Bristow High School’s football team thrives on unity. What better unity than that of blood? Let’s ask the five pairs of brothers who play for BHS. I met with the group last Thursday night after practice, each of them paired with their sibling. They gave me some serious insight into what it is like to be a team. Hank Powell, a senior this year and ranked 22nd in the state, spoke to me about his relationship with his younger brother, Mack. He told me how he believes that sharing something so personal with his brother has helped their relationship flourish since they don’t share many interests off the field. Mack says the same thing, “It brought us together.” They are similar as well in their mindset when it comes to the game. Stating that they hate losing more than they like winning and that the others’ successes and failures push them to do better.
They are not the only brothers who feel like this either. Two other sets of brothers, the Johnsons and the Bigponds, had similar responses. In fact, the group as a whole seemed to agree with the sentiment. While competitiveness is what pushes a team to do better, something about it being your own brother, takes it to another level. Nation, the older of the Johnson brothers, said every time he sees Promised succeed, it forces him to go even harder, to do better. Not in a malicious way, but in the natural sibling rivalry way that all teenagers with brothers or sisters experience. Like asking to see your siblings’ report cards, wanting
See Brothers, Page Three to see who did better in what areas. Only here, that is not measured in averages, or GPA, but by touchdowns and tackles. This is especially true for these two pairs of brothers. Both the Bigponds and Johnsons have been in this scenario before. They have older brothers, who previously played at Bristow, and with whom they shared the field. And this is not the end of this tradition either, with another Johnson brother moving up the ranks soon. Promised says “I look into stepping into Nation’s shoes,” speaking about the day their younger brother steps onto the field with them. Each of the younger brothers, with the exception of the Dickson-Reese twins, begrudgingly admitted that they saw their older counterpart as a mentor. Teenage boys are not ones to be sappy, so I was very appreciative of what they would divulge. Even in their silence, I was able to find something out. This sort of natural unity runs a lot deeper than they are willing to admit. The older boys usually answered first and only then did their brothers speak up. It was sweet like they were looking for their brother's reassurance. The Goodwins are a perfect example of this. I asked Roan if he thought, objectively, that his brother was a good player. He paused and thought about it for a second, then said, “Yes, I genuinely believe in my brother.” Rizden smiled, and his head hung for a moment, then we moved on, and I could tell it meant something to him. There are areas though where this experience differs between boys. Almost unanimously the group agreed that this is an empowering thing to do, that playing with their brother is almost as if playing with an extension of themselves. Playing in this capacity however has changed how they view the team as a whole. Talon holds his brother to the same standards as any other player, his reasoning being that, “Everyone on this team is my brother.”That being said, there is reason to believe that everyone is to be held to the standards of a Bigpond, which is not an easy feat considering his ranking of third in the 3A division. Nation however admits that he does hold Promised to a higher standard, and he has more faith in his brother than his other teammates purely because of their relationship outside of football.
For these reasons and many more the team was very optimistic heading into 3A playoffs, and for good reason. So far, they have won the first round versus Plainview, with a final score of 25 to 14. The boys believe in their brothers as much as they do their coach, Coach Cole. A murmur among the group stating that Cole has boosted team morale tremendously, and has introduced a level of discipline the team needed to succeed. The seniors feel that this is the first year heading into playoffs they imagine they could win, and how ecstatic they are to potentially share that with their sibling. Nation Johnson gave a quote that I believe sums up this story in its entirety, “This could be our seniors' last game. We are going to go out there and put our heart on the line. We do it every time.”