steven Townsend. Juan Carlos Saucedo kicked the extra point to cut the lead in half with 7:42 to go before the break.
The Rattlers answered that score with another of their own on a nine-play, 72-yard drive. Jacolby Stokes hit Antron Harris on a key third-down pass to the Yoe 2. Dexter Pratt strolled in from there on an option pitch around left end. Holder Gaston Lamascus mishandled the PAT snap, but scrambled to find Brandal Jackson for a two-point conversion and the Rattlers took a 22-7 lead into halftime.
The Yoemen moved inside the 15 before half, but miscues cost them from scoring as time ran out in the half.
That problem would repeat itself in the second half as the Yoemen opened the second half by moving 67 yards to the Navasota 4. On a third-and-inches play, Navasota’s Eugene Castillo pounced on the loose ball following a mishandled snap and the Yoemen again came away empty.
They redeemed themselves later in the quarter to pull within eight of the Rattlers. Townsend scrambled around right end and dove into the end zone on a 13-yard scamper to finish a 45-yard drive in seven plays and make it 22-14 with 4:13 left in the third.
That started a scoring shootout as the Rattlers came back with Pratt barreling in from the 12. A defensive holding call on a third-and-long kept that drive alive for Navasota.
“That pass interference was huge,” said Mullins. “We were just a touchdown behind and that gave them new life and momentum.”
James Wells, who led all rushers with 133 yards on 16 carries, came up with a spectacular diving catch on a 39-yard strike from Townsend to pull back to 29-21 on the second play of the fourth quarter.
The Rattlers came right back, though, as Lamascus took a pass in the flat and raced 27 yards along the right sideline for a touchdown. Lamascus, who caught five passes for 88 yards, hauled in a 13-yarder from Stokes to put the game away.
