Calvary Christian School coach Kirby Newell says he is still learning about his school’s budding rivalry with cross-county 8-man member Russell Christian Academy.

But all Newell needed to know when he left RCA Friday night was that his Cougars had taken a hard-hitting win.

Calvary continued its offensive explosion, rolling up 40 first-half points in a 54-12 win over Russell.

“It’s a big win for us,” Newell said. “This rivalry is still new to me … but I know there was a lot of hard-hitting for an 8-man football game.

“We’ve got some sore kids … but these young ‘uns, they throwed some leather tonight.”

It was the seventh-straight victory for the 7-2 Cougars, who have scored 54 points or more in all seven wins. Calvary is 3-1 in the MPSA 8-man North District. Russell dropped to 3-6 and 1-2.

Eighth-grader Desmond Grayson got Calvary on the board with an 8-yard scoring run early, with Kyle Koch adding the two-point conversion run to make it 8-0.

Russell answered with a 7-yard scoring run from quarterback Courtney Cunningham, but it was all Calvary from that point on.

A 12-yard touchdown run from Koch and a 28-yard scoring pass from Koch to Bartlett both came in the first quarter, which ended with the Cougars leading 20-6.

Calvary put up three more TDs in the second quarter, including a 57-yard scoring run from Grayson. Lineman Corey Holdiness tossed the two-point conversion to Koch, making it 28-6.

Koch then threw a pair of touchdown passes before the half ended, hitting Justin Sylvester from 9 yards out and finding Eric Sims from 38 yards away to make it 40-6.

In the third quarter, Koch hit Sims on a 10-yard scoring toss, then Koch got loose on a 37-yard touchdown run. Bartlett ran in the two-point conversion, putting the Cougars ahead 54-6.

Russell’s final touchdown came in the fourth quarter when the Warriors recovered a fumble in the end zone.

Koch, who totaled six touchdowns on the night, wound up 10-of-27 passing for 225 yards and four scores. He ran it 12 times for 162 yards.

Mo Dale once again led the Cougars defensively, racking up 19 tackles (nine solos) to go with a couple of sacks and a fumble recovery.

Calvary will host unbeaten and independent Freedom Academy out of Huntsville, Ala., next week — while Russell Christian goes to Macon to face Central Academy.

— Rocky Higginbotham