Cairo Wins Again!    By: Michael Best 

Syrupmakers beat Shaw to advance to the third round of state playoffs, game is here Friday night. 

The Cairo Syrupmakers (11-1) survived a furious last minute comeback try by the Shaw Raiders(10-2) last Friday night to advance to the third round of the state AAA playoffs.  Cairo defeated the Raiders 21-14 and will now face Carver (Atlanta) this Friday night at home. Cairo's Johnathan Bryant intercepted three passes, including a potential tying touchdown in the closing minutes to preserve the victory.  Reginald Bryant went over the 1000 yard mark on the season with his 141 yard night, including two touchdown runs. 

With the game on the line, the Syrupmaker offense went to work with less than four minutes to play in the game to score the game winning touchdown with 3:32 to play.  The winning drive was highlighted by a 43 yard run by quarterback Angelo Pease, and several bruising carries by Reginald Bryant, culminating in a 3 yard touchdown burst for the game winner. 

"Our backs were against the wall, and both the offense and defense responded to preserve the win, I'm proud of the entire team, because it took a team effort to win this one,"said head coach Tom Fallaw. 

The Syrupmakers and Raiders went scoreless in the first quarter, before the Syrupmakers scored on a 6 yard run by Pease with 9:07 left in the half.  Garret Godwin's extra point gave Cairo a 7-0 lead which they held on to until the half.  The third quarter featured another scoreless defensive battle.  The Syrupmakers increased their lead to 14 when Reginald Bryant busted in from 6 yards out and Godwin's extra point made it 14-0 with 8:59 to play in the game. 

After the second touchdown, the Raider's conduct on the field began to deteriorate, as they were charged with two personal fouls on their next drive.  After punting to the Syrupmakers on fourth down, a scuffle broke out at the end of the play, which escalated when several Shaw players charged on the field.  The Cairo coaches quickly cleared the field of any Syrupmakers, however, the game was delayed several minutes as numerous Shaw players continued to storm the field. 

After calm was restored, the Raiders were penalized 15 yards for unsportsman like conduct, and one Shaw player was ejected.  "It was kind of chippy all night, we told the officials about it at halftime, but things escalated as the game went on,' said Fallaw. 

After the on-field distractions, the Syrupmakers fumbled on their first play from scrimmage, and the Raiders took advantage of the turnover, scoring on a 20 yard pass.  The Syrupmakers then fumbled the ensuing kickoff at their own 16 yard line, and one play later, the Raiders scored on a 16 yard pass.  With the extra point, the Syrupmakers and Raiders were tied with 4:39 to play in the game. 

The Syrupmakers then took the kickoff and drove the field, on runs by Pease and Bryant to take the lead on a three yard plunge by Bryant.  Godwin's extra point gave the Makers a 21-14 lead.  But the Raiders were not through. Shaw drove the ball into Syrupmaker territory, driving for yet another tying score.  However, Cairo's Johnathan Bryant saved the Syrupmakers with interception at the Syrupmaker one yard line.  The Makers were then faced with moving the ball from deep in their own territory, knowing one mistake could tie the game again. 

Cairo called on Reginald Bryant to get them  out of the shadow of their own goal post, then punter Garret Godwin punted the ball from the Cairo endzone which put the Raiders near mid-field with seconds remaining.  As time expired, the Raiders came up one yard short of a first down at the Maker 30 yard line. With the clock running out, Raider quarterback Cam Greathouse spiked the ball to stop the clock, however, it was fourth down and the Makers took over on downs. Cairo then ran the remaining seconds off the clock and defeated the Raiders 21-14 to advance to round three. 

Cairo will now play Carver of Atlanta Friday night at 7:30pm at West Thomas Stadium.  Tickets are $10 according to GHSA playoff rules and are now on sale at Cairo High School. 

