Terry Smith sounded weary when he answered the phone in Gateway High School's athletic office yesterday afternoon.

"It's just been crazy out here," said Smith, who is Gateway's football coach and athletic director. "People just keep coming and buying tickets for this game."

"This game" is the game on the first night of high school football in the WPIAL. Gateway plays host to Central Catholic tonight in a showdown between two Class AAAA powers.

Central Catholic is the defending WPIAL Class AAAA champion and the Post-Gazette's No. 1-ranked AAAA team in the WPIAL and PIAA. Gateway is ranked No. 3 in the WPIAL.

What makes this game more interesting, though, is it features the two premier players in Western Pennsylvania.

Gateway running back/defensive back Justin King is ranked among the top 10 players in the country by some scouting services.

Central Catholic features standout running back Eugene Jarvis.

Considering Jarvis was the Post-Gazette player of the year in 2003, this could be a matchup of "The king vs. King."

And considering the teams involved, could there be a better opener?

"I think they're different kinds of players, but you're talking about two of the most electrifying players in the state," Smith said.

"Anytime these two guys touch the ball, you might see them do their thing. For me as a coach, I love to see great players go out and battle each other and make each other better."

King, a 6-foot, 185-pound senior, rushed for 1,763 yards on 214 carries last season and scored 31 touchdowns in 11 games. He has scholarship offers from colleges across the country to play defensive back.

Jarvis (5-7, 165) rushed for 1,683 on 225 attempts and scored 39 touchdowns in 15 games last season. He does not play defense.

But neither King nor Jarvis is making this game into a personal battle.

In fact, King hates talking about the subject.

"I just don't like when people start arguing about me, if I'm better than another player," King said. "I can't stand that stuff."

King has received loads of preseason publicity.

"He really hates all this hype," said Smith, who is King's stepfather. "He'd rather just go out and play football."

Jarvis said, "Everyone thinks this game is me against Justin King. I don't see it that way. I see it as Central Catholic vs. Gateway. It's just a highly anticipated game."

But Jarvis does have some personal feelings about the game.

"I feel like I still have something to prove," he said. "People think I'm a one-hitter quitter. I take one hit and I'm down. So I feel I have to prove consistency and show that last year was not a fluke."

Fans shouldn't turn their head from the field because Jarvis and King can make big plays in an instant.

King can run the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds. Jarvis has run it in 4.46.

"But I don't have that track speed. I have football speed," Jarvis said. "Justin has that breakaway track speed."

King and Jarvis actually were teammates for one season, playing for the Kingsley Knights midget league team when they were 9.

The funny thing is King played tight end, and Jarvis was the halfback.

"I didn't even remember Justin until some people started showing me some team pictures a year or two ago and said to me, 'Look, there's Justin King,' " Jarvis said.

Tonight, they'll reintroduce themselves, and both teams might find out just how good they really are.

This is a game Smith pursued back in the winter. The WPIAL schedules all games for teams except the season opener. In December Smith sent Central Catholic coach Art Walker a congratulatory letter on winning the WPIAL.

At the end of the letter Smith suggested the two teams play in the season opener. Walker liked the idea.

"We're looking to try and build our team into a traditional power," Smith said. "What better way to do that than to play the best team out there.

"The added pleasure is they have a great back in Jarvis and we have Justin."