The 2016 Red Carpet Bowl has gotten a sudden and unexpected — but very welcome — upgrade.

Class 6A powerhouse Oak Grove will play Warren Central in the first game of the annual Warren County football doubleheader on Aug. 19 at Vicksburg High School, the Red Carpet Bowl committee announced Wednesday.

Oak Grove will replace Harrison Central, which sought to get out of its two-year contract with the Red Carpet Bowl after playing Vicksburg High last season. A clause in the contract required “a suitable replacement” be found, and RCB committee chairman Gary Anderton said Oak Grove fit that description perfectly.

Oak Grove won the Class 6A championship in 2013 and lost to South Panola in overtime in the 2014 championship game. It finished 10-3 and reached the second round of the playoffs in 2015.

“Whatever the reason, if I was going to have any ill will toward Harrison Central it went away when I heard the words ‘Oak Grove,’” Anderton said with a laugh. “It’s going to be the best night of high school football in this region in recent memory.”

The addition of Oak Grove as an opponent will turn this year’s Red Carpet Bowl into a true showcase of high school football in Mississippi. The Warriors will play Warren Central at 6 p.m. at Memorial Stadium, and then at 8:30 Vicksburg will take on defending Class 5A champion Wayne County.

The pairing will be among the best since the Red Carpet Bowl went to a multiple-game format in 1992. It’s the first time since 2007, when South Panola and Clarksdale played, that both opponents of the Warren County schools will be coming off 10-win seasons.

Wayne County will be the first defending state champion to play in the game since South Panola in 2008.

Besides being top-flight football programs, the fan bases for both Oak Grove and Wayne County travel well. That should create a festive atmosphere and a lucrative gate. The proceeds from the Red Carpet Bowl football and basketball games go toward scholarships for area high school students. The amount of the scholarships and the number awarded depend on how much the games make each year.

At Wednesday’s Red Carpet Bowl committee meeting, Anderton said 11 scholarships will be awarded across Warren County’s four high schools at their respective athletic banquets later this spring.

“It gives us a certain amount of pride to see full stands. But it boils down to what we’re doing this for, and that’s the scholarships,” Anderton said.

Harrison Central was defeated by Vicksburg, 14-13, in the first game of the 2015 Red Carpet Bowl at Warren Central. In December, its coach Casey Cain contacted the RCB committee’s attorney Briggs Hopson III about getting out of the second game of the contract in 2016.

Hopson said Harrison Central was willing to play if the “suitable opponent” clause could not be met, but as luck would have it there was one ready, willing and able to step in. Oak Grove had an open date on Aug. 19, and was also a team Hopson — whose job it is to find opponents for the RCB and handle the contracts with them — had been eyeing for a while.

A few rounds of phone calls later, and it was a done deal that left everybody happy.

“I knew Oak Grove had an opening, because their coach scouted the game last year,” Hopson said. “It worked out without too much trouble. I, and I’m sure the rest of the committee, feel like Oak Grove is a tremendous replacement.”

For its part, Warren Central welcomed the challenge of facing Oak Grove. The Vikings lost 42-28 to Wayne County last season but went on to finish 10-3 and reached the second round of the Class 6A playoffs.

“It’ll be a lot like last year for us. It’ll be a top-notch team coming into the Red Carpet Bowl early on. We’re excited about it. It’s going to be a big challenge, but I think it’ll also help us in the long run,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said. “They’ve been a top tier team the last several years. Your first-game challenges will just be magnified a little bit more than they normally would be, because you’re playing a high-quality team. But, again, it’ll be a fun first game and really a great way to get the season started off.”