CORDELE — When Crisp County High head coach Tommy Walburn gets his first up-close and personal look at Cairo High Friday night, he hopes it won’t have the ending most Cougar-Syrupmaker clashes have had over the years.
Cairo, you see, has won 19 of the previous 23 meetings with Crisp teams and coming in currently ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press prep football poll will be favored to record victory No. 20 in the series.
“I’ve seen them play a bunch of times and am aware they have a lot of tradition, but I’ve never gone head-to-head with them,” said Walburn who’s been in the coaching profession since 1988.
“From watching their game films this years, it’s pretty obvious they have an excellent football team with very good coaches and kids who play hard. You can tell they play football like it’s supposed to be played.”
Walburn said the thing that impresses him most about the Syrupmakers is the way they swarm to the football and play good technique on defense.
“They’re not all that big, but you can tell they’ve been in the weightroom and are strong. And they’re no different than most Cairo teams have been in the past in that they’re blessed with a lot of speed.”
Addressing the Cairo offense that comes into the game averaging slightly over 30 points per contest, Walburn said the Syrupmakers employ multiple formations behind a line that comes off the ball low and hard.
“They’ve got a real good running back, No. 20 (Reginald Bryant), a very good player in No. 5 (Chris teal) at quarterback and a wide receiver (Cameron Wade, 6-5, 190) who has already committed to FSU. This helps them mount a very balanced attack between the run and pass.”
Defensively, Cairo has pitched four shutouts and has surrendered just 59 points in nine games while employing a 4-4 front the Cougars will be seeing for a first time this season.
“I don’t think they’ve been hurt very much by anything,” Walburn answered when asked if opponents had fared better through the air or on the ground.
“Monroe (which handed the now 8-1 Syrupmakers their only loss of the season by a 19-18 score last week) did throw some long passes that clicked when its quarterback
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scrambled to find receivers in the end zone.
“Still, the Cairo defense did well in a game that really could have gone either way as both teams were pretty equally matched.
“Cairo actually led 12-0 most of the night before giving up two late touchdowns in regulation and then missing its extra point kick after its overtime score.
“Our work definitely will be cut out for us against them, but we’re going down there to try and win the game. It’s going to be tough and we’ll have to play extremely well but our goal definitely is to come away the winner as we’ve practiced and worked hard.”
The Crisp-Cairo victor earns the No. 2 postseason seed from Region 1-AAA behind Monroe and a host role for the state playoffs starting Nov. 17. The loser becomes the No. 3 seed and a visitor for its first state playoff game.
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