CAIRO — It wasn’t flashy, but Cairo’s football team was able to secure its first region win of the season last week.

The Syrupmakers will look to add to their good region start tonight, as they host Shaw at West Thomas Stadium.

Cairo’s last win, a 9-7 outcome against Hardaway, wasn’t at all perfect in head coach Steve DeVoursney’s view, but he was pleased with his team’s resolve.

“We made some mistakes in the red zone,” he said. “I think we fumbled in the red zone twice. It was good to see our kids fight and give us a chance to win at the end.”

With the offense struggling to get into the end zone, all nine of Cairo’s points came off the leg of freshman kicker Noah Jones. His last kick of the night came late in the fourth quarter, and ended up sealing the close win.

“He put the last kickoff in the end zone so that was huge for us,” DeVoursney said. “For a freshman, he did a really good job.”

Cairo’s defense has had its moments so far, with last week’s performance joining the shutout against Thomas County Central earlier this season. However, for the Syrupmakers to be successful in this week’s game and beyond, they’ll have to fix the issues they’re having inside the 30.

“That’s the big thing, offensively,” DeVoursney said. “We just have to get better in the red zone. The first thing we’ve got to do is not turn the ball over. I think we have five or six turnovers in the red zone. That’s killed us all year.”

Shaw, under the leadership of new head coach Al Pelligrino, is currently 1-2 and is coming off a 30-6 loss to Harris County. Last year, Cairo was on the winning end of a 40-0 blowout against the Raiders. They finished 1-9 in 2016.

On offense, Shaw will be led by senior running back Marcus Newsome. The Raiders’ perceived strength is on the defensive side of the ball. Andre Lacy, Andrew Lacy and Victor Vo are players in the secondary for quarterback Matthew Peters to deal with.

“They’ve got some good athletes,” DeVoursney said. “They probably have the best defensive line we’ve faced all year.

“We just have to come ready to play. We’re still young, still growing, still trying to get better. Every time we step out onto that field it’s better for us.”