Football, perhaps more than any other sport, is best played by those endowed with pathological competitiveness. Having a rival to compete against helps foster that sense of competition and makes nearly any football player better. Dixon and Alex Aguero’s competitive drive was built on something more than a simple rivalry. It’s built, quite literally, on brotherhood.     

Despite having played multiple sports, both brothers have found their home on the varsity football team. They have worked their way up through the Southern Marin Broncos and Redwood football programs since they were 10 years old, but this is the first time they have been on the same team, according to senior Dixon.

“Other years we have been separated by weight and age,” Dixon said. “This is the first year we are together and it is my last year, so it’s pretty special.”

Dixon plays both safety and wide receiver, while sophomore Alex plays cornerback and running back, which has led to plenty of opportunities for one-on-one competition since they play on opposite sides of the ball

“If it is a hitting drill or if I’m getting reps running the ball and he is playing safety, he has to tackle me,” Alex said.

Their individual face-offs do not only occur during the season, as they use each other to train and improve in the offseason.

“In the summer we would do one-on-one drills where he’d be playing corner and I’d be playing receiver,” Dixon said.

This practice stretches back to when they first began playing football about seven years ago.

“I remember in Pop Warner, when we weren’t on the same team, on the weekends we would suit up in our pads because we had never felt what it was like to hit each other,” Dixon said.

Dixon said that there is always a desire to catch up to each other when it comes to on-field accomplishments.

“If I do something in a game like get an interception, then he will want to make one to catch up to me,” Dixon said.

Dixon averaged 7.3 yards per catch in eight games with the varsity team last year, according to MaxPreps.

While Alex will have to wait until the end of his first varsity season to see how his stats compare to Dixon’s, the two’s brotherly rivalry figures to push the sophomore to new heights.

Fueling the friendly competition is the fact that both brothers are of a similar physical build and possess similar on-field skills.

“I feel like it would be different if I was way smaller than him or if he was way bigger,” Alex said. “We have kind of been around the same weight and height, so I feel like I can do the same as what he does.”

Dixon echoed similar sentiments regarding their play styles.

“We are both pretty shifty on the field,” Dixon said, “We are both fast and have quick feet.”

Both played baseball and basketball up until high school, but they said football has been their favorite sport since they were young.

“I’ve always loved the sport,” Alex said. “Watching college football and the NFL every Saturday and Sunday got me fired up and I always wanted to play. I always did some sort of football, but once I got to the age where I could play actual tackle football, I did it.”

They said their competitiveness reaches outside of football and the varsity team, and that they are always striving to better each other.

“We used to play basketball together, one-on-one, and our dad didn’t like us doing it because it would always end badly or turn into a fight,” Dixon said.

While they may have fought off the field when they were young, Dixon’s time on the varsity team has given him experience that he can now pass on to his brother to help him and the team as a whole.

“Since I have been on varsity longer, I will tell him something that he did wrong or I will try to fix whatever he needs help with,” Dixon said. “I feel like we are more friendly on the field because we want to play as a team and do well, and I want him to do well.”