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The Alcoa High School football team arrived at Shields Stadium on Friday night expecting to finally have a chance to end Maryville's stranglehold on one of the state's fiercest rivalries.

The Tornadoes left dwelling on the same thought they had after each of the previous seven meetings.

Maybe next year.

The Rebels maintained the upper hand in their recently one-sided series with archrival Alcoa, rallying from an early 7-0 deficit and breaking a fourth-quarter tie to escape with a 20-13 victory, their eighth consecutive win over the Tornadoes.

An estimated crowd of nearly 10,000 watched Maryville (2-0) extend its overall winning streak to 62 games with an opportunistic offense and a defense that clamped down on Alcoa (1-1) after allowing a touchdown on the game's opening drive.

The Rebels broke a 13-13 tie with 7:44 remaining on a 6-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Philip Juhlin to tailback Buddy Jones and kept the Tornadoes from reaching midfield on either of their final two drives.

It was a familiar ending to a game that lived up to its billing as a toss-up between four-time defending state champions.

"I think our players felt a little bit slighted, a little bit disrespected," Maryville coach George Quarles said of the pregame hype that Alcoa might top the Rebels for the first time since 2000. "Maybe it motivated them."

The Tornadoes left shaking their heads at the thought of another opportunity slipping away against the Rebels, much like it did in Maryville's 17-14 home win in 2006.

"I thought this was the year we were going to get them," said Alcoa quarterback Chase James, who finished 4-of-11 passing for 74 yards and threw a costly interception in the final minute of the first half.

"I thought we had improved so much this year, and as you can see, we have a little bit. We played a great game, but we made too many mistakes."

It didn't look that way from the start.

Alcoa took an early 7-0 lead, driving 78 yards on a 12-play opening drive that included three conversions of third-and-10 or longer and ended with a 17-yard touchdown run by James on third-and-14.

The Rebels missed a 50-yard field-goal attempt on their opening drive before Thomas Shuler, who rushed for a game-high 101 yards, scored on a 1-yard run late in the second quarter to tie it at 7-7.

A botched pitch from James to tailback Jaron Toney set up a 36-yard field goal by Zach Sharp that put Maryville ahead 10-7 late in the second quarter. An interception by Jamal Brazan in the final seconds of the half allowed Sharp to push the Rebels' lead to 13-7 with a 29-yard kick as time expired.

James said his interception, which came on a deep pass intended for Sam Thompson, was the turning point in the game.

"We made some mistakes that hurt us, and they hit some plays that we'd worked on," Alcoa coach Gary Rankin said. "Our kids just didn't execute. But (Maryville was) a little better ball club tonight. There wasn't any doubt."

The game, however, remained in doubt until late.

The Tornadoes rallied for a 13-13 tie on a fumble recovery in the end zone by lineman Marcel Walden. Fullback Taharin Tyson had rumbled inside the 5-yard line with a 16-yard run before being stripped from behind.

The snap on the ensuing extra point, which could have given Alcoa the lead, bounced in front of holder Logan Sharp, who rolled to his left and threw over the head of sophomore Darrell Warren.

"That was big," Quarles said. "I think them missing the extra point gave us a little bit of, 'We're not done yet. We don't have to go score right now.' It allowed us to be a little bit more conservative, I think, instead of having to really lay it out there."

Alcoa had only one first down on its two fourth-quarter possessions.

"We made mistakes, and just because of this game, you have to come out and play it like any other game," said Tornadoes receiver Sam Thompson, who didn't have a reception. "You can't get wrapped up in all this emotion. That's something I think we struggled with.

"When the tide turns, we kind of got our heads down and weren't able to recover like we should have been able to."

The final touchdown pass by Juhlin, who passed for 64 yards and rushed for 61 more, came on a familiar play.

"We've worked that play over and over and over," Rankin said. "It wasn't nothing we didn't know. We just didn't play it."

Alcoa returns to action next week with a trip to White House, while Maryville will play host to Region 3-4A rival Clinton.