What the Bulldogs Say About Pearl ...

Eat dirt, Pearl. Eat dirt.
Everybody at Brandon

I think the atmosphere of the Pearl-Brandon game is like the Super Bowl of high school football.
Jerious Norwood
Former Brandon Football Player

The records do go out the window when Brandon and Pearl play football.
Jason Scarborough
Brandon Radio Announcer

It all starts out with friendship between the communities and each one wanting to beat the other one so they can have bragging rights.
Buddy Bailey
Brandon Principal

For years, it has been kind of a tradition that we wear white trash bags on the day of the Pearl game.
Collette Usry
Former Brandon Cheerleader

You have to experience a Brandon-Pearl pep rally, because there really isn’t anything quite like it. The game is big, but at the pep rally all the students are so excited. It’s a culmination of all the preparations during the week. It puts you on a high for the entire day.
Lane Davis
Wife of Head Football Coach Dan Davis

Pearl is stereotyped as the redneck, white trash school. We are stereotyped as the conceited, preppie school.
Maci Palasini
Former Brandon Student Body President

I know the Pearl folks call Brandon people snooty and preppie and the sweater vest clan. We consider Pearl the country, backwoods folks.
Jason Scarborough
Brandon Radio Announcer

When the two bands go at each other, you have to show out until the end.
Steven Baptiste
Former Brandon Football
Player and Band Member

The first time I met Dan’s parents was when I came to a Pearl-Brandon game. When we went into the stadium, I was stunned. It was ten deep in both end zones, and we were there two hours before the game started.
Lane Davis
Wife of Head Football Coach Dan Davis

The football rivalry is big, but the rivalry carried over to other sports, too. Of course, the intensity of football is the biggest.
Buddy Bailey
Brandon Principal

I had a lot of friends who played for Pearl. We were always talking noise back and forth about who was gonna do what. My brother played for Pearl and we bumped heads during the game and almost got to fighting on the field.
Jerious Norwood
Former Brandon Football Player

There was a little joke whenever Pearl beat us. We would say, ‘Those pink flamingos are flying high over in the trailer parks.’ All in good fun. Just picking at them.
Steve McCann
Former Brandon Football Player
and Assistant Football Coach

One year there was a toilet placed in front of the school with a sign that said, ‘Brandon Stinks.’ We beat them that Friday night, and by the next week we had t-shirts with the score on them that read, ‘Pearl, flush this.’
Lane Davis
Wife of Head Football Coach Dan Davis

It would be easier on the administrators at both schools if we just declared the Pearl-Brandon game day a holiday.
Buddy Bailey
Brandon Principal

There is nothing better than a Brandon-Pearl game on a Friday night.
Jason Scarborough
Brandon Radio Announcer

What the Pirates Say About Brandon ...

Eat dirt, Brandon. Eat dirt.
Everybody at Pearl

I did not fully appreciate the Brandon-Pearl rivalry when I was playing because I thought everybody had a rival game like that. You really appreciate it and begin to understand how unique it is once you go to other places.
John Perry
Former Pearl Football Player and
Current Head Football Coach

The chant “Eat dirt, Brandon” really starts the week of the Pearl-Brandon game, but it stays around all year. 
Michael Parker
Pearl Football Player

Both the Brandon and the Pearl communities take great pride in their schools. That’s what both communities have in common. That’s one reason the rivalry is so good.
Jeff Cannon
Pearl Band Director

The Brandon-Pearl rivalry is not only our school versus their school. It’s also our community versus their community.
Hannah DeSalvo
Former Pearl Student

I think there is competition between Pearl and Brandon at every level.
Ray Durr
Former Pearl Football Player and
Current Assistant Football Coach

Brandon has a lot of pride and tradition, just as Pearl as a lot of pride and tradition. It’s a healthy rivalry. It really is. It’s a good thing for both communities and it’s a lot of fun.
Raymond Morgigno
Former Pearl Football Player
 and Current Pearl Principal

If you have a 1 and 9 season, but you beat Brandon, you might get a raise.
John Perry
Former Pearl Football Player and
Current Head Football Coach

My fondest memory of the Pearl-Brandon game is the fact that even if our football team came out on the short end of the score, our band was undefeated at halftime.
Jeff Cannon
Pearl Band Director

When I was growing up, you really didn’t talk to people from Brandon. It was that serious. You didn’t even buy gas in Brandon. If you ran out of gas, you pushed your car to Pearl. 
Tommie Hill
Former Pearl Student and
Current Cheerleader Sponsor

Brandon and Pearl are two different places. When you ride through the parking lot at Brandon, you see BMWs and other fine cars. When you ride through the parking lot at Pearl, you see trucks that you need a ladder to get into. Our kids are going to be tougher, blue-collar type folks.
John Perry
Former Pearl Football Player and
Current Head Football Coach

I hate the Wing T to this day because Brandon used to run it.
Ray Durr
Former Pearl Football Player and
Current Assistant Football Coach

During the week of the Pearl-Brandon game, even the principals of each school are trash talking back and forth with each other – all in good fun.
Raymond Morgigno
Former Pearl Football Player
 and Current Pearl Principal

I attended one Pearl-Brandon game when I was young, and I remember the two mascots got into a fight and the police had to pull them apart. It’s an intense game.
Michael Parker
Pearl Football Player

Because of all the trailer sales in Pearl they call us ‘trailer trash.’
Ray Durr
Former Pearl Football Player and
Current Assistant Football Coach

Jerious Norwood was one of the best – if not the best – high school running backs I have ever seen.
Ray Rogers
Former Pearl Football Player
and Public Address Announcer

You don’t plan your wedding or the birth of your babies for the date of the annual Pearl-Brandon game.
Pam Sutton
Former Pearl Student

When our guys break it down at the end of the day it’s, “One, two, three. Beat Brandon.” That’s just what it is. That’s our goal. We will worry about the region when the region games get here.
John Perry
Former Pearl Football Player and
Current Head Football Coach