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Show Scoreboard BmImm Weather SPORTS B5 BS B12 EDITOR: STEVE CAMERON Bl THE DAILY HERALD 3 OCTOBER 29, THURSDAY, m-- jj TITLE AT STAKE? i r By TAD WALCH Dick Harmon The Daily Herald Sometimes playing the game can be rewarding enough OREM It's state playoff time for football teams, and no doubt some prep individual dreams will be launched. On the other hand, dozens of other athletes who've worked hard, played hard and given the game every drop of energy will have to sit back and watch. Take the case of Timpanogos quarterback Brennen Thome, whose season is over. Brennen is the school's student body president, but he's a football player first. And playing football is all Brennen ever wanted to do. When Timpanogos opened its doors, quite a few of its students came Mountain View over from cross-tow- n High. Brennen decided he'd go with the new school and break some ground. He believed in his heart he'd have a better chance to contribute PROVO Here's one reason why there's a Mountain West Conference. When the WAC expanded to 16 r hiatus in teams, it caused a the conference's best showcase: BYU vs. San Diego State. This annual fireworks display had been played on national television for seven consecutive years until expansion placed the two schools in separate divisions and erased them from each other's schedules in 1996 and 1997. "We're looking forward (to resuming the series)," Cougar coach LaVeil Edwards said. "We think it's going to be a very tough, very good game. We've had a lot of good ones on Thursday night in the past." 1995 BYU by 10 AT A CLANCEi Tonight 'a winner has the inside track to Pacific Division title and spot in WAC title game. In the last seven meetings between these teams, they've combined to average 79 points per game. BYU'a Rormey Jenkins (offense) and SDSU's Kabeer Gbaja-Biamil- a (defense) are division play-er- a of the week. That's putting it mildly. As it did with tonight's game (6 p.m. at Cougar Stadium), ESPN moved the matchup to Thursday night from 1992 through '94. And why not? The three previous games had ended and with scores of That last game still stands as the tie in NCAA history. ESPN's Thursday night games between the Cougars and Aztecs were and just as exciting: This time around, both teams are relying more on defense than offense. "Both of us have been in that category this year," Edwards said. "I've been very impressed with San Diego WHENi Tonight MTEi Cougar Stadium KICKOFFi 6:07 p.m. TV. ESPN RADIO Cougar Network, including KSLC1160AM) RECORDSt San Diego State 4-- overall. 4-- 0 two-yea- Mill 1 3-- 1 WAC; BYU 5-SERIES BYU leads, 16-5-- 1 LAST MEETIMGt BYU won 9 at home m (1989-1995- ), (p espe- 48-2- 7, 62-3- 4 52-5- highest-scorin- g 45-3- 35-2- 45-4- 4 O 0 r- r ..J g - Yt ; 40-yar- d re-bro- HE PLAYED the rest of the seamatter of fact. Brennen refused to let his senior season seep out of his football life. His mother, Shannon, fixed him up with a plastic cast specially designed to fit over the hump on the top of his hand. When Brennen received snaps from the center, the ball would slap into his hand and the pain would skyrocket to his brain. But he endured. And he threw. Brennen played the final two games with this broken hand. Today, he returns to Dr. Banks to see if he needs surgery again. But last Friday, Brennen finished his dream, which actually turned out to be a nightmare. He stood on the field and battled his former friends and buddies at Mountain View. Those old pals pounded Timpanogos to the tune of 54-and Timpanogos Scores like that has suffered a few rip at the guts, but Brennen never quit. Not even when the dream of postseason glory came crashing down. Mountain View, by the way, begins what it hopes will be a run toward the state title with a playoff game Saturday. Brennen Thome, meanwhile, is ending tapes to colleges and dreaming of another day. son, 4 f first-roun- d - Dick Harmon is a sports writer and regular columnist for The Daily Herald. ft ,x f "1f HEATHER Big gun: Ohio ? 46-4- 3 electricity. Should San Diego State (4-- 3 overall, 0 WAC) win, the Aztecs would all but lock up the Pacific Division title. "If you're two games up on everybody with three to play, you're in pretty good shape," admits San Diego State coach Ted Tollner, who was Edwards' quarterback coach in 1981, when Jim 4-- See COUGS..B2 Lockout claims another two weeks of season , season-openin- 52-52- Goodbye, November cially on the football field. Some of his buddies who stayed never let Brennen forget he left. But contribute he did. IT WAS no joyride, obviously, as Timpanogos got its teeth kicked in week after week, but Brennen and his teammates battled on. Finally, the school got its first win, an emotional victory over Copper Hills this year. But wins don't come easy for young teams. Or young schools. In fact, there wasn't another the entire season. Brennen busted his throwing