| 12:00 AM, Nov. 18, 2011 | SALT LAKE CITY - It doesn't have the history. It doesn't carry any bad blood between the programs. It hasn't even been that competitive in the four meetings.
Surely it's a better rivalry on the basketball court, where one crowd uses one side's perennial failure in a particular game against a particular team as a taunt.
Yet make no mistake when Desert Hills and Hurricane take the field today at 6:30 p.m. to play for the 3A state title at Rice-Eccles Stadium: Emotions will be high and it won't be just because it's for all the marbles.
"It's a big game. There will be a lot of hype," Desert Hills quarterback Porter Harris said. "You just come out and play hard. I'm not going to say there will be some (chippy moments), but we'll go out and play hard."
The Tigers own a 3-1 advantage in the four-year history of the rivalry with the Thunder's lone win coming in 2009 - a 27-20 upset.
But the rivalry's history can date back to when the seniors were just seventh and eighth graders, competing in little league ball.
Desert Hills running back Mike Needham recalled playing Hurricane in area title games, and said it's a nice coincidence that the two teams are playing for a much larger crown.
"It's definitely weird," he said. "Every year, we've played them and it's back and forth between us winning. It's weird to see them on the field across from us for a state title."
Hurricane's Weston Yardley also recalled those days and he spoke highly of the competitive nature of the Thunder players, regardless of what sport is being played.
"Basketball and football, they're competitors and they know how to win," Yardley said. "I've known those guys over there since elementary and middle school. There is a huge rivalry. They're all great guys. ... It's been fun growing up playing those guys."
Some players - like Desert Hills' Ty Rutledge - aren't getting sucked into the whole Region 9 rivalry aspect of the title game.
He said the atmosphere of playing for a state championship is all he needs to get up for playing, and that taking on the Tigers - a game he was injured in - is just icing on the cake.
"It's the state title game and we're from the same region. There is already so much hype around it," he said. "That's what you play for. There is one person standing in front of a state title. It definitely brings the intensity to a whole new level."
Hurricane coach Chris Homer has taken a similar approach to Rutledge, only he's asking his players to just treat it like another week and not get sucked into the hoopla surrounding the game.
"You want to keep them focused and keep them off the blogs and Facebook," Homer said. "We just say, 'protect the team.' That's something we've ingrained in our kids. We're always preaching protect the team. We're trying to stay within our routine. We're trying to go the other way with (dealing with the rivalry hype)."
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