Sept. 12, 2009 will be a clash of the titans. Or more appropriately, a clash of champions.

That night, the Bellevue High School football team, the defending 3A state champions, will travel approximately 2,450 miles to Katy, Texas, to take on the Katy High School Tigers in a matchup of national powers.

Katy has won back-to-back 5A state championships and have played for a state title in four of the past six seasons. Bellevue has won seven 3A state titles, including six in the last eight seasons.

“Texas high school football is known for exhibiting great traditions, great coaching, phenomenal skills and determination from their athletes, and Katy is certainly no exception,” said Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff through a press release. “We are honored and excited to participate in a match-up against such an outstanding group of athletes.”

Katy is one of only 11 Texas high schools to have won six state championships. Head coach Gary Joseph is 68-7 since being elevated to head coach in 2004, after a 22-year stay with the Tigers as an assistant coach.

Katy played an out-of-state matchup with Weston Cypress Bay of Florida last season, a 31-6 Tiger win. Cypress Bay, a 6A school, is one of the nation’s largest high schools.

“We are very excited to host a national-caliber program such as Bellevue,” Joseph said. “Playing Cypress Bay last year in front of a national TV audience and a Katy crowd proved to be an experience that both teams will remember. We look forward to that same type of excitement with Bellevue.”

Bellevue is 4-0 against out-of-state competition; its most notable wins coming against Long Beach Poly of Calif., in 2005, and in 2004, when the Wolverines stopped Concord (Calif.) De La Salle’s winning streak at a record 151 games.

Bellevue will also play the California state champion Grant High School of Sacramento in the CBA Football Classic on Saturday, Sept. 19 at Seattle Memorial Stadium.