Even though Washington’s NFL team didn’t make it to the championship this year, there’s still a way to root for some local athletes on Sunday: in Puppy Bowl XVI.

In the very professional annual match, two teams of puppies—all of which are available for adoption—scamper about a tiny football field that’s littered with chew toys. Pups score a “touchdown” when they drag a toy across the opposing goal line. Players are replaced with stringers for various infractions, including “unnecessary ruffness” and “premature watering of the field.”

Six adoptable pups and two older dogs from Maryland and Virginia rescue shelters will be storming the mini Geico stadium in the Puppy Bowl festivities this weekend, joining the largest roster in the bowl’s 16-year tradition. This year’s Puppy Bowl marks the most expansive yet, with dogs from 61 shelters across 25 different states, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands, Colombia, and Canada.

As for Sunday’s starting line-up, three Maryland athletes and one Virginian will kick-off the Puppy Bowl at 2 p.m. Anise, an Australian cattle-dog-lab-mix hailing from Last Chance Animal Rescue in Waldorf, Md. will take to the field for Team Fluff, alongside Killian, a great Dane from Green Dogs Unleashed in Virginia. Also from Last Chance, Gina, a chow chow/Labrador mix, and Poppy, a bichon frise, will join Team Ruff.

Kismet, a great Dane, and Raven, a Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix will be waiting on the sidelines for Team Ruff. Kismet hails from Green Dogs Unleashed, while Raven comes from Operation Paws for Homes in Alexandria. 

On Saturday, Animal Planet will also be hosting its third annual Dog Bowl, an opportunity for older dogs to show their chops and find loving homes before the big game on Sunday. Boomer and Molly from the Baltimore Humane Society and 63 other senior pooches will take to the gridiron in two teams: the Oldies and Goldies.

Anyone interested in giving a home to one of the pups can contact the shelter listed on the full roster. The Puppy Bowl boasts a 100 percent adoption rate for its participants.

Leading up to the weekend’s showdown, Animal Planet filmed plenty of puppy content at its D.C. Discovery Studios before the cast traveled to New York City to film the bowls. This year’s pre-game programming includes the first-ever puppy-draft—moderated by an Alexandria resident—and a mini series “Road to the Puppy Bowl,” all of which is streaming on the Animal Planet website.

The Puppy Bowl will air on Animal Planet on Sunday at 3 p.m.