Two decades ago, John Dunlop and Chris Reid played varsity soccer at George Washington in Northeast Philadelphia. Thursday, they will be coaching against each other in the PIAA Class AAA boys' soccer city championship game, with Reid managing his alma mater, the Public League champion, and Dunlop coaching the Catholic League champion, Father Judge, against his former Eagles.

"I'm getting e-mails and texts from my fellow alums from George Washington [that say] 'Take it easy on us,' 'Let us win one,' 'Always an Eagle, but we want you to win as well,' " Dunlop said Wednesday. "It'll be a great situation to have two alums going at it. I'm so excited to play my alma mater."

Dunlop and Reid both played on Public League championship teams under former Washington head coach Al Piano.

Dunlop, a 1985 graduate, lifted the league trophy in 1984 as a senior offensive midfielder, and Reid ('89) played the same position as a sophomore on the Eagles' 1986 championship squad.

"I don't know if Johnny knows me as well as I remember him and his name," Reid said humbly Wednesday, "but it's neat to go up against a fellow alum of Washington."

Reid means that Dunlop is not just any alumnus. The Judge coach holds Washington's all-time record with 27 goals in a season, and he is a member of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Hall of Fame.

After the 1984 championship, Dunlop was voted first-team All-everything - Public League, city and state. Then he played soccer on scholarship at Temple University, coached for nine seasons at Philadelphia University (with a 60-69-5 record in seven seasons as head coach) and joined Judge, where he is now in his eighth season.

Reid, who was recruited for baseball out of high school but did not play soccer after Washington, coached at Lock Haven University for a few years and spent the previous eight seasons as head soccer coach at Lamberton, a Public League program in West Philadelphia. He is in first season coaching the Eagles, who are soaring on a four-game win streak into Thursday's championship match.

"I'm hoping a lot of alumni that I played with and that John played with come out to the game," Reid said. "I think that would be kind of cool."

"I never had the opportunity to coach against Washington," Dunlop said, "and I have fond memories of the people there and the players there. We're very fortunate to be in a situation like this."

Father Judge (18-2-1) is ranked No. 1 in Southeastern Pennsylvania by the Inquirer and has surrendered only 12 goals this season. The Crusaders defeated Archbishop Ryan, 3-0, Tuesday night to win the Catholic League title.

Washington (10-2-1) took down Bartram, 2-0, in the Public League championship game Monday. That game also was at Northeast, the site of Thursday's deciding match.

The winner of Thursday's game will be the District 12 champion and will draw the second seed out of District 1 in the first round of the PIAA state tournament Nov. 10. The loser will face the District 1 champ in the first round on the same day.