As the Opp Bobcats lined up to sing their alma mater at the end of their 21-16 win over Andalusia last season in the first round of the playoffs, the Bulldogs began to prepare for 2010.

That day has come.

Andalusia senior linebacker Johnnie Jones and Opp senior quarterback Tyler Harrison will square off in battle — defense versus offense —tonight for a last rivalry match up in their high school careers.

For Jones, tonight’s game has been a long time coming.

“We’ve been really looking forward to this game since that night we lost,” Jones said. “We’ve been waiting to redeem ourselves.”

Harrison said he expects nothing but a win over the Bulldogs.

“I expect to win the game,” Harrison said.

Opp’s senior class records against Andalusia is 4-5. Both teams’ overall record against each other for the past 65 years is 31-31-3.

In last year’s playoff game, Jones felt the team could’ve played a little bit better.

“I also think they caught some breaks here and there, which is arguable,” he quipped. “This year, we’re going to just execute what we’ve been going over all week at practice — to play good solid defense.”

The Bulldogs will be facing the likes of running backs Richard Davis and Quadir Kincaid in the back field.

“I’m sure they’ll come at us pretty hard, but we did some things last year that hurt them,” Harrison said. “We’re going to try and do a lot of the same stuff.”

In response to how big it would be to get a win to close out the regular season, both seniors gave similar answers.

“It would be big because it would break us even with our record, and we’ll go out with a senior win on our last game,” Harrison said. “It would be big.”

Jones said, “I hope to end my regular season in football in my senior year as a good season because in the past few years, it hasn’t been that good,” he said. “I just want to leave this school with a good name, and not just an average football team. We can be better than just average.”