After a slow start, George Rogers Clark found a rhythm late in the first half against the Southwestern Warriors.

GRC’s first possession of the game ended with a turnover on downs after crossing midfield, and on the ensuing Warriors possession, the Cards surrendered the first touchdown of the night on a 64-yard rushing touchdown from the Warriors.

The Cardinals marched back down the field on their next possession, turning it over on downs again, this time inside the red zone.

GRC got on the board in the second quarter, a one-yard touchdown run by Azariah Israel. However, the extra point was missed after the Cards were sent back five yards due to a false start penalty.

Down a point already, GRC gave up another touchdown to the Warriors, putting themselves in a 14-6 hole with less than seven minutes to play in the second quarter.

A three-and-out gave Southwestern the ball back and on the first play of their offensive possession they broke off their second 64-yard rushing touchdown of the night.

Down 21-6, the Cardinals were looking for momentum. They found it a minute later on a 49-yard pass from Jordan Manley to Dawson Gay, who got into the end zone on the play to cut the deficit to 21-13.

But GRC wasn’t quite done in the first half and got the ball back with two minutes to play.

The Cardinals picked up a crucial fourth down deep in Warrior territory thanks to a defensive pass interference call.

Israel punched it into the red zone from one yard out to cut the Southwestern lead to 21-20 heading into halftime.

After backing the Warriors up inside their own 15 on the first possession of the second half, GRC wasn’t able to hold on to their momentum.

Penalties plagued the Cards after the Southwestern punt and GRC couldn’t take advantage of the short field.

Once the Warriors got the ball back, they held the ball for the rest of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter opened up with Southwestern converting a 4th-and-1 out of the wildcat with two players in the backfield, putting the ball just outside the red zone. They stayed in their unique wildcat formation until they were able to get into the end zone. A two-point conversion made it a two-possession game with under 10 minutes to play.

Down 29-20, GRC went three-and-out and had to punt from inside their own 25.

The Warriors burned five minutes off the clock with their wildcat formation — that GRC had no answer for — before going for it on fourth-and-seven and dropped what would’ve been a game-sealing touchdown with 3:30 left to play.

However, the Cards final offensive possession saw four incomplete passes to give Southwestern the ball back just 26 seconds later.

The Warriors held the ball until clocks hit zero, beating the Cards 29-20.

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