Blue Hills coach Ed Madden likes to say the annual goal is to be playing football in December.

For the third time in four years, mission accomplished.

The Warriors will seek to defend their Small School Vocational Bowl title Wednesday night when they host Mayflower Athletic Conference foe Tri-County for all the marbles. Blue Hills (7-5) defeated Tri-County in the championship game a year ago and also beat them in a regular-season contest back in October.

“We absolutely love playing in this game.” Madden said. “We’re getting an opportunity to compete against vocational teams that are similar to us. I’m very happy for this group of kids because we only returned three starters on offense and three on defense.

“Most of our new starters were on the scout team last year so they had to butt heads against our regulars. Going up against them every day helped prepare them for this year.”

Even though Tri-County (7-4) lost to Blue Hills in the first contest (24-14), head coach Andy Gomes feels his team developed some confidence in being able to compete against a perennial MAC power.

“First of all, it’s very exciting and awesome to be able to get back to the bowl again. Our kids bought in and did a heck of a job putting in the work,” Gomes said. “In the first game, I think it definitely helped us in terms of dealing with their physicality. We were able to throw the ball on them, but we’re going to have to be able to run the ball a little bit against them.”

In the Large School Vocational Bowl, Bay Path (11-1) will be looking for a three-peat when it takes on Whittier (9-3) Wednesday night (6:30 at Assumption). All you need to know about Bay Path can be found by looking at its results (41 points a game).

“They’re a really good offensive team,” said Whittier coach Kevin Bradley. “Just look at their scores, they score 30-40 points every game, they have two really good backs (Kaiden Brochu and Bradyn Downes) and they are big. It’s a team that is definitely playoff ready.”

Whittier reached the final by surviving a 20-14 nailbiter over fellow CAC member Northeast Regional in the semifinals. Noah Allen ran for 115 yards and three scores and the defense came up with a last-minute goal-line stand to preserve the victory.

“We’ve just gotten better every single week,” Bradley said. “We simplified the game a little bit and the kids responded and played tough.”

Much like Madden, Bay Path coach Cody Giampa says the vocational bowl is something his team always takes great pride in trying to reach.

“This game is very important to them,” Giampa said. “We are playing teams with the same struggles and logistical issues that we have. The vocational bowl is for the kids and it’s good to see how we stack up against similar teams.”