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Brothers in arms at Harrison Central

Smith twins anchor lines for the Huskies

Lance and Logan Smith - Harrison Central

CADIZ — Even a little facial hair isn’t enough to distinguish Harrison Central’s Logan and Lance Smith. Lance is the one who sports a black beard.

“People still mix us up all the time,” Lance said.

It’s easy to do with the identical twins. They both stand roughly 5-foot-10 and weigh 275 pounds. They play on the lines, though not always together. Lance is still battling a knee injury, but the pair usually rotates on both sides of the ball.

“I like defense better because you’re getting to hit people,” Lance said. “Just to make the play is a satisfying feeling.”

Logan has spent this offseason developing a stronger offensive approach.

“The most important thing is to block the holes,” he said. “We’re always trying to help out the running back by giving him as much space as possible.”

The entire offensive line for Harrison Central returns this season. Logan is the team’s center and Lance plays left tackle.

The Smith brothers and the Huskies, as a whole, did that a lot last season as running back Travis Stenson was one of the top rushers in the coverage area with 1,153 yards, an average of 8.8 yards per carry. Harrison Central also had Brandon Mitchell, who was a playmaker at quarterback with his arm and feet.

“It was fun blocking for those guys because we knew what they were capable of,” Lance said. “If we did our job, they were going to be able to move the ball far down the field.”

The team hopes to replicate those same schemes in 2016, with a new set of players. Stenson and Mitchell will both be playing at Walsh University, while Jesse Ball, Tyler West and Damon Carpenter line up in the Huskies’ backfield. Wyatt Ellis will step up as the Harrison Central quarterback.

“I think we have a great chance to make a run,” Logan said. “I like how this team is coming together. We are getting more confident and have the chance to have a really good season.

Added Lance, “We can make it back to the playoffs and win it all.”

The Huskies went 8-3 a year ago and qualified for the Division V playoffs, but bowed out to Ridgewood, 13-10, in the first round. They open this season at home against Claymont, a team the Huskies beat by a score of 39-6 in the opening game of 2015. This year, Harrison Central will take on Cleveland Rhodes, Oak Glen and River View, as well as the normal Buckeye 8 slate, without the traditional rivalry game against Indian Creek.

“We need to step it up,” Lance said. “This is our last year of high school football and we need to make it count. We want to be remembered as good teammates and good leaders for this team.”

Added Logan, “We’ve had some great teammates over the years and we are great friends with our classmates. It’s going to be rough not seeing them all the time. We’ve spent so much time together as freshman all the way up to this year as seniors.”

The Smith brothers have played football together since third grade.

“We watched games on TV since we were really little,” Lance said. “Our father and family encouraged us to play and our friends started to play at the same time.

“We love the game and can’t imagine not playing football.”

Off the gridiron, the twins enjoy fishing, hunting and bowling. They plan to attend college together next year.

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