Shane Thomas | The Valdosta Daily TimesValdosta wide receiver Jaheim Bell (3) stretches out after making a catch over a Crisp County defender during the Winnersville Showdown Friday at Valdosta High School.

VALDOSTA –– Twenty-five teams took the field Friday in the second annual Winnersville Showdown 7-on-7 tournament.

After a dominant performance much of the day, the defending champion Valdosta Wildcats A-team lost to the Cairo Syrupmakers in overtime in the second round playoff matchup. 

With each team getting the ball on the 10-yard line, Cairo was able to slip a pass into the end zone around the Valdosta defense to take the lead. The ‘Cats had an opportunity to tie the game, but senior quarterback Tate Rodemaker’s throw sailed just past the fingertips of a receiver in the back of the end zone –– ending the day for the ‘Cats and their bid to repeat at champions.

“All in all, it was a good day,” Valdosta head coach Alan Rodemaker said. “We got a lot of work, both teams played six or seven games against good competition and last year, our A-team won this thing and this year, we fell a little bit short. We went into overtime and fell a bit short. We need to dress things up a little bit on offense and on defense as well –– we’ve got to have stops. I’d like to tighten things up just a little bit with our A-team. Our B-team had a chance to win their first-round game, they just didn’t. It’s 7-on-7 though, I try not to put too much stock in 7-on-7s.”

The Syrupmakers advanced to take on the Alpharetta Raiders in the semifinals as Westover and Ware County battled it out on the other side of the field. Cairo went on to defeat Ware County to win the Winnersville Showdown.

The ‘Cats offense hummed throughout the tournament, with Rodemaker spreading the ball around to various receivers. Florida commit Jaheim Bell came up with a highlight reel leaping catch in a matchup against Crisp County that resulted in a touchdown, while the ‘Cats got an unexpected lift from freshman tight end Grayson Leavy who figures to be an impact player for the team in the fall.

Following the team’s Spring Game on May 17, Rodemaker believed his offense needed more time to get comfortable with some new pieces and parts of the playbook. Now into the first day of summer, Rodemaker likes how the offense is clicking but is far from satisfied overall.

“I think we’re coming along,” Rodemaker said. “I still think we’ve got plenty of work to do. Even though we’ve got a lot of skill guys on offense returning, we can be much better than we are now and I think we’re headed in that direction. We’ve practiced really well and these things are good –– you see who rises up to the occasion. … It’s here now, we’ve got OTAs next week and I think we’ll take a lot more out of OTAs about where our progress is rather than 7-on-7s.”

As for the ‘Cats defense, the unit played stout on that side of the ball much of the tournament –– holding Bainbridge without a pass attempt for a series and coming up with a pair of interceptions in the game.

“I thought they did better,” Rodemaker said. “We’ve filmed everything so these kids will watch film on Monday and Tuesday on what we did good and what we did bad. Hopefully we’ll learn and move on and next Tuesday and Wednesday, with these OTAs, we’ll set our depth charts. Certainly there’s plenty of things we can learn from this.”