COLUMBUS — It was a good night for Syrupmakers everywhere as Cairo took home the 38-0 win over Shaw. It was a tale of the first half as Cairo got it done on the ground and in the air.

Dmauri Wooden opened the scoring for the Syrupmakers in the opening two minutes of the game with a 38 yard rushing touchdown, which was followed by a 30 yard strike from Juderek Gee-simmons to receiver Chris Stewart, making it 14-0 in the first quarter.

The Syrupmakers didn’t relent, however, as they tacked on another 21 points in the second quarter. Just a few minutes in, Gee-simmons finished off a drive with a 13 yard rushing TD and with six minutes left in the half, KJ Spence punched in a two yard rush to give the Syrupmakers a 27-0 lead.

The defense decided to get in on the scoring action as Melik Williams scooped up a fumble by Shaw and took it 90 yards for the touchdown. By half time, Cairo was in complete control and pitching a shut out, 35-0.

“We came out an we played well as a unit and really flew around to the football, so that was good to see. It was good to see them do that at this time in the season,” said Cairo head coach David Coleman about his defense

The second half was a lot slower, with Cairo continuing to shut down the Shaw offense. The Syrupmakers scoring dwindled as a 38 yard field goal by Andrid Rojas was all the scoring they could muster in the second half. With a final score of 38-0, Cairo now improves to 6-1. It’s their best start since 2016.

“For us, we just try to focus on taking it one game at a time and just working to go 1-0 each week,” Coleman said. “I think so far we’ve done a good job of that and hopefully we can maintain that mindset.”