WEST COVINA, Calif. -- There's a lot of confusion surrounding the lives of Marco and Matt Garcia. They're often on the other end of double takes.
Matt is confused for being Marco; Marco is often called Matt.
Even when they step on the field in the middle of games on Friday nights, it becomes a head scratcher for the opposition.
"They'll be like I thought you were pulling," said Marco, speaking for his brother. "And I was like 'No, that was me. That's me pulling.'"
Such is the life for the football playing identical twins. Often times they have opposing defenses feeling like they're seeing double.
Matt is the center on the Bulldogs offensive line. Next to him is Marco at right guard.
"(We get) A lot of (strange looks)," Said Matt, who's four minutes younger than his twin brother. "Linebackers especially. They look at us and they're like 'Whoa! They're twins,'"
Reversely, the twins know how to take the opposition out of their game in case they're planning a stunt or blitz. The non-verbal communication between these two is real. Most times all it takes is a simple look.
Adjustment made.
Blitz picked up.
As twins, they're certainly in sync. If they're apart, admittedly, something doesn't feel right. They spend just about all of their time together, including Halloween of 2012.
They were in the hospital, both of them, lying side by side after undergoing surgery.
After taking a helmet to the knee, Marco suffered a torn ACL which required him to miss the rest of the season.
The next week, on a routine play, Matt tore a quad tendon and he too would miss the rest of the season, leading them both to surgery.
"The doctors said that what he got usually never happens," Marco said speaking on about his brother.
"And the way I got it," Matt said finishing his brother's sentence. "Because I was just blocking and I just fell down to my knees. My quad tendon just ripped."
"It was almost meant to happen," Marco said.
"Like since he got hurt I got hurt," Matt said.
West Covina head coach Mike Maggiore was left puzzled. The twins and anchors of his offensive line both went down in consecutive weeks.
"The irony of it is incredible," said Maggiore, who's in his 18th season.
The season-ending surgeries were an extreme case. However, it's not uncommon for one to feel the other's pain or both to be sick at the same time.
"There are some times where like I'll be feeling sick or something and he'll be like not as bad but (like) 'Oh man why do I feel like this?" Marco said. "He doesn't understand why he's feeling like that but then I'd be the one like dying at home or something.
"It's kind of creepy."
Added Maggiore: "Most of the time they're exactly the same. They're attitude, it seems like if one's having a bad day the other's having a bad day. When they're happy they're both happy."
They're twins.
Identical.
