The final dress rehearsals for the high school football season will be played this week as teams throughout the area participate in jamboree games.

Grand Lake head coach Jeff Wainwright said the approach differs from scrimmages as well.

“Like the scrimmages, to some degree you are still looking at who should be playing in what position,” he said. “But you also do a little game-planning for the jamboree. Scrimmages are mostly about who should be in the game plan. Jamborees are about developing and implementing a game plan. You can go into halftime and make some adjustments.”

Making sure communication between players and coaches are handled properly is another of Wainwright’s jamboree goals.

“We want to make sure we can get special teams on and off the field without penalties or having to use a timeout,” he said. “We want to be able to function as a football team, to get the right personnel on offense and defense on and off the field without wasting timeouts. It’s a chance to make sure the coaches are ready to go too. Sometimes coaches are rusty too, we need to be sure we are functioning the way we need to.”

Wainwright’s Hornets, who moved up from Class 1A to 2A this season, will face Washington-Marion in the opening game of the Sulphur jamboree on Friday.

Wainwright says he tries to find strong opponents for the jamboree.

“I always want to play up (a class) in the jamboree so that we can identify our weaknesses and get an idea of what we need to be working on,” he said. “I don’t want to come out with a false impression of how good we are.

“Washington-Marion is two classes bigger than us. It is a big challenge numbers-wise for us. Our main focus is to make sure we are a worthy opponent for them.”

Wainwright said he likes the way his Hornets are progressing heading into the start of the regular season.

“This team is very hard-working,” he said. “They have a real good attitude towards camp and the way we have been approaching each day’s work. Our attendance has been outstanding and we are getting better each day; I can feel it. I think the kids can too, we are able to apply to each day’s challenges.”

In other Class 2A and 1A games, Rosepine travels to the Cenla Jamboree with Jake Smith set to take over at quarterback for graduated all-state selection Ethan Frey. Oberlin will host neighbors Oakdale and Kinder in the Allen Parish Jamboree and District 5-1A rivals East Beauregard and Merryville will meet in Dry Creek.

Elton will host a jamboree today and will play Lake Arthur followed by a game featuring Welsh and Gueydan.

Jamboree schedule

Thursday

Luddy Herpin Jamboree

at Gueydan High School

Abbeville JV vs. Elton, 7:30 p.m.

Elton Jamboree

at Elton High School

Elton vs. Lake Arthur, 6 p.m.

Welsh vs. Gueydan, 7 p.m.

Friday

Allen Parish Jamboree

at Oberlin

Oakdale vs. Oberlin, 6 p.m.

Kinder vs. Oakdale

Kinder vs. Oberlin

Cenla Jamboree

at Holy Savior Menard School

Glenbrook vs. Rosepine, 5:30 p.m.

Ferriday vs. Rosepine, 7:30 p.m.

Joe Nagata Memorial Jamboree

at St. Edmund High School

Iota vs. St. Edmund, 7 p.m.

Jennings Jamboree

at Jennings High School

Iowa vs. South Beauregard, 6 p.m.

Jennings vs. Many

Spot Therapy and

Navarre Auto Group Jamboree

at Sam Houston High School

Vinton vs. Pickering, 5 p.m.

Barbe vs. DeRidder, 6:30 p.m.

Sam Houston vs. Westlake, 8 p.m.

at Sulphur High School

Washington-Marion vs. Grand Lake, 5 p.m.

Sulphur vs. St. Louis, 6:30 p.m.

LaGrange vs. DeQuincy, 8 p.m.

Evangeline Parish Jamboree

at Basile High School

Basile vs. Ville Platte

Saturday

Lake Charles Prep Jamboree

at Cougar Stadium

Lake Charles College Prep vs. Westgate, 3 p.m.