FAIRMONT, W.Va. (AP) - The first half of Fairmont Senior’s Oct. 19 road football game at Grafton High School was a big one for senior wide receiver/defensive back Exavier Posey.
Late in the first quarter, he stepped in front of a pass from Bearcats quarterback Garrett Wellman for an interception. In the second quarter, he made an even bigger play, returning a punt for a touchdown and helping lead the unbeaten Polar Bears to another blowout victory.
After each play, the first person to greet him in celebration was his fraternal twin brother, Elijah, another senior defensive back and receiver.
“They’ve always been each other’s No. 1 fan,” Kim Posey, the twins’ mother, said. “They probably wouldn’t admit it, but they are. They’ve always been the first to congratulate each other.”
Both brothers have made a big impact for a Fairmont Senior team that is 10-0 and appears to be headed for its third consecutive state championship game appearance.
They’ve been solid contributors on the offensive side of the ball, where Exavier has caught 15 passes for 144 yards and Elijah has 10 catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns, but their biggest impact lies on defense and special teams. Exavier has tallied four touchdowns as the team’s punt returner this season, to go with three interceptions on defense, while Elijah has totaled six interceptions.
That kind of big-play production has given the boys many reasons to celebrate on the field, while also fueling a competition between them that has carried on for most of their lives.
“It’s gotten a lot more competitive as we’ve gotten older,” Exavier said. “You want to outdo the other one, but you also want to make sure they’re doing well.”
Eighteen years before the Posey brothers were key figures on a state powerhouse, Kim Posey was 20 weeks into her first pregnancy and unaware she would even be having twins. That’s when she went in for her first ultrasound, and was given the news that her family would be doubling in size.
“I’d never really looked at an ultrasound before, but I thought, ’I think I see two,’” Kim said. “Then the nurse held up two fingers, and I just started crying.”
The boys took to sports right away, beginning in T-ball when they were 5 years old before adding basketball and soccer briefly as they got into elementary and middle school. It wasn’t until the boys were 10 that their father, Jason, would allow them to play tackle football.
Since the twins got to high school, they have focused their efforts on the baseball diamond - where Exavier occasionally pitches while Elijah catches - and the football field. No matter what the sport is, both boys have shown a knack for motivating the other one while also being ready to call them out for missteps in ways other teammates wouldn’t.
“We just push each other,” Elijah said. “We can push each other harder than other kids push each other because we know each other’s edges and limits. We know how far to go.”
But while the twins may share a position on the football field, it doesn’t mean they share everything in life the way many expect that twins do. They have their own personalities - Elijah is more outgoing and vocal, Exavier is on the quieter side - their own friends, and their own interests.
“They always had their own identity,” Kim said. “Identical twins can be so much alike, where they don’t have different interests and want to be around each other all the time. They’re definitely not like that.”
The Poseys haven’t decided upon colleges yet - though WVU and Fairmont State are highest on their priority list - or whether they’d like to continue playing sports at the next level.
All that’s on their minds right now is winning a state title, and doing it together.
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Information from: Times West Virginian, http://www.timeswv.com
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