Gainesville High School is hoping The Force will be with the Red Elephants as they go face to face with Flowery Branch High School’s “Dark Side” tonight.

The meeting between the two schools’ football programs will be the first since 2009, when Gainesville walked away with a 29-21 win.

After that year, Flowery Branch took an imperial march to a higher classification and has not played another Hall County team since.

But the rivalry, which Gainesville leads 7-2, will be renewed tonight as the recently reclassified Red Elephants visit the home of the Falcons with more than bragging rights on the line. The two will also be playing for the region championship and an easier jump to light speed for the state playoffs.

Flowery Branch goes into tonight’s game 7-2, 7-0 in region 8-AAAAA play. Gainesville boasts a 7-2, 6-1 record. A win for either team would put it atop the region.

In fact, the energy and anticipation of the “big game” can be felt from Flowery Branch to Gainesville to Endor.

“People from other schools are even going to this game — they’re not even going to their own games,” said Mikaylei Byrd, a senior at Gainesville. “People from West Hall, East Hall, they’re not even going to their own games. The community is going to be at this game.”

The excitement hit record levels this week at both high schools and even boiled over into rival pranks.

A group from Flowery Branch painted: “Come to the Dark Side (the school’s student section)” on Gainesville’s landmark rock.

Red Elephant students responded with a window paint and toilet paper attack on student cars at Flowery Branch.

“We went and painted their rock, which is kind of a big thing,” said Reed McGuire, a sophomore at Flowery Branch. “Even the teachers were proud that we went and painted the Gainesville rock and everything. But (Wednesday), they came and painted cars, like window painted cars, and rolled our quarterback’s car. It’s just like rivalry pranks.”

And the reincarnation of a short, but “intense” rivalry will likely bring out one of the biggest crowds at “The Branch” tonight.

“People that don’t normally go to the games are definitely going to this game,” said Allison Walls, a sophomore at Flowery Branch. “I feel like since this is the only Hall County game we’ve played in forever that it’s extra special.”

The last victory the Falcons posted over Gainesville was in 2007 — 49-38.

“Everybody’s pumped,” said Kiera Smith, a senior at Gainesville. “Everybody’s ready for the game and the boys just want to show it on the field, really.”

Smith’s prediction of tonight’s outcome: It won’t take any Jedi mind tricks to win.

“It’s going to be a repeat of 2009,” she said.

Walls predicts the Falcons to stay undefeated in the region and said this week and tonight’s game will stay with her for a long, long time.

“It’ll be a game I won’t forget,” she said.