The only thing better than a rivalry soccer game is one for a good cause.

Starr’s Mill and McIntosh’s varsity soccer teams will meet next Thursday with a special event surrounding one of the county’s most exciting athletic rivalries. Battle for the Troops has three goals – to send packages to soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, honoring our troops and their families, thanking them for their sacrifice and raising funds and accepting donations for the Wounded Warrior Project and the Lt. Dan Berschinski fund.

The soccer action starts at 5:30 p.m. with the game between the two varsity girls teams. At 7 p.m. there will be a ceremony to honor the troops featuring musical entertainment and the Ft. McPherson Color Guard. The two varsity boys teams will tangle at 7 p.m.

You can contribute by soliciting and collecting donations of food, personal articles and entertainment items to be shipped to the troops, contributing cards and letters thanking the troops for their service or raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project and for the fund set up for Lt. Dan Berschinski, PTC native and former McIntosh goalkeeper who was seriously injured last year in Afghanistan (www.danberschinski.blogspot.com)

Donation centers will be set up at the game and at the high schools prior to the match.