A pair of local pooches will hit the gridiron tomorrow to raise awareness for animal adoption.

While the San Francisco 49'ers and the Baltimore Ravens do battle in Super Bowl XLVII, Animal Planet's ninth annual "Puppy Bowl" will air starting at 3:00 p.m. Sunday.

Last year's installment of the increasingly popular football alternative, which plugs pet adoptions through the network's Petfinder.com rescue website, attracted a record 8.7 million viewers to the network.

This year, WHYY Newsworks reports, the starting lineup will include "Cairo," a 5-month-old pit bull, and another pit-bull mix named "Cash." Both dogs came from the Greene Street Animal Rescue, which opened last year in Spring City.

The shelter's administrators are hopeful that the TV exposure will help find the dogs permanent homes.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that this year's broadcast will feature a "hot tub" for Cairo, Cash, and their 61 fellow competitors to take a break from the action. If that's not enough to get you to tune in, here are two more words: hedgehog cheerleaders. 

Don't worry if you miss some of the fur-covered action to watch a little football. The two-hour "Puppy Bowl" telecast will re-air five more times immediately following the initial broadcast.