ESPN RISE

State championships in football will be decided in a few states this weekend. But, in the largest classes in Utah and Wisconsin, the title games will be the rubber matches for foes who will be meeting for the third straight season in the playoffs.

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Mark Tennis

Coach Les Hamilton and Alta won the 2007 Utah state championship.

In the Utah Class 5A championship game Friday, which will be played on the same Rice-Eccles Stadium turf that will be used the next day by BYU and Utah in a titanic college matchup, defending champion Alta of Sandy (12-1) not only will be playing Bingham of South Jordan (11-2) for the third straight year in the playoffs but for the second time this season.

In the second regular-season game on Aug. 29, Alta handed Bingham its second straight loss, 27-19.

Last year, the Hawks nipped Bingham 21-17 in the semifinals before winning the final game over Layton 19-7. In 2006, Bingham's Miners squeezed past Alta in the title game by 21-19.

Last weekend, in the semifinals, Alta ousted Syracuse 42-14, with quarterback Ammon Olsen playing a major role. Olsen connected on 17 of 27 passes for 263 yards and four touchdowns and rushed 20 times for 99 yards and a fifth score for coach Les Hamilton's team.

Alta is unbeaten versus in-state foes this season with the lone loss to Grant of Sacramento, Calif., by 35-28.

The Miners, meanwhile, have won 11 straight games since starting with an 0-2 record. Bingham bowed to Skyline of Salt Lake City 24-17 in its debut before the loss to Alta.

The Miners, coached by Dave Peck, avenged the Skyline loss last weekend in the semifinals, 37-15. Running back Harvey Langi led the offense with 174 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Quarterback Jake Soffe has led the Miners all season and enters the game with over 2,000 passing yards on 137 completions in 191 attempts.

In the Wisconsin Division 1 title game Friday, which will be played at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, defending champion Arrowhead of Hartland (13-0) will be facing Homestead of Mequon (13-0) for the third straight year in the finals. Arrowhead won 31-7 in last year's final, but two years ago it was Homestead that rolled 35-0.

Reaching the state finals has become old hat for Arrowhead, which is participating in a state-record ninth title game. Coach Tom Taraska has guided the Warhawks to six finals since 2000. Homestead, meanwhile, is seeking its third championship in its fourth final.

Arrowhead also enters Friday's finals with a 27-game win streak and a No. 28 ranking in the ESPN RISE FAB 50.

The Warhawks have outscored 13 victims by 522-153 with an offense built around two juniors -- quarterback Tom Parish, whose father and grandfather were both Big Ten Conference college quarterbacks, and two-way back Brian Crook, the MVP of last year's title game. Place-kicker Jeff Budzien, who has kicked a 55-yard field goal, is another weapon.

Homestead coach Dave Teel has received topflight efforts from junior wide receiver-kick returner Mike Collins. In the 35-21 semifinal win over Middleton last weekend, Collins scored all five touchdowns -- three on receptions, one on a kickoff return and another on an end-around play. Senior quarterback Casey Barnes runs the offense and the defense is anchored by end Shelby Harris, a University of Wisconsin recruit.

With postseason play under way across the land, this weekend will see titles decided in Utah and Wisconsin. And if familiarity breeds excitement, the Arrowhead versus Homestead and Alta versus Bingham battles are sure to please.

NATIONAL COACH OF THE WEEK

After reviewing highlights from last weekend's various state championship games in South Dakota, we had no choice but to give the nod to Tom Culver, who directed his nine-man team at Avon High of Avon, S.D., to a state title with a 37-8 victory over Gettysburg.

The win marked the 100th in Culver's coaching career and gave the school its second state crown in four years.

What further sets apart Culver from other coaches who have won or perhaps will win state football titles this year is that it was only one month ago when he returned from a one-year tour of duty in Iraq. Culver was deployed with the South Dakota National Guard. Welcome back, Tom, thanks for your service, and glad to see you didn't miss a beat as a football coach.

LOGAN'S HEROES

He hasn't won 400 games, but if you ask most football fans to identify Mullen High of Denver coach Dave Logan, they will probably get that look as they scan their memory bank until, "Oh yeah, Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos tight end." Or, if they're from Colorado and old enough, they might remember him as a three-sport standout at Wheat Ridge High.

Logan, in addition to being the voice of the Denver Broncos, is a pretty fair high school coach who has his 9-2 Mustangs in the semifinals of the state 5A playoffs, where the Mustangs face 10-2 Poudre of Fort Collins after a 38-21 win over second-seeded and previous unbeaten Rocky Mountain of Fort Collins last week. Mullen has scored 38 points in each of the playoff games.

The losses this year have come to national power Rockhurst of Kansas City and a 17-10 setback to Grandview of Aurora, which was upset in the quarterfinals.

Logan recently was inducted into the hall of fame at the University of Colorado, where he played football and basketball all four years and is still one of only two athletes to be drafted by three pro teams. Can you name the other? (Dave Winfield)

FIVE-WAY TIE FOR FIRST

Most high school football players, coaches and fans know how hard it can be to deal with a three-way tie at the top of league standings in which the three teams involved are 1-1 against each other.

In Southern California last week, though, coaches and officials from the Sunset League, which is located in Orange County, had to wrestle with a five-way tie for first. After Esperanza of Anaheim had beaten Edison of Huntington Beach 16-3, and Newport Harbor of Newport Beach had nipped Los Alamitos 24-23, the league standings showed all four of those teams plus Fountain Valley sporting identical 3-2 records.

The coaches of the five teams involved gathered inside a locker room and according to league by-laws had to use games of chance to break the tie. First up was drawing names out of a hat, which eliminated Newport Harbor. Next up was flipping coins, which placed Edison in the No. 4 position and forced the Chargers to apply for an at-large position in the CIF Southern Section Pac-Five Division playoffs. They didn't get in.

The league's other three teams -- Esperanza, Fountain Valley and Los Alamitos -- did qualify for the playoffs. Los Alamitos is opening up against unbeaten Tesoro of Las Flores in a matchup that will pit Tesoro head coach Brian Barnes against his father, John Barnes, the head coach at Los Alamitos.

Doug Huff is a senior editor of ESPN RISE and is a member of the National Federation Hall of Fame. He has been compiling national and regional rankings in multiple sports since 1987 and is credited as the founder of the national record book. Mark Tennis and Steve Brand also contributed to this column.