Hold on to your hats folks.

After two straight roller-coaster finishes in the annual contest, Oxford and Lafayette football and primed for the 51st edition of the Crosstown Classic.

The Chargers (1-1) play host in this year’s contest after the Commodores (1-2) came away with a 34-23 win at home last year—snapping a streak of four straight Oxford victories.

Lafayette scored 27 unanswered to erase a 16-point deficit in that game, which was a mirror image of the contest a year prior in which Oxford also erased a 16-point deficit by scoring 27 straight to end the game.

This year’s contest is expected to bring even more fireworks as the two sides match up with a chance to build momentum following slow starts to the season.

The Chargers, who are coming off a bye week following a win over South Panola, were routed by No. 1 Brandon in week one in a game where they struggled to contain the Bulldogs’ explosive offense.

Oxford surrendered 430 yards on 18 plays in that game as Brandon tore through their defense on the ground and through the air.

They continued to struggle against the Tigers—giving up over 400 yards of total offense in a game where their special teams unit bailed them out over and over again in the first half.

“They’re a talented team with two really talented backs. Those guys are gonna get their yards but I thought we did a nice job of preventing a lot of long, explosive runs—we kind of made them work for it down the field for the most part. The drives where they did produce points were the ones where they had explosive plays and that’s the nature of it. We just have to keep working at that,” head coach Chris Cutcliffe said after the win.

They now face off against a young Lafayette squad that is coming off a heartbreaking loss to Southaven last week in which they came inches short of completing a late second-half comeback.

The Commodores are hoping to use that heartbreak as fuel on Friday as they attempt to secure a second straight win over Oxford for the first time since 2011.

Head coach Michael Fair emphasized just how important this game could be for his team—emphasizing the connectedness between the two schools and how seriously his players take the game.

“I think you’ll see our guys’ best this week and I think you’ll see their’s too… you know we’re so close—I mean we’re probably less than two miles away and we just know each other. That just adds a whole other level to the rivalry,” Fair said. “[Our guys] are going to give us everything they’ve got because it means so much to them.”

The Commodores and Chargers will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Bobby Holcomb field at Oxford Middle School. The game will be available on osdcharger.tv, and lafco.live.