CAIRO – The Syrupmakers will be looking to make it six wins in a row on Friday night as they welcome Dougherty to Cairo. 

While Cairo is expected to win this game over the 2-5 Trojans, this region matchup does have some high stakes in the region. The Syrupmakers are currently tied for first in the region with Peach County as both hold a region record of 2-0. Peach County will almost assuredly beat Bainbridge this week and enter next week’s contest at 3-0 in region play. If Cairo wants to turn that contest against Peach into a region title game, they have to beat Dougherty.

However, between Dougherty’s poor run defense and Cairo’s excellent ground game led by sophomore Bryian Duncan, the Syrupmakers shouldn’t have a problem coming away with a win this Friday.

It’s pretty simple for the Trojans. When they stop the run they win. When they don’t they lose. In Dougherty’s two wins this year they held their opponents to 51 and 92 rushing yards respectively. In their losses, it has been a completely different story. They lost to Toombs County 55-14 after giving up 310 on the ground, Valdosta 43-0 and gave up 192, and they lost to Harris County 27-6 giving up 283.

Meanwhile, the Syrupmakers have been a machine in the ground game. As a team, they average 271.4 yards per game and average just over eight yards per carry. Of their 31 touchdowns this year, 25 of them have come by way of the run. Duncan leads the team averaging over 200 yards per game with Xiquavian Teal right behind him with 51.3 and Ronnie Huntley averaging 43.7.

Cairo has the kind of explosive run game you only ever see once or twice in a generation and it could take them to a region title and even further.

Cairo will host Dougherty in their final home game on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.