3 sets of brothers anchor Huskies football team

Sports create brotherhood, camaraderie, and being there for a teammate regardless of a difference of opinion or a fight or an argument. It is what family is about. It is what makes sports great.

The Highland High School football team has three sets of brothers on the team including twins, but the feeling of looking out for one another permeates the entire program.

Dan and Brody Burton are seniors and twins. Trey Lasek is a senior and Zack Lasek is a junior. Jordan Sosa is a senior and Justin Sosa is a freshman. The Burtons also had an older brother Bill who graduated in 2017 with the Laseks' older brother Trent.

Facing the challenges of a football season, it is important to be there mentally as well as physically. That is much easier to accomplish with the feeling of family around.

'Because of us brothers, I think it helps the camaraderie on the team,” Zach Lasek said. 'Playing against a friend is not the same as playing against a brother. When you're playing against brother, it's a lot more competitive. That helps when you're going into a team sport because it drives your competitive spirit up a lot more. The competitiveness between us rubs off on the team when they see how hard we go against each other.”

'Having brothers definitely helped my competitive edge,” Trey Lasek said. 'All three of us played together in basketball because Zack started as a freshman. That was probably the most fun year of sports that I have ever had.”

'Having a twin is sometimes fun and sometimes very annoying,” Brody Burton said. 'But having an older brother was frustrating when he would beat on me because I can't beat him back, but it also prepared me. It definitely helps in football when you have to win an individual battle.”

'Playing football in the backyard or wrestling in the living room would get intense,” Dan Burton said. 'Our older brother always pushed us. We had a deal where if you didn't catch the ball you had to run laps around the house or you would have to do push-ups. Whatever it was, there was always competition between us. It even gets heated playing video games. I know we broke a number of controllers.”

Brothers don't always get along. They will fight and argue about things, but then that's what brothers do.

'Growing up, we would always get into fights and those fights would be about stupid things,” Jordan Sosa said. 'We have a love-hate relationship, but knowing he's watching me play, makes me always give more than 100 percent.”

'Even though he's older, I still go as hard as I can against him to show that I can be better,” Justin Sosa said. 'I know he's way better than me but I can't let him know that.”

'Trent is the smartest of us three and he would get on our case,” Trey Lasek said. 'Zack and I would just look at each other and shake our heads. It was all we could do because most of the time he was right. Because he would be echoed by the coaches. Zack and I would have to take the blunt of his wrath.”

'They are harder on each other than they are on their teammates, harder on each other than we could be on them,” Highland co-head coach Scott Morel said. 'If they argue, when they are done, it is done.”

'They hold each other accountable and they do that in a different way than a coach can,” co-head coach Joe Donovan said.

The brothers also supply consistency.

'They know the expectations we have for them and a brother could communicate that better,” Donovan said. 'If one is struggling, then the brother can help him sort it out.”

'A brother can learn things more quickly and more easily from a brother and then share those expectations with the team,” Morel said.

A team forms a brotherhood because of the experiences that are shared.

'Teammates feel like brothers now that I think about it because over the years you go through a lot of ups and downs together,” Jordan Sosa said. 'Me and Justin have a strong relationship because of the things that we've been through together.”

'We always have each other‘s back, no matter what,” Dan Burton said. 'Ever since we were little, we have pushed each other to be better, so other people see that and hopefully that rubs off on them.”

'Having a brother on the team helps me look at things differently,” Brody Burton said. 'He might have an opinion on something that I don't necessarily agree with. We can talk things through and be truthful with each other. We are all brothers together on this team.”

'Hearing something from a teammate, especially a brother, can mean more than hearing it from a coach,” Morel said.

'I am probably the hardest on (Zack) than anybody on the team,” Trey Lasek said. 'I get on his case a lot. He does a good job of taking it.”

'Because we've been around each other so long, sometimes I think we know what each other are thinking,” Zack Lasek said. 'He can pass his knowledge on to me and when we are at home, we get to talk about different plays, so I can get the knowledge he has and then I can pass that on to teammates.”

The brotherhood and family spirit has rubbed off on the entire squad. The team has a group text.

'I think this team is more like a family than it has been in past years,” Zack Lasek said. 'When something bad happened last year, we would blame each other. This year, everybody is helping each other out, building each other up and there is a better attitude. This year we are not yelling at each other but we still challenge each other. We know that we're trying to make each other better not tearing each other down.”

'Because my brothers, I know to play with my heart,” Dan Burton said.

'(All of the brothers) are pretty close and I think the whole team feels that way,” Trey Lasek said. 'We all know how much each other cares. We are just trying to get to the Dome.”