When McKenzie travels to Sweet Water Friday night, it will be a trip to familiar territory for head coach Miles Brown.

Before returning to his alma mater, Brown was a teacher at Sweet Water.

“I was at Sweet Water for three years,” said Brown, who served as the basketball coach there, and in his second year, interim football coach.

That year the Bulldogs finished fourth in the region and traveled in the first round of the playoffs to McKenzie.

That was the last meeting between the two teams, and Sweet Water came away with a 20-17 win.

Current coach Stacy Luker was hired in Brown’s third year, but Brown continued to coach the junior high team.

“A lot of the things that I learned from him while I was there, I implemented them in our offense here at McKenzie,” Brown said.

The ties run even deeper than football, though.

Brown wife, Lori, is originally from Sweet Water and went to school there before finishing high school in McKenzie.

“We’ve still got good friends and family over there and know everybody very well,” Brown said.