Reclassification may have ended the district rivalry between Grand Lake and Hamilton Christian, but it will live on in a new form.

The teams will meet Thursday in a nondistrict game at Cougar Stadium.

Growth in its student population elevated Grand Lake to Class 2A.

The last two meetings were decided by four points or fewer with Hamilton Christian winning 24-21 in Week 7 last season. Junior Samuel Knight caught a 9-yard touchdown pass with 14 seconds left and had a game-sealing interception.

“Traditionally, the last couple of years our games have been really close. I know the energy is going to be high between both teams,” Grand Lake head coach Jeff Wainwright said. “They have a lot of new guys in different places and a new head coach and new system, but the same old rivalry is still there. It will be a good game, no doubt.”

Grand Lake scored a late fourth-quarter touchdown to win 34-30 in 2020.

It will be the first game for new Warriors head coach Ragan McDaniel. The Warriors are coming off a 7-3 season.

Grand Lake will get its first live-action since last week’s jamboree game against Washington-Marion was canceled because of inclement weather, the lone game of the SPOT/Navarre Auto Group Jamboree not to be played.

“It was a little different not having any film to review based off your game plan,” Wainwright said. “I kind of like to throw a game plan together for a jamboree and see how the kids adjust to it. It is what it is. We have moved on. Right now we are locked in on trying to get ready for Hamilton and learn the things we need to learn to be successful.

“The biggest thing right now is for us to go out there and compete, not make any mental errors, make sure we are in the right spots on offense and defense and get special teams locked in getting the ball kicked and caught. A lot of times, fumbles and special teams errors lead to a loss for you if you have those kinds of problems. If you can take care of that, it seems like you have a better chance of winning early in the season.”

The Hornets have been working on ways to combat the Warriors’ Air Raid offense.

“It is the same kind of offense, spread, and similar to kind of what they have been doing,” Wainwright said. “It looks like they have latched on to what the new coach is trying to do. I am sure we will see some wrinkles that we have not seen on film.”

Elsewhere

There are several all-area small-school matchups this week.

The two biggest are Kinder at Welsh and East Beauregard at Rosepine.

Kinder and Welsh have been district rivals on and off through the years and combined for five state championship game appearances from 2013 to 2018. Kinder edged Welsh 29-28 last year.

It will be Kinder’s first game as a member of Class 3A.

The East Beauregard-Rosepine game will feature two strong running backs in the Eagles’s Grant Ducote and the Trojans’ Caleb Johnson.

Oakdale will host former district rival Vinton. Oakdale won last year’s meeting 42-41.

Also, Lake Arthur will travel to Basile. The Bearcats had to forfeit last year’s game because of COVID.

Elton travels to Pickering looking for its first win since 2018. The teams last met in 2010, at 25-13 Elton win.