A house divided: How one family navigates the bitter rivalry

Oct. 11—Football runs in the Brooks family's blood, but there's one problem — one cousin bleeds Tuscola gold while the other bleeds Pisgah red.

So when Stephen Brooks' Mountaineers line up against David Brooks' Black Bears this Friday night in the County Clash football game, can family bonds endure the allure of the county rivalry?

"Gold glitter runs through my veins," said Traci Brooks, Stephen's mother, who played volleyball and basketball for Tuscola. And although she's a Mountie faithful, she and her husband Lee Brooks moved to Bethel when her son was young where she taught school. Bethel is in Pisgah's school district, however, which would have put Stephen in line to become a Pisgah student eventually, but it was easier to have her son at the same school as her.

"Stephen started learning to play football over there because it was convenient to drop him off at football practice," she said. But it was Kasey Brooks, a Pisgah grad and Traci Brooks' sister-in-law, who first got Stephen interested in football.

Kasey Brooks is married to Andrew Brooks, brother of Lee Brooks. Their son, David, is Stephen's first cousin.

"David started playing football first in kindergarten, and he kept telling Stephen to come and play," Traci Brooks recalls. "But Stephen wasn't real excited about it. He went to watch him practice one day, and that was it — the next day he was playing football."

The boys played youth league football together until Stephen, the elder by six months and therefore one grade level higher than David, entered middle school. Traci Brooks said that was where she drew the line.

"I love Bethel," she said. "But whatever it took in the morning, Stephen had to go to Waynesville Middle."

So the boys split, with Stephen attending Waynesville Middle and David eventually attending Bethel Middle School.

Traci Brooks, who teaches math and science at Waynesville Middle School, said the recruiting never stopped from the Pisgah side of the family.

"Kasey and David begged Stephen to go to Pisgah with him, but we just couldn't do it. Stephen always knew that he wanted to play at Tuscola," Traci Brooks said. "I've got a picture of Stephen the last time he had his Bethel jersey while wearing a Tuscola hat."

Kasey Brooks admits that she tried to get Stephen to come to Pisgah, but said that she wasn't the only one with the idea.

"I tried to get Stephen to come to Pisgah, but I can tell you that they've tried to get David to come to Tuscola, too," she said.

Kasey Brooks said her family is Bethel folk going back generations, so when she married Andrew, a Tuscola graduate, she made it clear where their kids would attend school.

"I told my husband when we got married that I didn't want to live in Waynesville — 'I love you but my kids going to Pisgah,' I told him. He knew that we were going to have a Black Bear," she said.

A family divided on game day

And although "family is family" 364 days per year, the County Clash is the one day no one can see eye to eye. Traci Brooks anticipated the day when Stephen and David would be on the field together in high school.

"We've always thought, "One day they are both going to be under the Friday night lights together playing against each other.' But the excitement of building up to it is pretty awesome," she said.

Although the boys did play against each other once in middle school, nothing compares to playing at C.E. Weatherby Stadium in front of 10,000-plus fans.

Traci Brooks said the family doesn't interact much on the day of the County Clash, partly because the boys and their moms are all in school until after three o'clock.

"Everybody is usually rushed getting out of school," she said.

But when game time arrives, loyalties to teams temporarily take precedent over family trees.

"The Pisgah fans will sit on the Pisgah side, but sometimes they'll mingle with us," Traci Brooks said. "Over the years, we've sat in each other's stadium with the family."

But not this year; not when bragging rights are on the line.

"The ragging and poking and gouging is going to start very, very soon," Traci Brooks said.

Trash talk has already started to heat up in the family's group chat, Kasey Brooks said.

"We have a huge family group message that goes back and forth. There's 20 of us on it, and there's always some good, friendly trash talk," she said. "We love them except for the day we play, and then we love each other again the next day."

Which side to sit on?

Playing mediator among all of the family members is Dianne Brooks, affectionately called "Grandmama." Her sons are Lee and Andrew Brooks.

"I try my best to play mediator to keep everybody together," she said. "We laugh and cut up about it, but we don't get too mad."

Dianne Brooks is originally from Winston-Salem but graduated from Tuscola along with her husband Raymond Brooks.

She said she tried to attend all of Stephen and David's games when they played in the youth league, but that's gotten more difficult now that they're older and attend different schools.

Her dilemma peaks this Friday night when the family will see which side of the stadium "Grandmama" will sit on: Tuscola's side for Stephen or Pisgah's side for David?

"Half the family will probably sit on Pisgah's side, but I might sit on Tuscola's side because Stephen is a senior," she said. "I'll be rooting for both of them."

Kasey Brooks said her side keeps their distance until the game is over, at which time the family will meet to get pictures together.

Traci Brooks said her hope is that it's a close game. Her wish may very well be granted. Tuscola beat Pisgah 35-34 last season, but it took two overtimes to do it.

"I hope they all go out there and see what we define as a rivalry where it goes back and forth and everybody has their heart in the game," she said.

Dianne Brooks said Stephen and David are good sports about the ragging, but the rivalry runs too deep to ignore.

"There's been a lot of rivalry between them since were little," she said. "They're best friends, but not on Friday night."