WILLIAMSBURG — Whether you’ve got the Big Ten’s Buckeyes or the ACC’s Fighting Irish, Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game promises to be a good one, and fans of both teams will be celebrating locally alongside Ohio State and Notre Dame alumni.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated Penn State at the Capital One Orange Bowl while the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated Texas at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, meaning the two teams will face off for the title Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

The Ohio State Historic Triangle Alumni Club is the organization that serves alumni and friends from Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. The group sponsors speaker series, game watch parties and more.

Rick Lodwick, Ohio State Class of 2002, is the local chapter president. While the club is currently on inactive status due to low enrollment, it hasn’t stopped the club from continuing to recruit.

“Our purpose is really just bringing alumni and friends together to recruit the next generation of Buckeyes,” Lodwick said.

Lodwick travels to Columbus for games each season and is looking forward to Monday night’s matchup.

“I’m optimistic. On paper, we should beat them, but that should have been the case when we played Michigan too. We should have thumped Michigan, so you have to play the game. I think it will be a good game, but if Ohio State plays what we’re capable of, I see us hoisting the trophy at the end of the game,” Lodwick said.

The Ohio State Historic Triangle Club doesn’t have any local game watch parties planned for the 2025 National Championship but hopes to bring game watches and speaker series back when the organization gets back to active status.

The Notre Dame Club of Southeastern Virginia is a local alumni chapter that serves Williamsburg through Virginia Beach. The organization aims to follow six C’s: Camaraderie, Community Service, Continuing Education, Current Students, Catholic/Christian Spirituality, and Communications. They host various events throughout the year, including game-watch parties, community service events, new student send-off parties and a speaker series.

Chris Schreyer, Notre Dame Class of 2012, serves on the leadership team for the alumni organization.

“We definitely try to keep the connection that you have on campus and bring it here. Even though we may be all over the country, the alumni associations really try to keep that core group of people that you can relate to and talk about how great Notre Dame is,” Schreyer said.

Williamsburg also has a connection to Notre Dame. Former Fighting Irish head coach Lou Holtz’s first head coaching job was at William & Mary in 1969. In 1970, Holtz led the team to the Southern Conference title and a Tangerine Bowl berth. Holtz also served as an assistant coach at Ohio State in 1968, where he was on the staff when the Buckeyes won a National Championship.

Fans of the Fighting Irish can join the Notre Dame Club at Pixels Pints and Bytes in Norfolk for a game watch on Monday night. The game watch is open to anyone in the community.

“I’ll never say that Notre Dame is going to lose a game. The spirit of the Fighting Irish, we’ve all seen Rudy, we’ve all heard Knute Rockne’s speeches, you can never count Notre Dame out of a game. With Coach Freeman, I think every player on that team would run through a brick wall for him. This team is greater than the sum of its parts more so than any other team that I’ve seen,” Schreyer said.

The College Football National Championship Game will be broadcast on Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.