LEXINGTON — The George Rogers Clark High School football expected Friday’s meeting with Lafayette to be tough, but the Cardinals didn’t expect to get beat up.

The Cardinals fell, 38-14, but the biggest difference was the number of injuries. GRC was hampered by maladies all night, sometimes having to go deep on the depth chart.

“That’s just part of the game,” GRC coach Oliver Lucas said. “They’re not going to feel sorry for you.”

Lucas joked he might need to start a hospital for all the wounded he has on the sideline.

Among them, starting quarterback Pearce Nisbet, who had his non-throwing arm pinned between a pair of defenders toward the end of the first half, but the senior returned to start the second half.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how tough my quarterback was tonight,” Lucas said.

“It’s always a struggle when you have kids injured, especially now when we’re in district pay,” Nisbet said. “It’s going to get even more tough with Creek and Central. But we’re a team that bounces back and that’s what we plan to do.”

The Generals started strong, scoring 17 first-quarter pounts and holding GRC’s offense at bay. The first-half score for the Cardinals was set up by an 81-yard interception return by Trevon Jones. Nitavius Thomas punched in the score three plays later from two yards out.

Jones was among the injured by the time the final horn sounded.

But Lucas isn’t going to use his depleted roster as an excuse.

“We just didn’t execute like we should have,” he said. “Every ball bounced their way — and it should when you’re winning. We played a good team tonight. They were well coached and disciplined.”

There was a silver lining to having the depth chart in disarray.

“We showed some bright spots tonight,” Lucas said. “We  had some young kids show up. Azariah (Israel) showed up real big. We’re always finding new talent and we’re going to continue to do this thing until we get all the pieces where they should be.”

Nisbet threw for 47 yards on two completions. Israel had 53 yards rushing on nine carries, including a 2-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter which capped an eight-play, 48-yard drive.

GRC finishes out its district slate with home games. They’ll take on Tates Creek Friday then Madison Central Oct. 20.

Creek defeated Central, 17-10, Thursday night in Lexington.

“We’ve got to prepare mentally,” Nisbet said. “I could see as the game went on, people were going back to the old GRC attitude. But that’s one thing coach Lucas has changed. Besides this game, I haven’t seen us revert back to that. We need to keep our heads up.”

Lucas said the team just has to keep grinding if the Cards want to bounce back.

“Keep working hard, it’s all you can do,” he said. “You can’t control what you can’t control. All I can control is who shows up for practice and we just keep working.”

GRC falls to 4-3 on the season. The Generals, who have played a fairly tough schedule so far, improve to 3-5.