George Rogers Clark hosted their annual homecoming football game on Friday night in a game against the Cooper Jaguars.

The Cardinals received the opening kickoff and their offense took the field. A long, sustained drive leaning on the run game ended with a touchdown pass from Jordan Manley to Dawson Gay.

The Jaguars were able to respond, moving the ball downfield and got into the red zone. GRC’s Jeremiah Mundy-Lloyd intercepted a Cooper pass in the end zone to give the Cards the ball back.

GRC ended up giving the ball nearly right back to the Jags with an interception of their own.

Cooper fumbled the ball on the first play of their possession and GRC’s Aquevion Lewis recovered it.

Then, on the first play of the Cards’ drive, they fumbled it right back, setting up Cooper at the 1-yard line.

The Jaguars punched it in as the first quarter came to a close, tying the game at 7-7.

GRC was forced to punt, giving the Jags the ball and an opportunity to take the lead.

However, a turnover on downs in the red zone gave the Cardinals the ball back and they capitalized as Azariah Israel got into the end zone on a 15-yard rush to give GRC a 14-7 lead with three minutes to play in the half.

Cooper drove the ball back down the field and found pay dirt with eight seconds to play in the half, evening the score at 14-14 with the teams heading into the locker room.

At halftime, GRC recognized their 2019 homecoming court, where Zion Israel, defensive back for the Cards, was crowned king alongside GRC cheerleader Liza Holley who was crowned queen.

The Cardinals’ defense was able to force a punt on the Jaguars opening possession of the second half, allowing their offense to have a chance to regain the lead, but weren’t able to produce anything, resulting in a punt.

The Cards defense forced another punt, but the ball was touched by a GRC player and recovered by Cooper, advancing the ball to the Cardinals’ 9-yard line. Two plays later, the Jags found the end zone to take their first lead of the game, going up 21-14.

GRC began the fourth quarter with a crucial third down and short near midfield. The play was stopped for a loss and the Cards were forced to punt.

After multiple penalties, the Jags were backed up to a second-and-25 and GRC’s Jaylynn Johnson came up with a big sack, leading to a punt from Cooper.

After a 60-yard punt, the Cards had the ball on their own 16-yard line down a touchdown with nine minutes to play.

After a miscue on the snap forced GRC to throw the ball away on third down, head coach Oliver Lucas elected to go for it on fourth down at their own 32 with 6:44 to play. Cooper’s pressure forced Manley out of the pocket and the ball dropped out of his receiver’s hands, turning the ball over on downs.

Cooper’s possession was short-lived as the ball popped out on their first play and GRC’s Arthur Haskins recovered it.

GRC moved backward on their first three plays, forcing another fourth-and-15. This time, they converted, a 17-yard completion to Don Wells.

The Cards struggled to keep the ball moving, resulting in another long fourth down. Lightning didn’t strike twice as GRC failed to convert, giving the Jaguars a short field with the lead and three minutes to play.

But the Cardinals got one last shot at it after the defense forced a turnover on downs with 53 seconds to play, GRC had 70 yards ahead of them with no timeouts.

Two Hail Mary plays for the Cards came up empty-handed and they fell to the Jaguars 21-14 for their third straight loss.

“We didn’t execute and we shot ourselves in the foot,” Lucas said. “When you get a chance to put a team away – we should’ve put them away in the first quarter.”

They are set to hit the road to take on Bryan Station next Friday night at 7:30 p.m.