For Bellevue, today’s game against the Katy Tigers is a culmination of months of work.

Months of hitting sleds. Months of executing fakes. Months of sprints. Months of video. Months of weight room work.

Months of nothing but thoughts of Texas football.

“We’ve been preparing for so long,” said quarterback Joe Joe Connor. “We’ve put the time and effort in.”

So when the ball is finally kicked off tonight at Rhodes Stadium in Katy, Texas., at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, the Wolverines will be ready.

Ready to show the Tigers, the two-time defending 5A

state champions that, after months of hearing about the dominance of Texas football, that kids from Washington can play a little bit too.

Although Bellevue lost many key players from last year’s undefeated state championship team, including four First-Team All-KingCo performers and 3A Player of the Year Peter Nguyen, the cupboard is far from bare. In fact, thanks to a core of young starters last season, the team Bellevue returns may be one of its strongest in the past five years.

Which is good, because beating Katy, which began the year as the No. 5 team in the nation as ranked by ESPN Rise, figures to be a tough task.

“I think they are the best team we’ve ever played, without question,” said Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff.

The bevy of returners, however, bodes well for Bellevue. Offensively, the team returns four running backs with experience in David Nguyen, Will Fields, Sean Coley and Freddie Levine, and has experience with Connor, who started seven games last season.

“Joe Joe is solid, he runs our offense well and is a great leader,” Goncharoff said, adding that Kendrick Van Ackeron will also see time behind center.

Bellevue’s greatest strength on offense may just be its offensive line, which Goncharoff calls “the heart and soul of the team.”

“We’ve had some good lines here, but I think this one is one of the best,” he said. “In our offense, its great to have size but you’ve got to have quickness. They have that.”

Led by First-Team All-Kingco performers Jake Hiller and UCLA-bound Julious Moore, the line features experienced players in John Kanongata’a, Hank Thayer, Marcus Henry, Conner Abramson and Nick Moyer.

“Those guys make the running backs look good,” Nguyen said.

The key to the victory will arguably be Katy’s ability to stop Bellevue’s vaunted Wing-T offense. The Tigers (1-1) have faced a few Wing-T’s in the past, Joseph said, including last season when the team held highly-rated Cyprus Bay of Florida to only 170 yards of total offense.

“Down here right now we don’t see too many Wing-T teams,” said Katy coach Gary Joseph, whose squad lost a 31-27 nail-biter to The Woodlands last Friday. “It’s not what they run, its who they run it with, and they have some great football players.”

While Katy may have stopped other team’s that run the Wing-T, Bellevue players say opponents can’t plan for the speed at which they execute their offense.

“You can’t simulate the speed at which we play at,” Hiller said. “We play at a different speed up here.”

Defensively, Katy is led by all-state safety Sam Holl, a three-year starter with a scholarship to Baylor who made 20 tackles in a single game last year.

“He plays within himself and makes plays,” Joseph said. “He’s the guy we look to for direction.”

Other Katy defensive standouts include linebackers Jonathon Fisher and Grant Clifton.

“I think what sets Katy apart is their defense,” Goncharoff said. “Their defense is probably considered the best in Texas from what I understand. We won’t surprise them with anything.”

Offensively, Katy boosts a potent ground attack centered around running back Will Jeffery, a 5-foot-8, 160-pound senior. Jeffery rushed for 1,313 yards and 19 touchdowns a year ago, and has added 299 yards and two scores this year. But the big number is his yards per carry; Jeffery racks up 8.54 yards every time he touches the ball.

“He’s not your typical I-formation tailback,” Joseph said. “Will’s got good vision, he’s done a good job of playing within himself and he cuts it really well.”

The Tigers replaced three out of their five starting lineman, but are anchored by mammoth tackle Shep Klinke, a 6-foot-6, 290-pounder with a commitment to Texas A&M.

“He hasn’t played as well as what we’ve seen from him in the past so far this year,” Joseph said. “Shep has to be a big part of our offense. There is going to come a time where he needs to take care of his business and become the dominant player he should be.”

Katy’s other returning starter, senior Alfredo Gonzalez, missed six weeks of action with a broken foot during the summer and is working his way back into the lineup, Joseph said.

Behind center for the Tigers is senior quarterback Michael Stojkovic; in Katy’s first two games the passing game has been erratic, with the senior throwing three interceptions and two touchdowns in two games.

“We’re waiting for our passing game to come on,” Joseph said. “Michael has not thrown the ball to what he’s capable of.”

The Tigers also have a talented tight end in 6-6 Zach Swanson, a Stanford commit with great upside, Joseph said.

One thing the Tiger’s don’t lack is size and strength. Katy has six lineman on the roster over 6-foot-3, where as Thayer is Bellevue’s biggest lineman, at 6-3, 240-pounds.

“We know they’re big, at least compared to us,” Thayer said. “We’re expecting them to be like a college football team, the way that they play.”

Katy will be without junior running back Donovonn Young, who was injured in Katy’s week one 9-7 win over North Shore. He’ll miss the next five weeks with a broken foot.

Bellevue’s defense will be led by First-Team All-KingCo linebacker John Kanongata’a and safeties Nick Moyer and Brayden Van Ackeron and, of course, by Moore on the defensive line, where the Bruins of UCLA have recruited him to play next season.

“We come to hit,” Moyer said.

When it comes to the matchup, Goncharoff and the Wolverines know they’re playing the role of the underdog – and that sits perfectly fine with them.

“We heard all the talk when we played De La Salle [who had a 151-game winning streak before the Wolverines bet them 39-20 in 2004],” Goncharoff said. “When we walked in there, there were maybe 30 people who thought we could win, and they were the parents of the kids. No one is picking us in this game.”

Ask any of the Wolverines. They don’t mind they’re the dark horse in this “Clash of the Champions II”.

“It’s always nice to be the underdog,” said Connor.

“Everyone expects us to lose; we have everything to gain,” Kanongata’a said.

They have everything to lose right now because they’re sitting on top,” Fields added. “We’re hungry to take that away.”

Bellevue has a history of knocking off giants, starting with De La Salle and continuing with such California powerhouses as Long Beach Poly (2006) and California High School (2008). It’s a list that they hope to add Katy to tonight.

“Everyone talks about Texas football being a big thing, but no one knows what we have here in Washington,” Kanongata’a said. “They’re good, but the teams they’ve played, we’ve seen better, and we’ve played better.”