hand in Game 4 against Alta, and sat out three games after American Fork orthopedic surgeon Dr. Alan Banks operated and inserted four screws into the hand. "The most frustrating part of the year was sitting out watching," Brennen said. And so he started throwing again. Eventually, Thome could manage heaves. But then he the hand trying to practice for a showdown with Orem. "I just wanted to see if I could throw," Brennen said. The next week, with a busted hand, Brennen suited up and played against Brighton. ' State's defense. They've always had good quick'-nes- s and team speed on defense, but! think they're more physical and stronger up front than what I've seen J in the past." So, no repeat of "I wouldn't think so," Edwards with said, "but I didn't expect Z San Jose State, so who knows?" Even if the touchdown gods don't revisit this game, it'll have plenty of State quarterback Joe Germaine prepares to deliver a pass in W. STONEKnight-Ridde- r Saturday's victory over Northwestern. Germaine: The one who got away By BEN STAPLEY Herald Correspondent Flash back COLUMBUS, Ohio to January of 1994, when a quiet kid from Arizona took a recruiting trip to BYU. He'd thrown the ball like a wizard at Mesa Mountain View, a perennial state powerhouse, and dreamed of becoming another product of the famous "Quarterback Factory" in in another direction. Now, almost five years later, that a Mormon from same quarterback right down the road who was finds bypassed by the Cougars himself a Heisman Trophy candidate who's very busy leading Ohio State toward what could be a national championship. For BYU, this looks like the classic story of "the one that got away." Yes, he's Joe Germaine, the gunner now running the show for the ple of touchdowns in just three quarters a few weeks ago, Gopher coach Glen Mason said, "It's one thing to watch him on film, but when you get to stand on the sideline and watch how he directs the whole show, he's everything you want in a quarterback." So what were BYU coaches thinking when they let Germaine stroll off Buckeyes. backs. 200-poun- Provo. d No.l-ranke- d When the time came for scholarship offers, however, BYU coach La Veil Edwards and his staff went into the sunset? "It was really a timing thing," Edwards said. "We knew he could play. We just had too many quarter- After Germaine tore apart Minnesota for 339 yards and a cou David Stern NEW YORK (AP) cut two more weeks off the NBA schedule, debated the finer points of the lockout with Michael Jordan, and then met with the players to see if the sides could compromise on the "guts" of a new deal. ; "I feel neither optimism nor pessimism. I just think that we've got to talk," the NBA commissioner said. "We may have the skeleton of a deal, but in terms of a hard negotiation on the guts of this deal, I would say we're no place yet." The cancellations, which wiped out the rest of the November schedule, came after a meeting of the league's Board of Governors at which some owners asked when the "drop dead" date would be for losing the entire regular season. Stern said he did not want to set a deadline. "One, we want to be ready to be imaginative," he said. "Two, we don't want to make threats; we want to make a deal." With that, he and the owners' negotiating committee walked out of their news conference, took an elevator three flights up, and went into a conference room where about 100 players had been meeting. According to several sources who. were in the room and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, Jordan, Washington Wizards owners Abe Pollin and Stem had one of the most heated exchanges after Jordan asked why increases in franchise values were See LOCKOUT, B3 See GERMAINE, B2 No distractions for preps By DOROTHY KNOELL ' Foetal p!ycff The Daily Herald The coast is clear. So local fans, players and coaches can gear up for a weekend of prep football playoffs. There won't be any local college football to distract folks from the first round of the prep football playoffs BYU plays tonight, while Snow is at Ricks, and Utah is at San Jose State Saturday. So Friday and Saturday are free and clear for the preps. And there should be plenty of entertaining games. Eight local teams swing into action Friday, with another three playing on Saturday. Region 6 champion Pleasant Grove Friday ' Box Elder at Pleasant Grove, 4 p.m. Logan at Lone Peak. 4 p.m Woods Cross at Timpview. 3 p.m. Springville at Bountiful, 4 p.m. American Fork at Olympus, 3 p.m. Park City at North Sanpete. 7 p.m. Rich at Manti, 2 p.m. Juab at Kanab, 6 p.m. SATURDAY Viewmont at Mountain View, t p.m. Union at Delta, 2 p.m. Dixie at Lehi. noon North Sanpete both start their bids for state titles on Friday. o - and Region 8 champion See PREPS, B2 MARC IXSTEKThe Dtilv HcnU On back Josh Dean, shown breaking away from Prow's Sperry earlier this season, leads his team against Logan on Friday. the go: Kenny v. Lone Peak running |