CAIRO — Cairo’s quest to duplicate last year’s run in the Class AAAA playoffs begins May 1 when the Syrupmakers hit the practice field for the first time in full pads.

Cairo begins spring practice looking to fill several holes on defense and one important position on offense — backup quarterback.

“Defensively, we lost a bunch of kids. We were pretty good on defense last year. That’s going to be our main focus during the spring, trying to find some guys to play some defense,” Cairo coach Steve DeVoursney said. Cairo returns just five starters on defense. “(Also) our backup quarterback transferred. We had two quarterbacks and one of them transferred. We’ve got to find another quarterback so those are probably the two biggest things we’re looking to find.”

The Syrupmakers finished with a 10-3 record last year, including a 20-17 defeat to Troup in the quarterfinal round of the state playoffs. Cairo succeeded last year while playing two quarterbacks: Ronnie Baker and Matthew Peters. Baker transferred to Thomasville High, leaving Peters as the only quarterback with varsity experience.

“We’re happy with Matthew. He’s our guy. We’re just one play away from somebody else and right now, we don’t have somebody else,” DeVoursney said. “We’re trying to create some spots and depth and see who we can put there.”

Peters is one of eight returning starters on offense, joining running back Tay Solomon, who started every game a year ago. The Syrupmakers also return three starting wide receivers, including Nick Gosier, Markuii Lovejoy and Maurice Chin.

“Offensively, we’ve got eight starters coming back, so we feel pretty good about that,” DeVoursney said. “There’s a couple of spots we’ve got to find on offense but since we’ve got eight back, it makes it a lot easier.”

Cairo will have two weeks of spring practice, culminating in a spring game on May 17 at West Thomas Stadium against Thomas County Central.

“Anytime you get to play under the lights it’s a good thing. You get to see the kids compete at a high level and see how they respond to being under the lights. Sometimes kids look good in practice and in the game they don’t do very good. Sometimes kids in practice are okay but in the game they show out,” DeVoursney said. “It’s just good to get them on film and see what you’ve got going into the summer and what you need to work on.”