Telegraph photo by TOM KING Twins Devin, left, and Eddie Bracetty hope to help make the Nashua North football team number one this season.

NASHUA – They go together in all kinds of weather for the Nashua High School North football team.

Twins usually do. Meet Devin and Ed Bracetty, two tough customers who make up for a lack of size with a dose of intensity.

“Competitive, athletic, feisty kids,” Nashua North High School coach Dante Laurendi said. “Not afraid to mix it up. I don’t know if it’s sibling rivalry, or they grew up beating up each other.

“But they both have that physical trait, that physical toughness.”

“We’ve always been dogs,” Eddie said. “Look at all the guys around us. They’re bigger. You just have to come with more energy.”

Energy on defense and special teams, has been Devin’s trademark. He says he loves the hitting.

“He plays with a lot of emotion, very hard all the time,” Laurendi said of Devin. “Hustler. I think it’s not only his defensive positon (outside backer), but on special teams he just runs down.

“For a kid his size (5-8), very physical … It gets to a point sometimes we have to calm him down. He gets overly excited. He’s 100 miles an hour all the time. Very passionate and emotional. He’s done a great job this year being under control.”

“Yeah, sometimes I get a little too hyped up,” Devin said, but added he loves special teams. “It’s fun, you get to get down there and just hit, simple as that.

“Last year, I was a little bit younger, I had a lot more energy. But now I feel I have a lot more focus, I can focus in on the game more.”

Eddie also plays special teams at times, and made a tackle the other night against the solid Jason Compoh, who is about six inches taller and 80 pounds heavier. “That says it all,” he said. “You just have to go down there and make the tackle. It’s you vs. the other guy. And you help out the defense as well. If you make a big stop at the 20-yard line, it helps.”

As a receiver, Eddie likes to make those receptions to keep the chains moving. He starts at that spot on offense, and comes off the bench as an extra defensive back.

“Eddie also plays hard,” Laurendi said, adding that he shares Devin’s nature. “Very competitive. Same thing. He might be a little bit smaller than Devin but again, he’s another one of our skill guys. We can move him around. We can put him on the outside, put him in the slot, he can carry the ball.

“He’s just another one of our guys who can touch the football and also be physical on the defensive side.”

Eddie feels his brother sets the tone for the Titans’ defense. “He sets the energy, I think,” he said.

But Devin won’t put that all on himself.

“I look at it as we all work together, we’re all playing together,” Devin said. “We’re all going to work hard, and we’re all going to get it done. As long as we’re locked in, we’re just going to keep rolling.”

Laurendi can see the difference in Devin this year.

“He’s matured, improved every year, definitely has an understanding of what we’re trying to do this year, you can see that,” Laurendi said. “He had a good off-season, gotten himself stronger. And you didn’t see it (vs. South), but he can run the ball as well.”

Laurendi feels that Devin and Eddie can set a tone, especially Devin on special teams. “He looks at it as an opportunity to get more tackles,” he said. “You want guys that want to be on special teams. “It’s not a throw-away part of the game. When you get somebody that wants to set the tone like that, it means a lot. Devin sets the tone for those guys.”

And does it against bigger bodies.

“Some of those guys he goes against are bigger guys, some of the running backs and linemen that are pulling,” Laurendi said.

And, said the coach, Devin takes the game very seriously.

“I think this means a lot to him, football and this team mean a lot to him,” Laurendi said. “If it means a lot to him, it better mean a lot to his teammates.

“As a team leader, he wants those expectations. He expects his teammates to be just as passionate.”

The Bracetty twins have always played football, since around fourth grade with the Nashua PAL program.

The pair do everything together away from school and football, Eddie says.

“Everything,” he said. “We’re not just brothers, we’re twins, you know?”

But not identical. “You couldn’t even tell we’re brothers,” Eddie said. “I’m two minutes older.”

Away from school, they’re into cars. Eddie likely will move on to trade work, hoping to be a mechanic. Devin, meanwhile, would like to go to college and play football, and study either dental or something that has to do with animals.

What separates them?

“I’m the more laid back guy,” Eddie said, and Devin says his brother “keeps me more toned down.”

But on the football field, they’re both easy to spot. They’ll be the ones making solid contact.

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