Rivalry game draws smaller crowd
The annual high school football showdown between Maryville and Alcoa brought out a smaller-than-usual crowd this year.
An estimated crowd of just more than 7,000, Alcoa athletic director Josh Stephens said Thursday, watched the Tornadoes end the Rebels’ eight-game series winning streak Friday night with a 41-24 victory at Alcoa’s Goddard Field.
Stephens said it was “a little bit smaller” crowd than the two teams drew in 2007, the last time Alcoa hosted the game.
Speculating on a reason for the decrease in attendance, Stephens suggested extensive rainfall that caused flash flooding in the area Thursday night might have kept some fans from coming to the game.
A forecasted chance of rain Friday night during the game couldn’t have helped, either.