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The evening started with the theme from Rocky and ended in a burst of fireworks to Eye of the Tiger. In between, if there was any doubt that football season had arrived, it quickly vanquished from the minds of anyone late to catch the spirit.

The Brentwood Blaze youth football association kicked off its 2009 season Friday night with its annual Jamboree, a pep rally of huge proportions held at its home field at Crockett Park. With over 450 players and 75 cheerleaders participating this year, the stands and nearby grounds were filled with parents, grandparents and siblings oblivious to the heat and humidity.

“We have Spring Hill coming in here tomorrow and we’re going to give them a big Brentwood welcome,” Blaze president Jerome Perkins announced over the loud speaker after all the players had run onto the field with their respective teams through the brightly colored inflatable tunnel flanked by two giant flares.

A special guest was Tom Shuman, Ravenwood High School’s new head football coach. He gave pep talk to the Triple A team – the Blaze’s oldest and most experienced unit which got special recognition during the event.

“The Brentwood Blaze knows a little bit about championship football,” Shuman said. “And we know a little bit about it at Ravenwood High School too,” in reference to the 2005 Raptor team that captured the Class 5A state championship. “And Brentwood High School knows what it takes to be a champion.”

Most Blaze players eventually attend one of Brentwood’s two public high schools.

Schuman thanked the players for all the hours and hard work they put in, and for all the Saturday afternoons “you provide entertainment to the community.”

 “Keep playing, keep playing hard and keep bringing championships home to the Brentwood area,” Schuman said in closing.

Board administrator Shawnna Simpson explained that the Blaze makes a big deal about the Triple A players because most of them could have chosen to play for their middle school teams instead.

This year the Blaze organization is fielding seven A-level teams (ages 11 and 12); nine B-level teams (ages 9 and 10); four C-level teams (ages 7 and 8), and one Pee Wee team of 5 and 6 year olds.

“They look like little bobblehead dolls out there,” Simpson said of the youngest players.

 Moms Suzanne Baird and Leila Schmeisser remember those pee-wee days. Their sons, Luke Baird and Hunter Schmeisser, are the Blaze’s only eight-year players this season. Hunter is the Triple A team captain.

“They’ve been out here watching their brothers since they were weeks old,” Suzanne Baird said.

When all 75 cheerleaders representing the four levels entertained the crowd with a series of cheers and chants, they started with an old favorite: “Be aggressive,
“Be be aggressive,
“B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E
“Be aggressive!”

Obviously it’s a cheer Hunter Schmeisser heard early.

His older brother William, a former Blaze player who is about to start his sophomore year at Lindenwood University near St. Louis, Mo., recalled that Hunter broke his leg at the Crockett Park field. He was only 3 at the time.

But there was no aggression evident Friday evening, except for a little roughhousing by the players as the event wore on.

But on Saturday, it will be a different story. The first game kicks off about 9:30 in the morning. It’s youth football time again in Brentwood.