By Warren Arceneaux, American Press

Grand Lake had the best of reasons to start the high school basketball season late, with the school’s football team reaching the Class 1A state championship game last week.

The Hornets did not play a boys basketball game until Tuesday, Jan. 5, when it simultaneously started its season and the District 4-1A schedule with an 86-37 win over Oberlin. The Hornets got their first major test when they visited Hamilton Christian Academy.

The game was sold out with a limited capacity of 200.

The schools have dominated the district in recent years, with Grand Lake winning a pair of three-point games to claim last year’s district title outright, snapping HCA’s streak of seven years with at least a share of the crown. The Warriors and Hornets split the title in 2018-19 season.

Both teams made runs to the state semifinals last year. Both look different this season after numerous graduation losses.

Hornets head coach Mark Caldwell said he was impressed by his team Tuesday night.

“It had been 299 days since we had played and we only had six practices,” he said. “We have some mentally tough kids. They’ve had adversity and were ready to play. They didn’t show much rust. We shared and passed the ball well.

“We have a group of kids who have been waiting their turn. We have multiple kids who were ready last year, but happened to be behind a group that won 100 games in four years and made the Top 28.

“We shot it really well,” Caldwell said of Tuesday night. “We played well on defense. We have the longest, most athletic team since I’ve been here. We don’t really look like a 1A team. We have some big boys.”