Cairo travels to Crisp County Friday night

The Cairo Syrupmakers face a very important region test Friday night as they travel to Cordele to take on the Crisp County Cougars. The Cougars are riding a two-game region win streak with a 14-3 win over Westover and a 14-13 decision over the Monroe Tornadoes last week. Crisp County has lost just one region game, 31-28 to Americus-Sumter. The Cougars have also defeated Dougherty in region play and will face Worth County next week in their final region game of the season.
Crisp is averaging a little over 18 points a game, while their defense is giving up about 20 points a contest.
The 4-4 Cougars have a new coach in Sean Pender.  “This is another case where you have a team with a new coach and the team is trying to learn a new system. They seem to be adjusting well to the new system and have won their last two games,” said Cairo coach Tom Fallaw.
Last week’s win over the Tornadoes was a close one, as the Cougars scored both of the touchdowns in the third quarter after trailing 7-0. One of the Cougar touchdowns came on a fumble return for a touchdown. Monroe scored in the fourth quarter, but missed the extra point to come up short.
The Cougars’ offense likes to put the ball in the air a lot, but have also gone to a more wide open run type offense the last few weeks. Cairo slipped by the Cougars 14-7 last season and haven’t lost to them since  2002.
The Syrupmakers go after win number nine this season on Friday night. The game can be heard live on WGRA-radio and on the Internet at wgra.net.