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KNOXVILLE -- Heavy rains soaked Bob Black Field in the hour before the Alcoa Tornadoes and Fulton Falcons took the field, stopping just in time for kickoff.

The downpour created a giant, bold rainbow in the downtown Knoxville skies as the game got underway. It may have also led to the suspension of the football game Thursday night at Fulton High School.

With Alcoa leading 20-7, a sinkhole opened up near the stands-side sideline at the 41-yard line on the west side of the still-drenched field with 6:33 left to play in the fourth quarter. The field was declared unplayable and play was suspended for the night. The remaining minutes of the game will be played at Alcoa High School's Goddard Field at 5 p.m. today. Admission is free.

It wasn't exactly the ending Tornadoes coach Gary Rankin had in mind.

"We asked officials to try to put it on one end and play just 50 yards," said the coach of the 3-0 Tornadoes. "They would have nothing to do with it.

"I wanted to finish the game. ... It was for the safety of the kids. That was the official's call and they weren't going to budge on it. We tried to ... come up with every scenario we could to finish the game, but the officials wouldn't do it."

Thursday night wasn't the first time that Bob Black Field had problems with sinkholes, according to Fulton coach Buck Coatney. "We've had problems in the past, but it's been fixed several times," said the coach of the 2-1 Falcons, who had also asked the officials to finish the game on a half field to no avail.

Coatney himself noticed those problems first-hand "about four or five years ago" when he was mowing the field.

"I was here the first time it caved in. It's scary."

Alcoa, the No. 1 team in Class 3A, had taken control of the game midway through the third quarter when Fulton second-string quarterback Nick Lethgo floated a ball right to the Tornadoes Austin Tallant. Tallant returned the pick 31 yards for a touchdown, giving his team the 20-7 advantage it carries into today's conclusion.

The Falcons, ranked No. 2 in Class 4A, marched down the field against Alcoa on the opening drive. A third-down pass interference call on the Tornadoes gave Fulton a first down at their 47-yard line. The Falcons proceeded to chew 7:20 minutes of clock in the first quarter before quarterback Ben Winters found receiver Micah Pitchford on a play-action strike for 25 yards and the touchdown.

Alcoa responded by doing what it has been doing best: pounding the opposing defense. The Tornadoes ran eight times for 64 yards on their first drive of the game, which extended into the second quarter. Toney capped the drive with an 11-yard scamper seven seconds into the second quarter, but kicker Roberto Castro's extra point clanged off the left upright, leaving Fulton ahead 7-6.

The Tornadoes took the lead before halftime on a drive that ate up nearly all of the last six minutes of the second quarter. A Fulton encroachment penalty on fourth down, with Alcoa lined up to punt, kept the drive alive.

"We did some good things," Coatney said. "That shift punt, we jump offsides. We make them punt there, we get a chance to go in ahead at halftime. A crucial mistake."

With Alcoa on its own 46, Tallant, playing quarterback, found receiver Steven Isom downfield after a pump fake to put his team in Fulton's red zone. Toney capped off the drive with a 2-yard run, and Castro tacked on the extra point to give Alcoa a 13-7 lead.

Tallent was 4-of-9 passing for 62 yards -- his most meaningful aerial performance in three games -- before play was stopped.

"It was wet. We weren't going to throw a whole lot, but we made some throws at times," Rankin said. "And I really felt we were in good control of the game until they stopped it."