CARY – When his younger brother leads Cary-Grove into Saturday’s Class 6A football state semifinal, Hayden Baker will follow his customary game day routine by sending a single text message.

He will offer Trojans quarterback Quinn Baker good luck and wish him well. But outside of that, the elder Baker will leave his sibling alone, allowing Quinn to focus as he prepares for what – until now – will be the biggest game of his high school football career.

By now, Hayden – a sophomore at Northwestern, where he is the Wildcats’ backup center – has doled out all of the advice he can, leaving the rest to the senior who grew up idolizing his older brother and who has now blossomed into a confident young leader.