The Georgia Military College Prep varsity football team faces off against its biggest rival of the season tonight, hitting the road to take on Aquinas.

The Bulldogs and Irish had numerous heated contests over the years.

“It’s Irish Week,” GMC Prep head coach Jon Cawley said. “Anybody that’s played here knows what that means. This is our biggest game.”

For most of the last decade, the late-season matchup was a battle for the fourth spot in the region. This year is different. Both teams are struggling. Both teams come into the game 0-7.

“These two teams always go at it, and this year’s not going to be any different,” Cawley said. “The team that has the least amount of mistakes is going to win the game. It’s going to be tough.”

Aquinas has won the last three meetings between the two teams. Last year the Irish won 22-21, in 2005 they won 47-12 and in 20004 they won 45-0. GMC Prep won the three previous games by a combined score of 77-32.

Cawley said his team has to execute to be successful tonight.

“We just have to do what we do,” Cawley said. “We’re going to throw the ball when we want to, and we’re going to pound it at them. We’re going to line up in a lot of formations and try and catch them out of position. If we do the little things — limit the penalties, make tackles and hold on to the ball — we should be OK.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Augusta.

Sports Editor Ross Couch can be reached at (478) 453-1465 or sports@unionrecorder.com