Listening to a radio broadcast of a Jacksonville High School game a listener might hear the following, "Pearson hands off to Pearson in the backfield," or, "Pearson makes a great block giving Pearson time to pass," or even, "The runner is brought down by Pearson and Pearson."

No, you are not hearing double, nor does the Jacksonville High School football team have a super-hero like player with incredible speed who can be in two places at once.

Rather, the Eagles have two brothers, senior Jackson and sophomore Forrest Pearson, who are greatly responsible for taking the Eagle football team to five wins so far this season.

During spring training and over the summer, both of the boys were fighting for the same starting quarterback position. Forrest, who has played quarterback throughout his playing years, was the backup quarterback last season. However, during the spring the coaches saw Jackson, who has been a speedy running back for the Eagles, and thought it might be in the best interest of the team to have him go out for quarterback also.

In some families this might have caused some contention, but not so in the Pearson family. A close-knit family, the boys, while competing for the spot, only offered each other encouragement.

"This is the first year they have really played together," says the boy's mother, Sue. "I was worried about the competitiveness with both of them going out for the same position. Phillip (father) and I talked to them about encouraging and helping each other out."

Apparently the talk wasn't even necessary. Both boys, only two-and-a-half years apart have always been very supportive of each other.

"I wasn't worried," says Phillip. "They've always encouraged each other; it was always about the team."

As things turned out, Jackson started at quarterback for the first two games. When running back Cordero Little was hurt during the second game of the season, the coach's moved Forrest to quarterback and Jackson back to running back.

In the next game against Ashville, Forrest handed off to Jackson 17 times for 117 yards and a 17-yard touchdown.

Jackson says the quarterback issue never was an issue.

"It really wasn't anything," says Jackson. "Whoever they were going to put there was who was going to play. When Cordero got hurt and they moved me back to running back it just clicked so they left me there."

"We felt like everything worked out," says Forrest. "I wanted to play and he was playing running back so it worked out well."

While the two boys haven't been on many teams together because of their age difference, they have always played and practiced together.

"We are always playing sports like one-on-one basketball, says Jackson, who added laughing, "when we were younger we always did tackling drills."

Forrest admits that having an older brother helped him along with his sports. "I usually did stuff with him and his friends and the better competition made me play better. We played all the same sports, did all the same things."

The brothers also have an older brother, Blake, 24, who helped them out with their sports.

"Blake played with his younger brothers and showed no mercy," says Sue. They were tougher growing up. There was no crying or whining."

While they may have been tough on the sports fields, there was no fighting allowed in the Pearson household.

"We don't tolerate fighting amongst ourselves," explains Sue. "That's not to say they haven't but if they have a disagreement they have to sit down and talk about it."

While the brothers played all of the same sports while they were younger, baseball, basketball, soccer and football, as they have grown older they have developed different interests. Jackson plays soccer for the high school and Forrest plays baseball, but to both of them football is still their first love.

The boys also enjoy outdoor activities and love fishing, but mainly enjoy family activities.

"We always go out together as a family and do a lot as a family," explains Phillip. "We always eat dinner together; we go fishing together or four wheeling. They are kind of home-bodies. They stick around the house and we watch games together."

The family togetherness may have helped the boys on the field. Both boys bookend the Eagle defensive backfield playing at the corner positions. Together with free safety Jack Whaley the Eagle defensive backfield has pretty much kept the opposition out of the endzone.

Jackson, who has played corner for three years, to date has four interceptions, two touchdown saving tackles, a fumble recovery and has broken up numerous passes.

On the other side of the field Forrest, in his first full year at corner, has had a fumble recovery, an interception as well as breaking up passes.

Never was the Pearson influence felt so much as during the Hokes Bluff game when Jackson intercepted two passes and had a fumble recovery and Forrest preserved the Jacksonville win with an interception.

Eagle coach Roland Houston is very pleased with his "bookends". "Our two starting corners have been solid all year," says Houston. "They are very similar. One (Jackson) is just a little taller but Forrest covers just as well. They react to the ball well and both have improved this year. They do a good job on coverage and are good open field tacklers."

For Jacksonville fans, who have seen the football team turn around their program this year, there is no doubt as to the importance of having the Pearson brothers on the field, no matter where they play.