YARDSTICK 

                                CAIRO                      SHAW

FIRST DOWNS             9                              13

RUSHING                  38-207                        24-81

PASSING                  4-9  55YARDS            19-37-4   164 YARDS

TOTAL                     262                               245

PUNTING                 6- 31.5 AVG                4-39.2

PENALTIES              6-30                            6-65

TURNOVERS            4                                  5

October 19, 2007                                                                                Cairo vs. Worth

The Rams fought all night, and tried to get going offensively with some big plays. One of those  plays for the Rams was a fake punt early in the third quarter.  Trailing 17-0 and facing fourth and seven, the Rams called for the fake as the Makers stacked 10 men on the line, going for the block. "Give them credit, that was a good call," Fallaw said. However, the big play was brought back when the Rams got called for a block in the back, and Cairo was flagged for a face mask penalty.  The penalties off set each other and the Rams were forced to punt.
 
Cairo added one more score late to increase their lead to 23-0 as Bryant scored his final touchdown of the night.  Cairo will now face Dougherty High School this Friday night in Albany. 

_____________________________________________________

October 12, 2007                                                                                Cairo whips Westover                                                                                              By: Michael Best 

The Cairo Syrupmakers beat the Westover Patriots 48-14 to go 1-0 in region 1-AAA play and 5-1 on the season.  The Syrupmakers used several big plays to pull away from the Patriots, after they  pulled within one of the Syrupmakers after one quarter, 7-6. Cairo racked up over 400 yards of offense including a 76 yard touchdown run by quarterback Angelo Pease and 117 yards of rushing by runningback Ronnie Wooten on just six carries on the night. 

After stopping Westover's opening drive of the night, the Syrupmakers scored on their first offensive series when Pease  broke loose and scampered 76 yards for Cairo's first touchdown of the night.  Garret Godwin kicked the extra point and Cairo led 7-0 with 5:26 to play in the first quarter. Pease is establishing himself in only his 6th start at quarterback, passing for 108 yards, going 3-4,  including 2 passes to Johnathan Bryant for 75 yards and the one to Isom for 33 yards. Pease also scored two touchdowns on the night.  

However, after the Syrupmaker score, the Westover Patriots bounced back as Patriot quarterback Brandon Lee led his team down the field against the Syrupmaker  and then scored from one yard out, the extra point was no good, and Cairo clung to a 7-6 at the start of the 2nd quarter.  Lee passed for 75 yards in the first half, but did not complete any more passes in the game.After the Patriot score, the Syrupmaker offense went into overdrive, scoring four more times in the quarter.  Reginald Bryant scored on a 3 yard run, Dewayne Isom scored on a 33 yard pass from Pease Pease added another touchdown on a one yard run with 2:17 to play in the quarter and J.J. Wilcox finished off the scoring for the Syrupmakers as the defense got in on the point parade with a 62 yard interception for touchdown with 33 seconds to play in the half. 

The Syrupmakers came out in the second half and picked up where they left off, scoring on their first possession of the second half on a one yard run by Reginald Bryant, which then brought on a running clock for the remainder of the game. With 7:57 to play in the third quarter, Cairo had increased their lead to 41-6.  

Coach Fallaw then emptied the benches, and Westover scored their last touchdown when Keion Miller scored on a 18 yard pass from back up quarterback Keiron Johnson.  Cairo added one more score with just 21 seconds to play when freshman runningback LaQuinten Williams scored on a 32 yard run.  Logan Gainous added the extra point capping off the scoring on the night. 

Ronnie Wooten led the Makers with 117 yards of rushing on 6 carries, Pease had 6 carries for 78 yards, Reginald Bryant had 10 carries for 39 yards, and back up quarterback Brian Walker had three carries for 30 yards. 

Cairo had only one penalty in the game for 5 yards and committed no turnovers.  Westover had 4 penalties for 20 yards and had 2 turnovers. The Syrupmakers will be back home this Friday night to take on the Worth County Rams for Homecoming. Kickoff is set for 7:30pm. 

