One goes north.

The other will head south.

One Mills will play defense.

The other is suiting up on offense.

For one last time both Powell standouts will be wearing the same uniform with the North team in the Shrine Bowl on Saturday, but if the twins are searching for their own identities, they appear to be starting on the path this week.

"It'll be different for us to be apart, but the biggest thing is I think it'll be good for us," Galen Mills said. "I don't know if people realize, but with twins it's kind of like just one person almost. Neither one of us has really had kind of individuality or been treated that way from people that don't know us, so I'm excited, he's excited and we both get to be our own people.

"We'll have our own fans, our own friends, people that won't mix up our names - little things, maybe not a huge deal, but we're both excited."

Perhaps lately there's been more fanfare for Gavin since he signed with Air Force, which admittedly made it tough on Galen for a while when he received less recruiting attention.

Both seemed to have more than enough athleticism to make it on the next level.

And both were big-time contributors for the Panthers and finished their careers side-by-side as second-team Casper Star-Tribune Super 25 selections.

But the Falcons and Carroll College will keep them apart starting this fall, though by now Galen doesn't have any complaints about how it all played out.

"It was difficult when it all began," he said. "I'm not trying to make excuses. Gavin is going to Air Force and he's a great athlete, but I went to Africa actually for a month on a mission trip and he went to [Wyoming] for a camp the year before his junior year. He e-mailed [the offer he got] to me when I was in Africa, and I was like 'Wow.' I mean, I love football, we both love football and neither one of us really seemed like we were better or worse at it.

"But that next year we took different roles on the football team and it kind of spread on out from there, and it was tough. I'll be honest, it was tough for a little while."

Carroll coach Mike Van Diest helped ease the transition by offering him a spot in the secondary, and the school's pre-med program made a move to Montana even more appealing.

Eventually that means a whole state will be between the brothers, but for now they've still got a couple more days together in the same uniform.

And the North has a Mills at its disposal on both sides of the ball.

"Well, it's nice to have them on our side," Cody and North coach Cris Williams said. "I'm used to having both of them on the other side and trying to worry about what they're going to do to you.

"They're both great athletes, intelligent, hard-working, all those things that you hear in cliches - they're true, those guys have got it all."

Including their own paths now.

Though they obviously don't have to head their separate ways quite yet.

Contact sports reporter Austin Ward at (307) 266-0634 or austin.ward@trib.com.