SPANISH FORT – Tonight's the night for the birth of another rivalry.

Fairhope and Spanish Fort have met in virtually every sport except football. But tonight that's going to change with a televised Game-of-the-Week season debut on UTV 44 at 7 p.m.

"What a way to get started," said Toros head coach Bryant Vincent. "It was originally going to be a Thursday game, but we changed it for TV."

The SFHS Toros and FHS Pirates won their preseason games last week. SFHS topped Robertsdale and FHS pulled out a last-minute win at Bob Jones.

Opening with the 2009 6A Region 2 champion Pirates is part of a strategy to get ready for what Vincent considers the toughest 5A region in the state.

"To get ready for that level of tough regional competition, we have added four 6A teams to the 2010 schedule," Vincent said. "Fairhope will be tough but they will get us battle tested early," he said. "They have a lot of speed and we are going to see a lot of speed all season."

Pirates coach David Faulkner said he hopes his team draws on the intensity of the game and also benefits from dealing with a hostile environment.

"We intend to make the playoffs and sooner or later if we have to travel, we feel like starting off with a big road trip will help get ready for that," Faulkner said of the trip to Bob Jones.

"And any time you play a county rival, it's big. But Spanish Fort is also a very good football team. And like Bob Jones, it's going into a new place and facing somebody we've never played. So we expect this to help us get ready for a tough season."

Both teams open their region schedules next week. Fairhope at home against McGill-Toolen Catholic while the Toros visit Gulf Shores.