Not so very long ago, the television in the Dalton family home was dialled in to ESPN3. On screen, unsurprisingly, a football game.

“My wife,’’ reports Andy Dalton, three-time NFL Pro Bowl quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals, “comes over, kinda looks at the screen and she’s like: ‘Why are you watching Calgary playing …?’ Whoever it was.

“I told her: ‘Well, see that guy, the quarterback? He went to high school with me. He’s from Katy.’ ”

And Katy boys stick together.

The ties between Dalton and the subject of the TV attention that particular day, Calgary Stampeders’ signal-caller Bo Levi Mitchell, stretch back over a decade.

Back to pre-fame days. Back to high-school years. Back to home.

Mitchell apprenticed behind and then replaced the graduating Dalton as resident-star-on-campus for the Katy Tigers back in Texas.

Andy Dalton

Since then, each man – the Red Rifle and the Texas Gunslinger – has carved out a signature career for himself.

Dalton ranks as one of only six QBs to throw for over 3,000 yards in his first three NFL campaigns, one of but five to toss 20 or more TDs over the same time frame. No one in Bengals history has accumulated more passing yards or tossed more touchdowns in a season, 33 in 2013.

Mitchell is the reigning CFL MOP, has thrown for over 19,000 yards in not yet four years at the Stampeder helm, fashioned an all-time best 12-1 W-L record to open his account as a No. 1 and owns a Grey Cup ring.

Their paths may have veered off in divergent directions and their respective leagues are vastly different in rules, scope and renumeration.

But at the heart of it, they’re both quarterbacks.

Both Katy boys.

Both pulling for one another.

“Bo just plays with a lot of confidence,’’ says Dalton. “That’s obvious watching him. He’s prepared. He can make every throw, move around and make plays.

“It’s fun to see, the success he’s had.

“Didn’t they win a Grey Cup his first year as the starter? Well, there you go. And he’s progressed since then, proven himself to be one of the best in the CFL.

“I definitely follow him as much as I can. Katy boys stick together.”

Dalton’s first glimpse of Mitchell, two years his junior, came at various diamonds around town. He and Bo’s brother Cory were part of the same baseball program.

“Andy played shortstop,’’ recalls Mitchell. “Awesome. I’m telling you, he was an amazing athlete. Good at any sport. Football. Baseball. You name it. They had a really, really competitive team. My brother, Andy, Will Thompson, Michael Johnson … To see them on the same baseball field was really cool.

“But even among all those all-stars, Andy was the leader.’

While the pair were at Katy High together, the QB-in-waiting used the school star as his mentor, his case-study.

“He wasn’t the most vocal guy in the world but always first in the weight room, first to the field, first in the film room,’’ says Mitchell.

“Like all great leaders, you watched him.

“It’s instinctive. It’s natural.

“You’re only going to do that with guys who deserve it. Not only because he was the starting quarterback but because you felt he did all the right things, exuded all the right attributes you wanted to see in the position.

“He took responsibility on. He had this … presence.

“Being able to come up through the high-school ranks watching him was a learning experience every single day.

“I got to go to that game where he took Katy to the state championship and see how he handled himself. Unfortunately they lost” – 34-20 to South Lake Carroll – “but the way he conducted himself that entire time was a huge learning experience for me.”

Mitchell led Katy High School to the state championship in 2007

Two years later, in 2007, Mitchell would do what Dalton didn’t – push Katy to a Texas title. They would then go on to face each other twice in college, Bo Levi at SMU, Dalton at TCU.

“That,’’ says Mitchell, “was really cool. Two Katy boys going up against each other in Div 1.

“At heart, we just both love being hometown boys. We both love Katy, know what Katy’s done for us, playing in a great program with great coaches. In Katy, it’s all about respect. I respected Andy, never tried to act up or step on his toes as a younger guy.

“I just wanted to learn from him and he did a great job teaching me when he was there.’

That ‘Katy boys stick together’ theme is a familiar one.

“I think,’’ echoes Dalton, “it’s just kinda how you’re raised. The mentality of the program at Katy. The small-town community, small-town feel. You want to see everybody from there be successful.

“Growing up in Katy is so great. You’ve got the support of the entire community. For the kids who don’t get to go to play college or pro, the program there is the closest they can get to that kind of feel. It’s Friday Night Lights. You play, the city shuts down. Ten thousand-plus at games.

“It was cool. We had a good little run there of quarterbacks who got to play in college and then, obviously, for me and Bo to move on to the next level.”

The two men keep in sporadic touch. Both are extremely busy trying to win football games.

Dalton reckons they exchange texts or calls a couple of times a year. But whenever the chance arises to catch a Stamps game on TV, he’s tuned in.

And vice-versa.

Saturday, Mitchell and the Stampeders make the short trek up to Edmonton to face the Eskimos at Commonwealth.

A day later, Dalton and the Bengals host Indianapolis at Paul Brown Stadium.

“You watch Andy and he just slings it,’’ says Mitchell admiringly.

“As I said before, just one heckuva athlete. A heckuva quarterback. A heckuva career.

“I’ve got so much respect for the guy.

“For all he’s done, all he’s accomplished, man, you’ve just gotta tip your hat to him.”

Right back at ya, Katy boy.