Two high schools only an exit away from each other on I-64 took to the gridiron Friday night in a rivalry game.

George Rogers Clark traveled to Mount Sterling to take on the Montgomery County Indians Friday night.

GRC’s head coach, Dr. Oliver Lucas, was 0-2 against the Indians heading into the matchup and was looking to get his revenge on one of GRC’s three regular season losses from last season.

The Cardinals came out on fire, breaking off what would’ve been a 65-yard touchdown if it weren’t for a holding call on the second play of the game. After the ball was reset ten yards back, Azariah Israel took it right back to the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown run to give the Cards a 7-0 lead less than a minute into the contest.

The ensuing possession, the Indians moved the ball downfield quickly, scoring a touchdown of their own just two minutes later. They capped it off with a two-point conversion to take an 8-7 lead over GRC.

After a short kickoff, the Cards had great field position and were looking to retake the lead, and with six minutes left in the quarter, they did just that. Israel found the end zone again with a three-yard touchdown run to give the Cardinals a 14-8 lead.

A Montgomery County three-and-out got the Cards the ball back with time left in the first quarter.

Riding their hot hand, GRC quarterback Jordan Manley handed the ball off to Israel who broke off another long touchdown, going 65-yards to the house to extend the lead to 21-8 with a minute to go in the first quarter.

The second quarter did not see the same shootout as the first, with each team turning the ball over in the red zone, resulting in no scores and a Cardinal lead heading into halftime.

Israel wasn’t finished with his business he started in the first half, once again rushing for a touchdown less than a minute into the half. This one was a 51-yard run to push GRC’s lead to 28-8.

GRC’s defense was doing their part too, keeping the Indians on their side of the field from their first touchdown until midway through the third quarter.

However, a pass interference call against the Cards set up Montgomery County for a 23-yard rushing touchdown with four minutes left. Aquevion Lewis made a tackle for loss on the two-point attempt to keep the score at 28-14.

The very first play on the next offensive possession gave Israel his fifth touchdown of the day, another 65-yard rushing touchdown.

Montgomery County bobbled the ensuing kickoff and was pinned down at their own five-yard line, which led into a fourth quarter that saw many of GRC’s starters rest on offense and defense.

The Indians made a push late, including a 63-yard rush that took them to the two-yard line with just less than five minutes to play. Montgomery County punched it in with four minutes left to cut the score to 35-22.

The Indians onside kick was recovered by none other than GRC’s Israel, who put the ball in the end zone for the sixth time just two snaps later coming off a 57-yard rushing touchdown.

The Cards took that 42-22 lead back down I-64 to Winchester.

GRC is back in action Friday night when they host Southwestern at 7:30 p.m.