Trailblazer vs. Top Dog: Florida's first prep female head coach takes on its winningest Friday at Bolles

Lakatriona Brunson has been to Jacksonville before, but this is a different kind of trip.

On Friday night at Bolles, Brunson - the first female head coach in state high school football history - will try and lead her Miami Jackson team to a win over the most successful program in state history.

As a high school athlete at Miami Northwestern, she competed in the Bob Hayes Invitational Track and Field meet at Raines, and she's familiar with both the Vikings and Ribault. As for the Bulldogs (3-0), Brunson and the Generals (1-2) get a crash course on Friday.

"I've seen her on TV, but I've never met her," Bolles coach Corky Rogers said of Brunson. "We certainly have respect for them and for her. Even in their loss last week (to Cardinal Gibbons), they have their very first series, a ball snapped over the punter's head. That's how it started. Basically their defense didn't give up hardly anything.We're excited for the opportunity to play a team of that caliber."

Miami Jackson made national news last February when it hired Brunson to be its head coach. A former reality TV star on 'South Beach Tow,' Brunson had worked at the school for nearly two decades teaching physical education. When the position came open last January, Brunson was the school's pick as its new head coach. The media attention followed, something Brunson said comes "with the territory." But she's fine with it.

"That's how it always is at first," Brunson said of the attention on her following her hire. "The kids start seeing you every day and giving them 100 percent and it becomes normal. The coach stepped down and I wanted to help out and that ended up with [her as coach]."

Bolles first home game on Friday night is a big one for a few reasons. It's Week 5 and the Bulldogs have yet to play in a home game, so it's a welcome back after three consecutive games on the road. Miami Jackson was originally scheduled to visit in Week 2, but Hurricane Hermine forced a postponement.

In that span, this game picked up a few more storylines than it would've had in Week 2. Bolles opened on a tear, albeit against struggling teams. Miami Jackson stunned nationally ranked and four-time defending Class 4A state champion Booker T. Washington 12-9 on Sept. 10, and then had its defensive coordinator, former 2 Live Crew front man Luther Campbell, resign Thursday.

Its win over Washington was a launching point for Brunson and Miami Jackson.

"It was great, the excitement around town when we played them and came out victorious was good," she said of the win over Washington. "The kids worked hard for it. It rained the whole game. We had a great defensive game and our offense pulled it together."

Washington, of course, has been a sledgehammer to both Bolles and Raines during its run of dominance in Class 4A, with three of those titles coming over Bolles and the other over the Vikings.

"Well, we don't get to see 'em play here, but any team that beat Booker T. Washington two weeks ago, knowing what Booker T. Washington has done to us over the years, we obviously have great respect for their ability," Rogers said. "And the week before that, [Washington] beat St. Thomas Aquinas."

Justin Barney: (904) 359-4248