Friday night football is back around the state, and this weekend it will be back for George Rogers Clark when they travel to Fort Mitchell to take on Dixie Heights in their first game of the regular season.

This is the first matchup between the two schools since KHSAA has kept track starting in the 1998 season.

It’s Oliver Lucas’s third season as head coach of the Cardinals. In his first two seasons, he led the team to a 12-10 record, which is much improved when compared to the 1-21 record the team saw the two seasons before his arrival. 

Lucas expects his team this season to be explosive on the offensive side of the ball. 

GRC returns their second-leading rusher from last season, Azariah Israel.

Israel rushed for nearly 800 yards last season and racked up six rushing touchdowns as well as one receiving. 

The leading returning receiver for the Cardinals is Dawson Gay, who saw action in all 11 games for GRC last season. Gay caught 14 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns.

Dixie Heights, who just moved back to 6A after spending the past four seasons in 5A, lost their opener to Cooper 7-0.

Including that game, the Colonels are 4-18 over their last 22 games. 

Head coach for the Colonels, David L. Brossart, has had success with the team during his tenure, leading them to the 6A championship game appearance in 2014.