The Daily Times

Leis to the left, a 6-foot walking tomato with legs to the right. Cheers for big plays, some boos for the officials, smoke rising from the grill and a watery eye or two for the enormous number of pink shirts. And in between it all, a trio of football games.

The second Kickoff Classic proved even bigger and better than the first Saturday.

The event rotated to Alcoa’s Goddard Field for it’s fitting spot as the Kickoff to the season and the start of Maryville-Alcoa week. The cars lined the streets, filled the grass around the Alcoa schools and kept the gate workers busy in hourly rushes after Alcoa Middle opened the afternoon with a makeup game against Webb Middle that ended in a bruising 50-point home win,

Maryville High battled Cleveland in the opener of the prep affair that followed. The Rebel students came decked for a pool party sporting beach balls, leis a grass skirt or two and a lot of new leadership in the chants and cheers department.

Following on Friday’s display of pink at William Blount as the school mourned the loss of one of its own this week — junior Amelia Keown, who was killed in a traffic accident Tuesday — the pink shirts were out in force again Saturday as the entire county showed its support for WB and the family.

Alcoa closed off the day-long pigskin party taking on Webb in a clash of run dominant offenses that stood in stark contrast to the nearly three-hour affair Maryville and Cleveland put on with the Blue Raiders’ no-huddle, snap-fast passing game.

At the end of the night the clean up crews moved in as the last fans departed and the fans who got along so well Saturday marked the calendar for the week that starts today as a countdown to the Six Mile Series and its high noon on Sunday showdown slated for ESPN2.