Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls. Your attention please.

Welcome to Big Game week and the official countdown to the annual football game that rival schools from the city of Napa look forward to playing all year.

In the blue and gold corner, there’s the Napa High Indians. They’re ranked in two polls (No. 4 by The Sacramento Bee and No. 14 in Northern California by Cal-Hi Sports) and have already clinched at least a tie for the Monticello Empire League title while also securing a spot in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.

In the burgundy and gold corner, there’s the Vintage High Crushers. They, too, have qualified for the playoffs, but would like nothing more than to beat Napa, spoiling the Indians’ bid at an undefeated MEL season and sharing the pennant.

It’s a battle that will showcase some very talented skill-position players and hard hitting defenses, and could very well go the distance.

This is Week 10 of the season, and Friday night’s Big Game XXXVI, which has a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Napa Memorial Stadium, has a lot of importance attached to it. With Napa (8-1 overall, 4-0 MEL) in first place and Vintage (6-3 overall, 3-1 MEL) tied for second, this is a championship game that will also determine seedings for a postseason that begins Nov. 16.

The stadium’s capacity is 6800, and the place should once again be rocking and rolling with lots of school and community spirit and pride in what has become the town’s single biggest sporting event.

“We want to win this title outright,” Napa coach Troy Mott said early Saturday during a film exchange with Vintage coach Billy Smith at the stadium. “We’re excited for this game. We have to be very detailed in our preparation this week, because we know we’re playing a very good football team and a well-coached football team. We’re excited for the challenge. It’s very important for us to play well in this game. It’s important that we maintain our composure and do our job. The bottom line is we control our own destiny. We want to take advantage of the position we put ourselves in and hopefully come out with a win on Friday night.”

Smith, who’s in his first year with the Crushers, said: “I’m very proud of the kids and my staff. We’ve got a chance to play for the top seed — it doesn’t get any better than that. You don’t want to settle for a 3-seed now.”

Joining Napa and Vintage in the playoffs will be Vacaville (8-1 overall, 3-1 MEL), last year’s Sac-Joaquin champion. The results of Friday’s games will determine the league’s Nos. 1, 2 and 3 seeds for the playoffs and which team will be at home to start the postseason.

It will be a busy and exciting week for Mott and Smith, their coaching staffs and teams, as they prepare and practice for a game that is one of the most intense and heated in all of Northern California. The two head coaches got an early start, as they participated in a video interview for the Napa Valley Register’s Web site, napavalleyregister.com, over the weekend. Mott and Smith will also be the guests of the Napa Rotary Club and Kiwanis Club of Napa during their weekly noon luncheons.

Napa won last year’s game 45-20 and leads the all-time series, 18-15-2. The Indians have also won four of the last five Big Games and will be in the playoffs for the sixth year in a row.

“We have some other pretty good rivalry games in Northern California, like the Cowhide Game in Visalia (Mt. Whitney vs. Redwood) and the Little Big Game on the Peninsula (San Mateo vs. Burlingame), but it’s the setting of Napa Memorial Stadium that really sets apart the one between Napa and Vintage,” said Mark Tennis, the editor of Cal-Hi Sports and studentsports.com. “And when there’s a lot on the line in terms of league titles or rankings, it’s even more intense.”

School officials said it’s recommended that tickets be purchased during a pre sale period to avoid long lines and be assured of getting into the game. Tickets are available at each school’s activities office, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on each school day until Friday. The final chance to purchase pre sale tickets will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Friday. The stadium ticket booths will open at 4 p.m. on game day.

The weather outlook appears very fall-like, with mostly cloudy conditions, temperatures in the mid 40s and winds at 10 mph out of the southeast.

Napa has won seven in a row since a Week 2 nonleague loss to Granite Bay, 37-26. The Indians have scored 50 or more points in six of their wins and are coming off a 50-13 win over Armijo.

“The bottom line is we’ve got to block and tackle and play exciting football and hope that at the end of the night that we have more points than them,” said Mott. “We’re going to just try and do our best to prepare against a very good football team. We’re going to show up and hopefully play our best football game. We hope to get better this week and to try and play that perfect game — we haven’t done that yet. We’re looking forward to doing it.

“We make a lot of big plays with our offense and our special teams. Our special teams have been great this year, the kids have fun with a lot of things we do on our special teams. Our defense has just played phenomenal the last two weeks. I don’t expect that to change.”

Vintage played one of the toughest pre league schedules of anyone around, beating Nevada Union-Grass Valley (22-7) and Granada-Livermore (29-26) and losing to Lincoln-Stockton (24-22) and Rocklin (28-14). The Crushers have won their last two games, but experienced some breakdowns on defense in a 34-30 win last week over Wood.

Smith said it will take a perfect game to beat Napa.

“They score at will, and we know that, so hopefully we can generate long drives,” the first-year VHS varsity coach said. “We’re going to come out and do whatever it takes. Hopefully it’s not a shootout. We just want to win the game. Whatever’s open, we’re going to go with it. We think we can throw the ball.”

Seeding battle

Napa, Vintage and Vacaville have already clinched section playoff berths, so Friday’s results will only determine seedings. If Napa defeats Vintage and Vacaville beats Wood, those winners are the MEL’s No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, and Vintage is No. 3. If Vintage wins by at least 13 points — according to the Sac-Joaquin Section’s 13-point system — and Vacaville wins, there will be a three-way tie for the MEL title. If that happens, defensive points allowed by each team against the other two teams will be considered, or a coin flip by the league commissioner will break the tie.