Opponents of the Buena Vista basketball team could be excused for thinking they had double vision.
With four sets of identical twins on the Longhorns’ varsity squad, they present athletic and visual problems at the same time.
Even for their coach.
“I have to use first and last names,” Coach Aaron Notgrass said, with a laugh. “If I just use last names, I get two people looking at me at the same time.
“It’s a pretty unique situation.”
To say the least.
More unique is that the twins on the basketball teams are just some of the nine pairs of twins in the 240-student, Pre-K through 12th-grade school.
Is there something in the water in Imperial?
“We get that all the time,” Notgrass said, with another laugh. “It’s just something that has happened; there’s really no explanation.
“And one of the sets of twins on the basketball team has a twin brother and sister in the fifth grade.”
That would be Jaden and Jackie Jurado, who, along with Alexander Porras and Sebastian Porras, are part of a stellar freshmen class.
Marcus and Phillip Martinez are juniors, while Jadyn Huertas and Braydn Huertas are seniors.
Recently, Phillip Martinez has given up his role on the court to help Notgrass with video of the games.
“The seniors have been with me since they were sophomores,” said Notgrass, in his fifth year at the helm of the program.
“They are both all-district players and great athletes and leaders. The freshmen all play and have been really competitive their entire lives.”
The Longhorns went 20-9 during the regular season, including an 8-4 mark to finish third in District 10-1A.
They defeated Westbrook in a playoff preview game and then got past Balmorhea in the bi-district round earlier this week.
That set up an area playoff matchup against Robert Lee on Thursday at Garden City High School, a familiar spot for Buena Vista.
“We played in their tournament earlier in the year and then had our practice game against Westbrook there,” Notgrass said. “Our kids should be familiar with it and I think that will help.”
Familiarity is nothing new for the twins.
Jadyn Huertas said the Longhorns use that to their advantage on the court, football field or track.
“I thought it would be pretty funny,” Jadyn Huertas said of having more twins on the team. “Whenever the defending coach is trying guard us, the other players would get mixed up and you can use that to your advantage.
“I think this season has been my favorite season to play. All the players are committed to this and it’s showed on the court during games and in practice, too.”
Also committed is the rest of the school as it rallies around the Longhorns’ playoff march.
With students from 4-to-18-years old roaming the halls, Notgrass said that the athletes are the role models for all the lower grades.
“When the Pre-K and kindergarten kids are walking in the halls, the seniors are high-fiving them,” he said. “The boys will go talk to them, read to them, they all want to come around.
“One of the reasons that we have our success is that these kids are good and the others want to follow in their footsteps. I’ve been in small schools for a long time and that’s why I like it so much, the family atmosphere that’s created.”
But back to the point of others not being able to tell the twins apart and the players using that to their advantage.
Jadyn Huertas admitted to pulling a fast one on the teachers when he and brother Bradyn were just starting out at the school
“Once, in Pre-K, as an April Fool’s joke, we went to each other’s classes,” Jadyn said. “No one knew were in the wrong class.
“There are times when I can’t tell Alexander and Sebastian (Porras) apart and they are my cousins. So I know coach and other people have trouble telling everyone apart.”
>> Follow Lee Scheide on Twitter at @OALeeScheide
