The feeling was unmistakable to twin brothers Ayden and Caleb Hyde upon arriving at Fort Vancouver High School last year.
For several years leading up to the start of the 2023-24 school year, the two were often on the move.
Their father’s work led the family to relocate from Vancouver to Lacey when they were in eighth grade. While trying to acclimate to a new place, they dealt with financial hardships, saw their dad and stepmom split and ultimately moved back to Vancouver prior to their junior year, splitting time living with their dad and grandparents.
“We focused on ourselves, we persevered through the hard times up there and still got through it,” Caleb Hyde said. “Moving schools from freshman (and) sophomore to junior and senior (year) is difficult.”
In search of a solid foundation, they were welcomed with open arms at Fort Vancouver and the Trappers’ football program, a place that quickly felt like home.
“They greet you like you’re family already,” Ayden Hyde said, “and I still feel that.”
Fort Vancouver and the Hydes made for a good fit. The Trappers benefitted from the talents of both players, with Caleb leading the team’s offense at quarterback and Ayden at running back and receiver.
They’ve followed in the footsteps of their grandfather Terry Hyde, a Fort Vancouver alumnus and assistant coach in the football program, an ongoing rebuild the twins have embraced being part of. Under first-year coach Will Ephraim, the Trappers are still looking for their first win through five games.
“I think Fort (was) a good place for us to go because we can lift the spirits of not just football, but academically and everything else too,” Caleb Hyde said.
“And who doesn’t love a little challenge?” Ayden Hyde said.
Asking the twins to recount their earliest memories of playing football is difficult because they can’t really think of a time without the game in their lives.
Terry Hyde, a former head coach at Evergreen and Prairie who also helped start Clark County Youth Football some 40 years ago, insists he didn’t nudge Ayden and Caleb toward football. As they’ve done with all their kids and grandkids, Terry and Mary Hyde introduced the twins to many pursuits growing up, but it was up to them to decide if they liked it or not.
“They just loved football from the onset, maybe because they were around it so much,” Terry Hyde said. “They just kept going, they just wanted to play football.”
They signed up for CCYF in the second grade, often playing on teams coached by their dad, and each thrived in their respective roles.
According to their grandfather, Caleb was the elite athlete who often gravitated to quarterback and receiver. Ayden also shined at skill positions, but what set him apart was his toughness rarely seen from a youngster, illustrated by a photo on Terry Hyde’s phone of Ayden making a tackle with textbook technique as just a third grader.
“What each of them brings is a little bit different,” Terry Hyde said. “Caleb is pretty athletic, and Ayden brings a little more grit. He’s going to fight you.”
They were on track to attend Evergreen from feeder Pacific Middle School, but after subsequent moves north to Lacey and back to Clark County inside Fort’s attendance boundary, the twins became Trappers. There was never a thought of transferring to another school. Not under their grandfather’s watch, at least.
“I believe you play where you’re domiciled,” Terry Hyde said. “None of this jumping around — you know what I’m alluding to. So, I’m a stickler. You live in this boundary, you play here.”
Each played a significant part in their first game with the team, a 20-7 win over Vashon Island on the school’s campus field. Caleb threw two touchdown passes and Ayden rushed for a score to lead the Trappers.
After the game, they talked about the love they had for their new team and the family atmosphere within the program. Football remained their constant — and a necessary outlet — while settling into a new school.
“If I have a bad day at school, come out here and (play) football,” Ayden Hyde said. “Even if we have a hard practice or a hard game, it still gets my mind right for the next day or week.”
That win, as it turned out, has been their only one so far in two seasons at Fort. But what’s been most challenging for the team is its low participation numbers, especially with how much untapped potential there is around the school, as the twins see it, though they’ve remained persistent in recruiting the hallways of the school.
“I’ve talked to 20-plus people trying to get them on the field,” Ayden Hyde said. “I’ve got some of them, but we’ve got some dogs in there that just don’t want to come out. … Playing football makes you feel better sometimes.”
The twins have experienced that firsthand, especially during these last two years. They’ve found a family at Fort, and in a literal sense alongside their grandpa, who continues to be a guiding light.
“I don’t even know how to explain it because without him, we don’t know where we’d be right now,” Caleb Hyde said.
“I’m trying to make this guy proud a little bit,” Ayden Hyde said. “It is something that I think about every day, that my grandpa went here.”
Everything fell into place for the twins to finish high school at Fort Vancouver, and with that, a family tradition continues.
“The last thing I’m gonna say is, Fort for life.” Ayden Hyde said.
