By MARK MOLINA
Staff Writer
SANTA ROSA — Unless you know Santa Rosa’s Wally and Vince Olivarez, you probably wouldn’t know they were related, much less brothers who are just a year apart.
Wally, who is a 17-year-old senior and the physically smaller one of the two, is visibly a bit more confident and looks like he’s all business.
On the other hand, there’s Vince, a 16-year-old junior who is the bigger yet younger brother. He’s a bit shy at first but all smiles.
As Wally and Vince grew up, their interests changed and they took on personalities of their own.
“While I’m out chasing girls, (Vince) will be inside probably playing video games,” Wally said jokingly. “That’s probably the biggest difference between us.”
Vince won’t deny the fact that he and his brother have different qualities about them. There is, however, one thing they can agree on all the time: football.
Since they were old enough to play Pee-Wee ball, the duo often played on the same team and spent a lot of time together. But as they grew older into middle school, naturally, that wasn’t the case.
While they may not spend as much time together socially, the sport has remained their constant despite slightly different paths.
Vince continued to play football but he is also at the top of his Santa Rosa High School junior class academically, while Wally has been a four-year varsity player and All-District standout for the Santa Rosa Warriors and an A-B Honor Roll student.
Benefitting from the brothers’ work ethic is Warriors head coach Arturo Garcia as he sees the two as model athletes.
“Little brother is a first-year varsity player who is a junior, while big brother is all-district on two sides of the ball,” Garcia said. “They’re dependable, reliable and passionate about not only playing football, but their training.
“They’re regulars in the weight room and they understand the value of the conditioning. They enjoy having the title of football player and they are always doing something to get better.”
The difference in personalities hasn’t changed the “little-brother-looking-up-to-big-brother” dynamic of their relationship.
Now that they are on the same team once again, Vince looks to make the most of it.
“We played a lot together growing up and it was fun, but this is our first time playing together on varsity,” Vince said. “My brother made varsity his freshman year and I’m barely making it this year.
“I have big shoes to fill when he’s gone. It means a lot to step in on varsity. I just want to be district champs again because when we were little we used to win all the time and that changed during our high school years.”
Ironically, Vince plays on the offensive line where he gets to block and protect for his brother Wally.
Vince admittedly says he enjoys watching his brother succeed and cherishes the fact he gets to be there to protect him.
As Wally enters his final year with the Warriors, he feels fortunate as well.
“This summer we’ve been coming to practices and training in the weight room together. It’s good to know I have him there up front protecting me,” Wally said.
“As I got to the varsity level, we didn’t get to play each other as much so it’s going to be nice to know that we have this one year together.”