Fortress of brotherhood

They're twin brothers, born two minutes apart.

They are separate stars in two different sports, at two different positions.

But beyond that, there is hardly anything separating Burroughs High athletes Lucas and Tyler Yanez.

"I don't ever plan on breaking away from my brother," said Lucas, who is older.

Tyler echoes his brother's sentiments: "I've never really left him. We've always done everything together."

The pair of seniors star for both the football and boys' volleyball teams at Burroughs. During his junior and senior seasons in 2010 and '11, the 5-foot-8 Lucas quarterbacked the Indians to their first back-to-back league titles since the 1980-'81 seasons. Tyler, at 6-2, was also a member of those title teams. He solidified himself as a playmaker at wide receiver.

On the volleyball court, it's Tyler — a setter — who is most often passing to Lucas, an outside hitter.

Over the past two seasons, the Indians, whose volleyball program is only five years old, have had back to back CIF Southern Section Division III playoff appearances.

However, led by the Yanez brothers, this year's volleyball team is enjoying a historic and record-setting season. Along with winning its second straight Pacific League title, the team earned the top seed for the Division III playoffs, compiled a sparkling 33-3 record and will look to do something no other squad has been able to accomplish.

Burroughs will take on Cerritos Valley Christian at 2 p.m. today at Cypress College with a CIF Southern Section championship at stake. Should Burroughs win, it would mark the first-ever team title in any sport in the school's 63-year history.

Indians' Coach Joel Brinton, who started the program, said he realized the Yanez brothers had talent upon their arrival in the program as freshmen.

"They came in on the freshman level," said Brinton, whose team has set a record for wins in a season. "You could tell we had a couple special athletes."

The boys' father, Art Yanez, played football for Burroughs in the 1970s and has coached at the school for more than 30 years.

He said he first saw his sons' athleticism blooming when they were only a couple of years old.

"They'd be out in the front yard," Art recalled. "Lucas throwing the ball, Tyler swinging the bat, hitting it. They just grew up on all the ball fields."