YARDSTICK

                             CAIRO                        WESTOVER

FIRST DOWNS           8                                    15

RUSHING               30-299                            37-122

PASSING              4-5-0  108YDS               9-23-2     109

TOTAL                     407                                 231

PUNTING               2-31.5 AVG                   4-33  AVG

PENALTIES              1-5                               4-20

TURNOVERS           ---------                             2

The Syrupmakers improved their record to 4-0 after shutting out the Matanzas Pirates for the second straight year, this time, 46-0. The Syrupmakers punted just once, and scored every time they had the ball in the non-region contest. 

Once again the swarming Syrupmaker defense did not allow the Pirate offense much room to operate, keeping them deep in their own territory all night, allowing just four yards of total offense in the second half, 41 yards total for the game.  Defensively, the Pirates forced one Cairo punt, and gave up 297 yards of offense. 

Cairo's Angelo pease was five for seven passing for 104 yards and no interceptions. Pease spread the passes around, completing two passes to Shon Brown, one of those for touchdown, and completing passes to Dewayne Isom, Chris Adams and Johnathan Bryant. 

After stopping the Pirates on their first drive, Cairo waisted little time getting on the board when Syrupmaker quarterback Angelo Pease, plunged in from the one yard line with 7:52 to play in the first quarter, the extra point was wide and Cairo led 6-0.  The Syrupmakers would score again when junior running back Ronnie Wooten went in from 3 yards out and the two point conversion failed and Cairo led 12-0 with 2:27 to play in the first quarter. 

Cairo added two more touchdowns, this time Pease ran in again from the one yard line and Garret Godwin's extra point made it 19-0.  Cairo's last score of the half came on a 17 yard pass from Pease to Johnathan Bryant, and the PAT was blocked, giving the Syrupmakers a 25-0 at the half.

 The Pirates kicked off to start the second half, and Cairo scored on second down, when Pease found senior wideout Shon Brown all alone for a 50 yard touchdown pass, and Godwin's PAT made it 32-0, favor Cairo.  Cairo's Reginald Bryant scored Cairo's next touchdown on a 3 yard run and the PAT made it 39-0 with 7:49 to play in the third.  The Syrupmaker's last score came on a one yard run by freshman runningback LaQuinten Williams and the PAT made the final score 46-0.

 The Georgia High School Association mandates a running clock in the second half when the scoring difference is 30 points or more.  The "Mercy Rule" was used for the final two quarters with just a 10 minute fourth quarter. 

Last week, the Cairo Syrupmakers trailed the Thomasville Bulldogs until the fourth quarter before tying the game and forcing double overtime, in which the Makers won on a touchdown by Reginald Bryant, 20-14. This week , the Syrupmakers found themselves behind again late in the game and pulled off a last second touchdown to slip past the Bainbridge Bearcats 20-19 , this time with fourteen seconds left to play. 

Cairo fumbled the opening kickoff Friday night at their own 20 yard line and the Bearcats took advantage of the mistake, as Bearcat runner Rasheed Russell scored on a five yard pass from quarterback Vic Williams, and the extra point gave the Cats a 7-0 lead with 9:08 to go in the first quarter.  However, the Makers would answer back on their next possession as Reginald Bryant scored on a three yard run and Garret Godwin's extra point tied the game at seven with 8:10 to play in the half. 

The Bearcats would score again after the Syrupmakers forced a Bearcat punt, but mishandled the kick after it fell inside the 10 yard.  On the fumbled punt, Bainbridge recovered the ball at the Syrupmaker three yard line and scored with 6:10 to play in the half.  The extra point attempt was wide left, and the Makers trailed 13-7.  Cairo would engineer another drive to take a 14-13 lead with 3:32 to play in the half when Reginald Bryant scored from three yards out and Godwin's extra point gave the Makers a one point lead that they would take to the half. 

In the second half, the Bearcats got a great return on the opening second half kickoff that set the Cats up on the Syrupmaker 35 yard line.  The Bearcats then took advantage of another short field and drove the ball in to take the lead with 6:69 to play in the third quarter. The two point conversion try was no good, the Makers now trailed again, 19-13. 

