What the Patriots Say About Jackson Academy...

When it comes to Prep, JA has an inferiority complex.
Coach Buddy Crosby
Former Prep Head Football Coach
 and Athletic Director

 

In the early years when I first got here, they called us “Flowood Tech.” Of course, Flowood was not nearly the city it is now. They don’t do that anymore, since Flowood is one of the richest cities in Mississippi.
Coach Ricky Black
Jackson Prep Head Football Coach

 

I’ve noticed a difference in the attitude of the students when we play someone other than JA for the championship. They still play hard and it’s important, but you can tell they really want to be playing JA.
Susan Lindsay
Jackson Prep Headmaster

 

The cheerleaders from both schools get together and have a dinner before the game on Friday. It’s kind of fake in a way. Everybody pretends to be friends, and then you get back to being enemies at the game.
Rachael Borne
Jackson Prep Cheerleader

 

Cheerleaders aren’t really allowed to participate in Fight Night. It’s not very classy and the police sometimes get involved. It wouldn’t look very good for a cheerleader to get arrested.
Alice Blackmon
Jackson Prep Cheerleader

 

Our team focuses on making plays in the game. JA focuses on making excuses.
Scott McVey
Jackson Prep Football Player

 

I’ll never forget Cory McGee’s performance against us in 2003. We were up 21-0 in the second half and then he just took over. That probably has to be one of their greatest victories ever.
Coach Ricky Black
Jackson Prep Head Football Coach

 

This game is more competitive than others are because it often involves people in the same households. It’s one room in the house versus another room down the hall.
Susan Lindsay
Jackson Prep Headmaster

 

It was mainly the JA students who were rolling people’s houses on Fight Night. We have a lot more class. They even rolled Coach Black’s house, and that’s totally unacceptable.
Alice Blackmon
Jackson Prep Cheerleader

 

I think people at JA and Prep have different personalities. I can tell. However, we all look the same, act the same and do all the same stuff.
Rachael Borne, Jackson Prep Cheerleader

 

What the Raiders Say About Jackson Prep...

I cannot imagine a football season without Jackson Prep on our schedule. I absolutely cannot. There would be a void in life and a void in our school year.
Peter Jernberg
Jackson Academy President

 

The coaches they’ve had at Prep are just incredible – starting with Carlisle and then on to McInnis and Black. Buddy Crosby is a distant cousin of mine. I mean, have they ever had a bad year?
David Blount
Former Jackson Academy Head Football Coach

 

I lived in Rankin County when I first started coaching at JA, so I would drive through the Prep parking lot the week of the game to make sure nothing happened the night before. I was trying to prevent that call from Buddy Crosby that start’s off, “Guess what your kids have done?”
Bill Bunch
Former Jackson Academy Assistant Football Coach

 

This rivalry has grown significantly in the past 10 to 12 years because JA has risen to a level of competitiveness that makes it possible for either team to win almost every time we play.
Bobby West
Jackson Academy Athletic Director

 

When the rivalry first started, so many families were caught straddling the fence. The whole thing was just so explosive and I don’t think anyone really knew how to handle it.
Joey Hawkins
Jackson Academy Head Football Coach

 

Our daughter Holly is 11 and is a Raider to the core. We drive down Lakeland and she holds her breath when we pass Prep.
Kim Hawkins
Wife of Jackson Academy Head Football Coach

 

If Prep wasn’t on our schedule, things would be miserable around here. What would we have to look forward too?
Tommy Blair
Jackson Academy Booster Club President

 

Prep Week is such a big deal. When the football schedule comes out, the first question everyone asks is “When do we play Prep?”
Casey Chinn
Jackson Academy Cheerleader

 

When I first got to JA, I wrote everything down in a big playbook. I quit doing that because it didn’t take long for the Prep kids to get their hands on it. They were always over at the homes of the JA kids.
Joey Hawkins
Jackson Academy Head Football Coach

 

This is the game you look forward to all year. Even during the season when you are supposed to only be thinking about the game that week, you’re still thinking about Prep. You can’t stop thinking about it.
Bobby Peterson
Jackson Academy Football Player

 

Prep and JA are very similar. Both schools are made great by the families and children they serve. Both schools are blessed with tremendous communities.
Peter Jernberg
Jackson Academy President

 

If Prep didn’t exist, JA wouldn’t be as good as it is, and vice versa. Both schools make the other better.
Joey Hawkins, Jackson Academy Head Football Coach