ATTLEBORO -- Will the Bourne High football team be ready for Tuesday night's MIAA playoff game?

The Canalmen have only been waiting for this since they joined the South Coast Conference, and the time has finally come. So yes, they'll be more than ready.

`` Not to many people are going to give us a chance to win this game, but we're going to give it our best shot. Our guys are ready for sure,'' said Bourne head coach Barry Wood, whose 10-1 Canalmen take on Eastern Athletic Conference champion Bishop Feehan Tuesday (4 p.m.) at Greater New Bedford High in the MIAA Division 2A playoffs.

Bourne is making its first MIAA postseason appearance since joining the South Coast Conference. The Canalmen finished in a first-place tie with DightonRehoboth and Apponequet, all at 7-1 in the SCC, but earned the playoff nod because of the league's tiebreaker, which gives the nod to the team with the longest absence from the playoffs.

Make no mistake, Wood's team is happy to get the playoff nod. But it isn't taking the `` happy-to-be-there'' attitude when it comes to the matchup with Bishop Feehan. `` I've seen them on film a couple of times and had some scouts at the Thanksgiving Day game. They're impressive, but we're not going to show up in awe,'' said Wood. `` We're going to have to play the perfect game to hang with them. We'll have our work cut out for us because we're out-manned along the line and they have a phenomenal talent in the (Ron) Conway kid. You can't really stop him, you have to just hope to try and contain him and limit what he can do because he's such a great athlete.

`` On the other side of the ball, their line is huge compared to ours. Their defensive front four and their linebackers look pretty physical,'' added Wood.

`` They have to average close to 270 across the line, while we average about 180. Our guys know that Feehan is big and physical, and talented, so we'll have to sell out and give up the body.''

Just making it this far was certainly challenging enough for Bourne.

`` I'd say we're pleasantly surprised to be in this position,'' said Wood, the fifth-year coach whose teams have gone 8-3, 9-2 and now 10-1 the last three years. `` At the beginning of the year our offensive line was brand new, all five starters graduated. We knew we had the talent in the backfield and some speed on defense, so I thought we'd be OK.

`` Our defense held the first part of the season while our offense caught up,'' added Wood, whose defense surrendered just 56 points in 11 games while pitching five shutouts. `` The defense held the fort while the offense got caught up. As the season went on we were putting up three or four touchdowns while our defense was shutting teams down.''