Football: James Logan Looks for Second Straight MVAL Title

This is the kind of game the Union City and Fremont communities get excited about.

 A pair of undefeated Mission Valley Athletic League teams will clash in Union City Friday at 7 p.m. when defending league champion hosts Washington in the regular-season finale for both teams.

"It's been a huge rivalry for I don't know how many plus years," Logan coach George Zuber said. "There's a trophy at stake (Pop Gould Trophy) and a league championship at stake. There's going to be a great atmosphere."

Both teams come in with identical 5-0 league records. The last time Logan (7-2 overall), which is ranked , played a game of this caliber was in the 2007 season when it beat a then-undefeated Newark team in the regular-season finale to win the MVAL crown.

Washington, which went 0-4 in non-league games this year and is searching for a third league title since the 1998 season, brings in a 5-4 mark and a passing game that is second to none in the MVAL.

In 2008, Washington beat Logan 14-7 in a thriller and the Huskies would go on to cap a perfect 6-0 league mark.

"We're still trying to recover from that loss," Zuber said. "It was in the last minute of the game on a huge drive at the end to win it. To lose the league title was a little painful. We know Washington has just as good a shot as we do. We're going to work our butts off and if we don't win, we're going to be bent out of shape."

Logan is coming off a in which the starters played four quarters for the first time in a month due to four-straight blowouts.

"We're getting better each week and last week was another tests," Zuber said. "We played a physical game and got banged up but the guys went hard for four quarters of football. It was great preparation for this game."

The run game, which will be important for Logan to establish against Washington, was stellar against Newark with 401 yards. Sophomore Miles Long led the way with 241 rushing yards on 30 carries and a touchdown. Teammate and fellow sophomore Damond Beasley dashed his way 116 yards on 15 carries after missing the John F. Kennedy game two weeks ago with a foot injury.

"For us to win, we can't let them do what they do best, run," Washington coach Ken Wittmer said. "We have to control the run game. We have to make them do things they're not best at."

Washington's best is its passing game, led by quarterback Anmol Singh, who has thrown for over 2,000 passing yards. His top targets have been wide receivers DeAndre Carter and Casey Jennings.

That will be a handful for Logan, which starts five sophomores on defense.

Both coaches , Logan in Division I and Washington in Division II.

And the timing of this game was perfect.

"To play Logan in the last game is huge for us," Wittmer said. "This brings everything together. It shows where we need to be."

Logan's opponents have gotten tougher in each of the past three weeks and this game will prepare the Colts for what to expect come playoff time.

"I'm happy with that (schedule) situation," Zuber said. "We built off Kennedy to Newark to Washington to our first playoffs game."