Whitey Nelmark paid me a visit Tuesday afternoon.

"I need to talk with the big guy," he quipped, standing at the counter with that trademark Whiteyesque grin.

When Whitey speaks, you always want to listen. The man has witnessed more R.A. Long High School sporting events in person than God and Joe Moses put together.

Whitey had some papers in his hand, which could only mean one thing. He had something to show me, probably something concerning Friday’s Civil War football game between the Lumberjacks and Monarchs that will decide the Greater St. Helens 2A League championship.

"In 1988, R.A. Long beat Mark Morris to force a tie with Prairie for the league title, and those three teams played off to see who went to the playoffs," he explained, pointing to the papers.

On Tuesday, we reported that the last time the Jacks and Monarchs met in the Civil War to determine who would wear the league crown was 1987.

We were correct. But so was Whitey. Indirectly, anyway.

In ’88, RAL, MM and Prairie indeed finished tied for first with 3-1 records in the five-team Greater St. Helens AA League. The Monarchs topped the Falcons (6-0) and the Jacks (3-0) in a tiebreaker to advance to the postseason. The following week, they lost to Tumwater 26-19 to finish the season with a 3-7 record.

Thanks, Whitey. We owe you one.

Officially speaking, however, the ’87 War was the last in which the winner of the game secured the trophy.

It’ll happen again — finally — when the Jacks (7-1, 4-0 league) host the Monarchs (7-1, 4-0 league) at 7 p.m. Friday at Longview Memorial Stadium. A crowd of about 6,000 is expected, depending on weather conditions and exactly how many fans the security folks allow to surround the track.

Whitey isn’t the only person in town talking about this one. With apologies to Kelso, which has a huge home game against Battle Ground on Friday, it’s definitely a "Longview thing" this week.

By the time they finally kick this game off, some of you will be sick of reading about it. That’s what we’re here for, to make sure you know everything about this matchup as journalistically possible.

The folks over at KEDO radio, which is airing the game live, are also getting into the Civil War spirit with perhaps the longest high school football pregame show in our nation’s history. Well, at least in Longview history.

Kudos to play-by-play gentlemen Vern "Voice of the Monarchs" Foster (KEDO) and Ric "Voice of the Jacks" King (KBAM) for putting together a show that begins at 4 p.m. on Rocket-107 (KRQT 107.1 FM) and continues until KEDO takes over at 6:45.

What do Vern and Ric have planned for the extended show? Plenty of interviews and guests, including several sportswriters from this publication.

In other words, they’re really scraping.

The extra media attention this week is part of the excitement surrounding this football game. Whether you graduated a Lumberjack, Lumberjill, Monarch or Lady Monarch, this one hits home.

For a night, one of the Southwest Washington prep football spotlights will shine on Longview. And that’s no small achievement. Only four times in nearly 30 years have both teams entered the Civil War with winning records.

What’s going to happen Friday night? It’s Halloween eve, so there’s bound to be some masks, costumes and bite-size Snickers bars in the bleachers.

On the field, there will be the Monarchs’ strength in the trenches and superior rushing attack. There will be the Lumberjacks’ thrill-a-second, big-play game-breakers and an opportunistic defense that gobbles up turnovers.

Rest assured, it’ll be a Longview Halloween party like none other.

Pick a side. Read the stories. Listen to Vern and Ric.

Then prepare for a championship coronation in the Friday night drizzle that Whitey and countless others in red and blue will be talking about for years to come.