ShawneeDispatch.com

For the past six months, high school football has been a distant memory, but for fans of the sport, this week's Kansas City Metro Classic should be a fine reminder as to why football reigns supreme in the fall.

This Thursday the premier senior players from both Kansas and Missouri will dust off their helmets and compete against one another in an all-star game sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Coaches Association.

More importantly, the game provides a stage for the metro area's most accomplished football athletes to showcase their skills against their peers one last time before many take their talents to the next level as members of college programs.

Participants and players for both teams were nominated by their coaches, and then selected by a committee made up of both past and present members of the coaches association to ensure the area's most deserving football players would have an opportunity to participate in what has become the pinnacle of all-star games on both the Kansas and Missouri sides.

Coaching the Kansas team this year will be Sam Brown, who was the head football coach at Shawnee Mission North last season, and the father of Mack Brown, North's extremely gifted quarterback who will participate in the classic before donning a Colorado Buffaloes jersey for Gary Barnett at the University of Colorado next fall.

Other participants from Shawnee are Mill Valley's ever-dangerous, double-threat running back/safety David Woods, and Shawnee Mission Northwest's do-it-all quarterback/linebacker, Mike Garrison.

Woods, easily the most decorated and accomplished football player in Mill Valley history will line up as a tailback/fullback for Brown, and should have no problem impressing both coaches and fans with the many gifts that allowed him to break numerous records as a Jaguar during his illustrious high school career.

"It is an exciting opportunity," Woods said of his selection. "After working hard for four years in high school, it is nice to have the chance to compete against the area's best, and I feel honored to have been selected. I just want to represent my school well, run the ball hard, and do what I can to help the team win on Thursday."

As for Garrison, Northwest's quarterback who is often compared to Jake Plummer due to his ability to ad-lib on the field, and turn the mundane into the spectacular, will play primarily on the defensive side of the ball (linebacker/safety), while Brown hopes to utilize his size, arm strength and poise in the pocket to produce success for Kansas against the best defense Missouri has to offer.

'It feels good to have been selected because I know that there are a lot of great athletes in the area who weren't given this opportunity," Garrison said. "So I just hope I can represent Northwest well like other players from my school have done before me."

And while Woods, Brown, and Garrison all hope to play well individually on Thursday, their main focus will undoubtedly be on winning and aiding their team's cause so that Kansas football can celebrate a victory against the Show Me State when the final horn sounds the end of the 2005 Metro Classic.

Originally dubbed the "Big Brothers Game" and played at Arrowhead Stadium, the annual all-star game was renamed the Metro Classic nearly a decade ago, and has become a solid point of rivalry between players from both bordering states.

This year's game will be played at William Jewell, and according to Northwest's long-time football coach, Scott Diebold, will definitely be a hard fought game with big-time bragging rights at stake.

"The game is a great way to promote Kansas and Missouri football, and a good opportunity to highlight some very good football players in the area," Diebold said. "It has turned into a good, friendly rivalry between Kansas and Missouri and is a competitive game every year between the best football players from either state. It should definitely be an exciting game for both players and fans alike."