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Rams’ brotherly love

Alex and Nick Agnoletto finally get chance to suit up together
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Older brother Alex Agnoletto (right) receives a hug from younger brother Nick following last season’s Cullen Cup championship victory for the Langley Rams.

When you think of brothers in sports, many times they tend to drift to the same position.

The NFL has the Manning brothers, Peyton and Eli, who both play quarterback.

Hockey had the Sutter brothers — Brent, Brian, Duane, Darryl, Rich and Ron — who lined up as forwards during their respective NHL careers.

But just because big brother plays a certain position, doesn’t always mean the younger sibling will follow suit. They may want to, but circumstances outside of their control prevent it.

And in the case of the Agnoletto brothers with the Langley Rams junior football club, size is the culprit.

Alex Agnoletto, is a six-foot 300-pound defensive lineman for the Langley Rams.

And his younger brother Nick is also a member of the Rams, but did not follow his brother to the trenches along the line.

Instead, Nick is a five-foot-eight — although he stressed it is actually five-foot-eight-and-a-half — 160-pound wide receiver for Langley.

But chatting with the pair it becomes quite obvious: given the chance, the pair would gladly play on the other side of the ball that they currently are.

“I have always had aspirations of catching touchdowns,” chuckled Alex.

“If I could, I would probably be a (defensive) end because I like watching guys like JJ Watt play,” Nick added.

But instead, the brothers are thriving at their set positions.

Alex, is 22 and in his final year of junior eligibility, finished seventh among defensive players in the B.C. Football Conference with 89 points. He led the Rams with 30 tackles and also had 11 assists and was second on the team with four quarterback sacks. Agnoletto also had one interception and was named a defensive all-star this past season.

Nick, is 19 and in his second season with the Rams, and had 14 catches for 265 yards and one touchdown.

And these past two seasons have been the first time the Agnolettos have been able to play organized football for the same team.

One thing has always been evident: their love of football (both brothers also played high level lacrosse). But their path — just like their body types — have been very different.

While being big on the field can be blessing in football, it also brought challenges off of it for Alex.

“People hate on (as a bigger kid),” he said. “But you can’t listen to the haters. You have to be comfortable in your own skin and strive for success, show people that they were wrong about you.

“I feel like I have done that and I am going to keep doing that.”

For Nick, it was an opposite feeling.

A smaller kid, he was bullied — although Alex helped put a stop to that — and he always faced questions as to why he was so much smaller than his brother.

“(The questions) never really phased me,” Nick said.

Their size difference never manifested in Alex going easy on Nick.

“We are both competitive kids so even when are playing each other, there is no mercy. One of us is trying to come out on top all the time, to have the bragging rights,” Alex explained.

“As he got older and stronger, I had to up my game a bit.”

Even now, they are competitive in whatever they do, whether it be seeing who can sink the most shots into a garbage can or whatever game they come up.

“Sometimes he grabs me and throws me and then we will have a good laugh,” Nick said.

Rams head coach Jeff Alamolhoda said it is easy to see how much the brothers relish the opportunity to finally play together.

“They love it. They joke around with each other,” he said.

“They are constantly at each other’s throat during practice on the field.

“Chatting at each other, razzing each other, trash talking, But it is always good fun and they love it.

“There is a camaraderie there that you can see helps define the family definition of this football team.”

Langley Rams

Brothers Nick Agnoletto (left, with ball) and Alex Agnoletto (#65) enjoyed the chance to finally play organized football with one another this past season with the Langley Rams.