Cairo plays Red and Black intersquad scrimmage

Published 10:56 am Sunday, August 6, 2017

Cairo’s Camerun Jones takes down quarterback Jackson Hand in the first quarter of Friday’s intersquad scrimmage at West Thomas Stadium.

CAIRO — The Cairo Syrupmakers were finally back on the West Thomas Stadium turf on Friday night, as they played their annual Red and Black intersquad scrimmage game. The Red team defeated the Black team 12-7.

“It’s been a long first week of pads,” Cairo coach Steve DeVoursney said. “We were a little sluggish tonight but there were some good things.”

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Offense was hard to come by in the first few minutes of play. Quarterback Jackson Hand gave the Red team the lead in the middle of the first quarter, scrambling out of trouble and rushing down the sideline for the 6-0 lead after a missed extra point.

“Jackson Hand did a good job running the ball when nothing was there, picking up some big yardage for us,” DeVoursney said.

Freshman kicker Noah Jones redeemed himself with 9:51 left in the first half, booting his first field goal of the night to extend the Red team’s advantage to 9-0.

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The Black team got on the board with 8:56 left in the second quarter when senior Jamel Chin picked up a fumble and ran it into the end zone for a 45-yard score, cutting the Red team’s lead to 9-7.

“We’ve got to hold on to the football,” DeVoursney said.

From that point, Cairo mostly played ninth graders, with the varsity squad coming back late in the fourth quarter. Jones received a few more opportunities, going 1-for-2 on field goal tries in the second quarter. He made a 38-yarder with 1:30 left until halftime to extend the Red team’s lead to 12-7.

“We made some field goals with a freshman kicker, which is good to see,” DeVoursney said.

The Syrupmakers will now have a week to improve on what they learned, as they prepare for their first test of the season — a date with the Class 6A state champion Valdosta Wildcats at their home field on Friday.

“We’ve just got to make sure we get it corrected and that’s what we’ll do,” DeVoursney said. “Every Friday’s a way to improve.”