It was a family affair Sept. 11 in Dallas when Jesuit squared off against Forney.
The non-district clash marked the first time Jesuit head coach Brandon Hickman has faced his son, Branson, who is in his first season as an offensive line coach at Forney.
In the end, it was dad who earned bragging rights, after Brandon’s Rangers topped Branson’s Jackrabbits, 31-14.
“It was a surreal experience,” Brandon said. “I’m so proud of him and he’s kind of a natural coach.
“It was interesting, he was at Sachse and they were on our schedule already too, so either way we were going to play. My parents were able to come and see it. It was a great night and I’m proud of him and the job he’s doing over there … but we’ll take the win.”
Branson is in his debut season with Forney after spending 2025 with Sachse.
A 2020 Jesuit graduate and all-state offensive lineman, Branson played four years collegiately at SMU before spending a year as a graduate at Oklahoma.
“Everything has been going great so far,” Branson said. “I’ve been blessed with some good opportunities. I’m thankful for coach (Red) Behrens at Sachse for taking a chance on me right out of college and then coach (Jeff) Fleener taking a chance on me here. I work for really good people and they teach me a lot and I’m thankful for that.”
As for the Sept. 11 clash, Branson said, that while there was a little trash talk between the two, that’s not out of the norm.
“It was just the same old same old dad-son talk,” he said. “This was a cool experience. I’ve never been on the opposite sideline before. My dad has been here 16 years and I’ve always been on the home sideline, whether I was watching the games, or I was a ball boy, or I was playing in the games, or even coming back to watch games when I was in college. It’s weird being on the other side line, but it’s cool. A lot of these guys on the coaching staff at Jesuit I’ve been around my whole entire life. Seeing some of the faces on Thursday night at the JV game and then looking across the field and seeing guys I’ve known for 10 or 20 years, it’s a really cool experience.”
While the Hickmans certainly enjoyed the opportunity to coach against each other, the game was enjoyable for the whole family.
Brandon’s wife, Amy, decided to ditch the blue portion of Jesuit’s color scheme and the black of Forney, donning all-gold attire.
“She didn’t know what to do or who to root for,” Brandon joked. “So she just went with gold.”
Brandon’s parents also made the trek from the Houston area to take in the action.
“It’s a terrific experience and I’ve never had an experience quite like this, where I see my grandson and my son playing against one another,” said Brandon’s dad, Charles. “I’ve had a lot of experiences going the other way, but nothing like this …
“You have to just root for them both. But they’ll play again. I told Branson next year when they play in Forney, then we’ll really root for Forney. It’ll be home field advantage.”
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