Cairo to tackle Westover Friday night in Albany

The Cairo Syrupmakers (5-2, 3-0) hit the road one more time in the regular season with their third trip to Albany’s Hugh Mills Stadium to take on the Westover Patriots (4-3, 2-1). The Makers are coming off a 33-27 win in overtime over the Worth County Rams, while the Patriots were winners last week over Crisp County 20-6.
This Friday night’s match up features two very evenly matched teams. The Makers blasted Westover 45-0 last year, but the Patriots are much improved with more wins this season than all of last year and three games still to play in the regular season.
The Patriots are 4-3 on the season with wins over Crisp County, Mitchell, Albany and Dougherty. The Patriots’ three losses came to Early and Worth counties and Bainbridge in triple overtime. “Westover has a lot of talent all over the field, they play good defense and have a solid offense. I think this year, more than ever, our region is one where anyone can win on any given night. Westover is one of those teams that plays very physical and has the ability to score from all over the field,” said Cairo coach Tom Fallaw.
The Patriots are averaging just over 30 points a game on offense and giving up an average of only 12.4 points a game. Westover manhandled the Crisp County Cougars Friday night, shutting them out until the final minutes of the game. Westover could be undefeated as all three losses were by no more than five points. The Bearcats kicked a field goal in the third overtime to beat the Patriots 23-20, Early County edged the Patriots 21-19, and Worth County beat Westover 23-18.
”They could just as easily be unbeaten. They lost some close games that really could have gone either way,” said Fallaw.
Cairo comes into Friday night’s match up averaging 25.6 points a game and giving up 12.4 points a game.
Kickoff for Friday night’s region game is set for 7:30 p.m.