CAIRO — With just over four minutes left in the third quarter, the Cairo Syrupmakers trailed Northside-Columbus 31-7 on Friday night in a game that determined who would start the state playoffs at home.

Perhaps it would have been easy for a team in that situation to accept its inevitable fate. After all, Cairo had far exceeded preseason expectations to that point, with a 4-1 region record after a mass exodus of seniors in the offseason.

Starting the playoffs on the road in those circumstances may have been good enough for some teams. It wasn’t good enough for the Syrupmakers.

Cairo spent the final quarter of the critical matchup erasing its monstrous deficit, scoring 28 unanswered points in 16 minutes to take a stunning 35-31 win. It was the largest comeback in the history of the Cairo football program.

“All we did was just believe,” Cairo quarterback Matthew Peters said. “You’ve gotta fight until the timer says zero. It was a great team win. We’re looking to go 7-3 and get ready for the playoffs.”

The Syrupmakers called four onside kicks as the game neared its end. They recovered two of them, which was critical for the improbable win.

The first dent that Cairo made came with 59 seconds left in the third, when Peters threw a 20-yard touchdown to Cameron Goosby on a critical fourth down play to make it 31-14. With 11:04 left in the game, Peters found Marquii Lovejoy for another score to climb to within 10.

Peters, a sophomore, was first thrust into the starting role against Thomas County Central. He’s grown into his role as an offensive leader.

“The game’s kinda slowed down for me and my confidence is growing,” he said. “As that’s happened, I’ve felt like I’ve gotten better. I’ve been able to make easy reads. My throwing motion’s improved, so I’m making better throws. It’s all gotten better as the season’s gone along.”

Three minutes later, Quay Edwards propelled the Syrupmakers even further, breaking free for a 72-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 31-28.

Down three points with just three minutes to play, Cairo needed just one more play, one more chance, and got it in the form of a forced fumble from senior Nick Smith.

“I didn’t even know I made a fumble,” he said. “I just know I was on the tackle. I was on the sideline, I was praying. I said, ‘I hope the offense scores.’ The offense really turned up the defense because they were scoring, so we said, ‘We’ve got to keep getting three-and-outs.’”

During their final drive, the Syrupmakers drove to the Patriot 9-yard line. Just 47 seconds remained. Peters took the snap, and saw an open Scooter Cooper.

“I had to make the play,” Cooper said. “I saw that I had the leverage on (the defender), all the grass in the middle. I looked at (Matthew), he gave me the slant, and I took it. It came out big for us.”

The Syrupmakers executed a squib kick after Cooper’s reception and recovered it to steal any chance of a Northside response. Just like that, Cairo’s unthinkable comeback was complete.

It hasn’t always been pretty for the Syrupmakers, who now sit at 5-1 in Region 1-4A. A sloppy 9-7 win over Hardaway earlier in the season has turned out to be huge. Cairo coach Steve DeVoursney is certainly not complaining.

“If you had told me at the beginning of the year that we’d finish second in the region and win six ballgames, I would’ve took it,” he said.

Cairo will finish its regular season against Columbus at West Thomas Stadium this week, before hosting the No. 3 seed from Region 2 to start the postseason.