Rapids’ twin billing is bringing rave reviews

-- If Josh Wells looks good wrestling at 145 pounds for James River, wait for the Rapids' 152.

Josh says his brother Jesse is the cute one.

"Everyone says I've got that manly look," Josh said. "Everyone says I've got a little chisel and then Jesse's got cute dimples."

The identical twins have both looked good to James River coach Mark Helberg, and the brothers will be important pieces of the Rapids' lineup in the James River Duals, which start today.

Last year, James River squeaked out a win in its home tournament with a starting lineup too tough for either Wells to crack.

But the juniors have been watching the tournament since they picked up wrestling as freshmen.

"Freshman year, I didn't get to wrestle in it," Josh said. "And I remember for every single match they wrestled, I was always the tapper because I always wanted to be there with our team."

The brothers started out as natural workout partners, but that's a relationship they've dissolved.

"I kicked him in the head once," Josh said. "It was just - at first we were just kind of doing the moves and then at home, . . . He'd say, 'Josh, let me try this,' and then . . . we started picking it up, picking it up.

"Then once we started knowing what we were actually doing - OK, there's no way he's going to score on me. There's no way I'm going to give up two. He can't take me down. You know, that's my twin, I've got to beat him."

Really, the boys are enough alike that no one's really sure who kicked the other anymore.

"It could have been me that kicked him in the head," Jesse said. "But we get pretty intense. We get after it. He's given me a couple black eyes. I've given him a couple black eyes."

Separation was the boys' idea, not Helberg's.

"I don't think there's such a thing as too intense in practice," Helberg said. " But that's one of the things I can count on with the Wellses. No matter who you pair them with, you pair them up and let them go, it's going to be an intense match."

The twins worked it out between themselves in the same way they worked out the weight classes. There was barely a half pound difference between them. Most of the time, there would be a wrestle off.

"They came in, and amongst themselves decided one of them was going to go 45 and the other one was going to go 52," Helberg said. "If they weren't brothers, the coach in me would like to see them wrestle off and decide it on the mat. But I understand that they are brothers and there's a little bit more to it than that."

Josh stepped in at 145, going 25-5 with 15 pins. Jesse has gone 17-13 at 152, still earning plenty of points for the Rapids. And that ability to earn points instead of giving them away is critical in a dual tournament.

"I actually enjoy some of the dual matches a little bit better," Helberg said. "It gives me an opportunity as a coach to kind of get in there and have a little bit of a strategy and pair up guys and use the strengths of our team. A duals tournament takes on a little bit different feel than an individual tournament where it's kind of, 'Hey, we've done all this work all season, you guys go out and get it done.' A duals tournament is more we're still all in this together, we've still got each others' backs."