With his favorite chant at the ready, Brian Henderson has high hopes for the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute Engineers.

“G-E-T O-F-F, get off, get off, get off Polytechnic,” the 1997 graduate recited.

He plans to use it on Friday at Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood Field, where Poly’s varsity football team takes on the Baltimore City College Black Knights as part of a rivalry that dates to the 19th century.

Though Poly has lost the regular-season matchup nine years in a row, Henderson and other supporters said this year will be different because the team is playing so well. Poly is heading into the rivalry game with an overall 7-1 record on the season.

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“They’re going to destroy them,” Henderson said of his alma mater’s chances. “I’ve already told everybody I know that went to City. We’re going to destroy them.”

He pointed to a game two weeks ago against Dunbar, a 24-6 loss.

“It was a big test for them, and they stood tall,” he said.

Even staff and faculty get in on the competition.

“The boys, they are playing so well that I know for sure that we’re going to win against the other school,” said Poly’s principal, Jacqueline Williams. “We don’t mention the name.”

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City supporters are certain the Black Knights will make it to 10 wins since 2012. Technically, if you count a playoff game from last season, it would be 11.

“Of course we’ll win,” said Patrice Wells Sowah, who added she’s an alumna of “the best school in the land.”

Regardless of the teams’ records going into the game, students and alumni from both schools know the importance of the matchup and its long history.

This game, City athletic director Rolynda Contee said, “is never run on how much you’re practicing or anything,” referring to it as “strictly emotional.”

“The guys feel the pressure of how significant this game is, and how important it is to both schools,” Contee said.

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Warren V. Chambers, a director of Poly’s alumni association, said it felt that way since he played on Poly’s offensive line in the 1990s.

“It didn’t get you nervous, but you knew you were about to do something,” said Chambers, class of ‘94. “You were about to engage in something special, that is going to go down in history.”

The game and the tailgate that precedes it is normally packed with graduates from many generations. For some it’s as big as any college homecoming.

“That spirit stays with you,” Henderson said. “It’s not like, ’Oh, I went to high school and it’s over.’”

Steve Williams, a former quarterback for City’s football team, said earlier this week that he was planning to attend a Thursday pep rally, as well as other activities.

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“The only games I didn’t go to is when I was in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia,” said Williams, a member of the class of 1982 who served in the Army for 25 years.

In past years, he’s traveled from places including Oklahoma, Hawaii and Atlanta. Even when he was stationed in South Korea, he said, he flew back to Baltimore for the game.

The teams played at Memorial Stadium on Thanksgiving until 1992. They stopped playing on the holiday after that as a result of joining the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association.

As a young girl, Nikia K. Vaughan said she’d go with her uncle, who was a City alum, to watch games on Thanksgiving.

The two would nibble a bit on their meal. Then, “Time for the game!” her uncle would say.

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“That’s where the tradition really started for me,” she said.

As a high school student at City, class of ‘95, Vaughan was a cheerleader, and then a “flag girl.” She still remembers marching through the tunnel onto the field at Memorial Stadium.

“I’ll never forget hearing the chatter and the noise,” she said. “And the drums … and seeing the thousands and thousands of people,” she said. “It was just so awesome to be a part of that.”

In recent years, the Engineers and Black Knights have played at Morgan State University and M&T Bank Stadium. This year will be the first time at Johns Hopkins. Contee and Jacqueline Williams said it was the only place available on Friday night for the City-Poly game.

Or, depending on who you ask, the Poly-City game.

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Gloria Carmichael, class of ‘85 and president of Poly’s alumni association, thinks the game’s colloquial name has been a subject of debate since the start.

When she had co-workers who went to “the other school,” she recalled, they would always say, “C comes before P.”

“And I said, ’No, excellence comes before mediocrity,’” she said.

Name debate aside, the alums who talked with The Banner emphasized the level of respect both teams have for one another.

“It’s a rivalry, but it’s a respected rivalry,” Chambers said. “It’s all out of respect, it’s all out of love.”

For at least the last 15 years, supporters from both schools have gathered for CityPoly Fest, or PolyCity Fest, said Linneal Smith, an event producer. This year’s festivities include events such as a skating and bowling party earlier in the week, and on Saturday at West Covington Park, there will be what Smith described as an “elevated tailgate.”

“It really is like a big family reunion,” Smith said. “The day is people eating and drinking and dancing and reconnecting, with family.” The event is also raising money to award some graduating seniors a scholarship toward attending a historically Black college or university. The students will be from both institutions, according to the event’s website.

That togetherness extends even to the festival’s tagline — “Two Schools. One Love.”

“We are rivals, but our stories intertwine, friendships intertwine, families intertwine, these things go generations deep,” Smith said.

cadence.quaranta@thebaltimorebanner.com