Going for five: Alcoa faces Milan in Class 2A state title game

By Leonard Butts
of The Daily Times Staff

Unprecedented.

It's a word that the Alcoa and Maryville football programs are getting used to seeing attached to their annual journeys to Murfreesboro.

Now it's time to use the word again when the Tornadoes (13-1) kick off tonight at 8 against Milan (14-0) in the BlueCross Bowl Class 2A title game. Alcoa will be playing for an unprecedented fifth straight championship.

Just like last season when coach Gary Rankin's squad rolled into MTSU's Floyd Stadium, these Tornadoes have been outscoring opponents by double figures and playing superb defense, and the unexpected has become the expected for the No. 1-ranked 2A team in the state.

Rebuilding? It's not in the vocabulary. This year's Alcoa squad is deeper and just as talented up and down the roster as any of the previous state champions -- and just as determined to raise the trophy.

"We're in the history books, but we're in the history books with Maryville," quarterback Chase James said before the season began. "That makes the team even hungrier (to get a fifth championship) than we were last year."

Alcoa may well do just that against unbeaten Milan in what could be one of the more physical matchups of the season.

"They're a power-run team and they like to throw the deep ball," Alcoa defensive lineman Adrian Womac said of the Bulldogs. "We've got to come in and be physical up front if we want to have a shot to win. It's just manning up and firing off the football."

Alcoa defensive coordinator Brian Nix, who made the mistake of promising his unit free pizza for every shutout they could produce this season (eight in all), says his players are ready for that kind of opponent.

"We've got physical kids. Our kids play hard and they're tough," Nix said. "Our kids are physical. They'll knock you around. That's what they do. We get them in position, we coach them, but they're the ones who go out there and do the hitting."

That kind of aggressive mentality starts early and builds to a crescendo as the season begins, defensive lineman Jeff Hickman said.

"Physical comes from summer workouts. It comes from practice all year long," he said.

And there's no discounting the confidence that a team can develop on both sides of the ball when playing for region titles and state championships becomes this habit forming.

After all, it's unprecedented.