The Syrupmakers, who did not punt all night, took the opening kickoff and began a 15 play drive that ate up 80 yards and took almost 10 minutes off the game clock. With Cairo's Reginald Bryant getting most of the carries and the Maker offense grinding it out on the ground, the long drive ended with a fumble in the endzone as Cairo tried to score from one yard out. 

With the lead and the clock running, the Bearcats began their next possession at the Syrupmaker 20 yard line.  The Cairo defense stiffened and forced a Bearcat punt giving the Makers the ball at their own 10 yard line with a little more than three minutes to play in the game. 

The Syrupmakers were unable to convert on fourth down with a little over a minute to play and it appeared the Bearcats had defeated the Makers 19-13 as Pease's pass fell incomplete. However, as the celebration erupted on the visitor's side, Syrupmaker fans noticed not one but two yellow flags on the field.  The penalties would both go against the Cats, one a personal foul call and the other a defensive holding penalty.  After the penalties were assessed, the Syrupmakers had new life at the Bearcat 45 yard line.  "Any time you get 25 yards at one time on penalties that's big," said Fallaw. 

The Syrupmakers could do little with their second chance and faced a 3rd down and 20 at the Bearcat 41 yard.  Cairo quarterback Angelo Pease, with great protection from the Cairo offensive line, hit Johnathan Bryant on the run and the Syrupmakers regained the lead on the touchdown, 20-19 with 14 seconds to play.  Cairo's two point conversion was no good, and the Makers stopped the Bearcats on the ensuing kickoff and pulled off another exciting come from behind victory. 

Cairo's Reginald Bryant finished the night with 28 carries for 107 yards, while quarterback Angelo Pease rushed for 65 yards on six carries and completed 8 of 12 passes for 99 yards.  Johnathan Bryant, who caught the game winning touchdown pass, had three catches for 72 yards, and Xavier Jordan caught three passes for 20 yards.  The Makers rushed for a 185 yards, and passed for 99 to finish with 284 yards of offense, while the Syrupmaker defense held the Cats to just seven first downs, 115 yards of rushing and 33 yard through the air. 

Cairo's record improves to 3-0 on the year, and the Bearcats drop to 1-2.  Cairo is open next week, and will play Matanzas High School next Friday night at home.

     The Thomasville Bulldogs beat the Cairo Syrupmakers for almost three and half quarters Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Thomasville. However, the Makers fought back to tie the game at the end of regulation at 14, and then defeated the Dogs on a Reginald Bryant touchdown in double overtime.                                                                                                                        Trailing 14-0, the Syrupmakers came back in the second half and began to chisel away at the Bulldog first half dominence. With the offensive line giving Cairo quarterback Angelo Pease time to work, the junior signal caller completed 8 of 11 passes, including six in a row at one point for 186 yards.                                                                                                                           Thomasville scored their first touchdown in the second quarter on a nine yard run, and after the extra point led 7-0 with 4:38 to play in the half.  The Bulldogs would get the ball back just before the half and score again this time fooling the Maker secondary with a half back pass to lead 14-0 with one minute to play in the half.  The Syrupmakers put together a much improved second half, as Bryant's first touchdown came with 8:53 to play in the game and the tying score came with 18 seconds left in the game.  Godwin split the uprights on his extra point to tie the game at 14 and force overtime.   To start overtime, Pease's pass to Bryant was intercepted at the goal line and the Bulldogs were then in position to win the game with a score.  However, the Syrupmaker defense held the Dogs and forced a field goal by the Dogs that hit the left upright on the goal post and fell out.  The Syrupmaker defense came out in the second overtime and held the Dogs again, with several key plays by the Syrupmaker secondary in the endzone.  The Maker defense kept the Bulldogs from scoring, giving the Syrupmaker offense another try.  This time, the Makers would go to the ground.  After Bryant was stopped for no gain on first down, Bryant came off the right side of the Syrupmaker line and scampered 15 yards for the winning touchdown