If it's ever looked to you like one player on the Howe Sound Sounders football team somehow managed to be in two places at once, its not some supernatural force at work.
It's just that Gary and Jordan O'Neil, 17, are identical twins, and have a habit of playing on the same athletic teams.
They started off playing soccer and baseball. When they were around 10 years old, they were pulled into the Squamish majors to play on the Pulpers even though only one player is usually moved up. When they were played baseball, Gary was a catcher, and Jordan pitched and played shortstop.
"Because they were both able to hold their own, they let them both go up," said Glydia Buchanan, their mother.
And then there was football.
"They started football when they were nine," Buchanan said. "I didn't want them to play football."
Buchanan said there is a bond between the two which helps them know where the other is on the field, however the brothers deny it.
But the way the two play sports together is a little bit, well, suspicious.
"It's kind of weird that all my deep passes - most of the passing yards - have been to Jordan," Gary said. "Since I've played so many sports with him, I know how fast he is and I know when to throw the ball timing-wise."
Gary, a quarterback and strong safety, and Jordan, a slotback and free safety, have an unusual record in the high school football league. Gary has five interceptions and Jordan has four, putting them in the first and second spot for most interceptions in the league.
"If you look at the stats, there's one guy on each team that maybe has three," said Sounders coach Rex Reece. But the Sounders had the top two guys, who just happen to be related.
But Gary said he and Jordan would not have had so many interceptions without the help of the rest of the Sounders.
"It's a team effort. The defensive line puts pressure on the [opponent's] quarterback," he said, enabling Jordan and Gary to make interceptions.
"Football in not an individual sport, it's a team effort. I feel that we all just came together as a team. We had great coaching," Gary added.
"We work together a lot on the field," Jordan said. "He'd be quarterback, and I'd be receiver, and he'd throw me the ball. He'd block for me if I was running the ball."
But it's more about helping out a teammate than helping out a sibling.
"I feel that we're not brothers on the field," Gary said. "He's another teammate you have to work with to win."
They also work together on the soccer field. Both play for the FC Silver Celtics, a U18 house soccer team. Gary is a centre forward, and Jordan plays centre defence. The Silver Celtics have a variety of ages and skill levels on the team.
"One of us has to play up front, and one has to play back," Jordan said. "I just kick the ball up the field and give it to him and hope he scores."
But for the first time, the pair won't be playing on a team together. Jordan was chosen as a first round draft pick for the AA conference all-star football team, along with Maury Prevost from the Sounders.
"Gary deserved to be there," Jordan said. "The way they picked it was a little off."
The O'Neils want to continue their football careers, but with high school graduation looming, they are running out of time.
"We want to try to start up another football team, a junior men's team," Jordan said. "It would be good if Squamish would support a junior men's team."
