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# Thanks Guy: Puleo over came shortcomings
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/thanks-guy-puleo-over-came-shortcomings/
- Published: 2010-11-24T18:47:52.000Z
- Updated: 2010-11-24T18:47:52.000Z
- Description: Nick Puleo doesn’t look like a football player. The Nashua High School South senior is listed on the team’s roster at 5-6 and 134 pounds. His position coach once told him he was “vertically challenge.” There have been plenty of times during his high school career that someone has told Puleo he proba
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, Fall Sports, football, Nashua South, Thanks Guy, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

*Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories that will be appearing about the unsung heroes who take the football field every week, the guys who coaches couldn’t get by without. At this time of year, it’s time to say “Thanks Guy.”*

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/southfball1022-ns2118.jpg "SouthFball1022 NS21&18")

Nick Puleo doesn’t look like a football player.

The Nashua High School South senior is listed on the team’s roster at 5-6 and 134 pounds. His position coach once told him he was “vertically challenge.” There have been plenty of times during his high school career that someone has told Puleo he probably shouldn’t be playing, that he wasn’t big enough to play football.

And despite that, he has. Puleo started on defense this year for the Panthers and even got the occasional touch on offense.

“I’m one of those guys, somebody tells me I can’t do it, I try to do it just to prove them wrong,” Puleo said. “I have less room to make errors. Some coaches tell me I have the will to do it, but I criticize myself pretty hard, so I work harder.”

That work started in the weight room three years ago. As a freshman, Puleo tore up his knee and missed part of that season. Instead of coming back to the field his sophomore year, he spent that season working out and getting himself back into shape.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/southfball0904-nspuleo2.jpg "SouthFball0904 NSPuleo2")

“My sophomore year, my mom told me I should take a year off and get everything healed up,” he said. “We ended up winning the championship (in 2008). I wanted to come back strong junior and senior year. That whole sophomore year, I worked out. Did speed training here and got it all straightened out.”

Having spent so much time in the weight room and around so many teammates and other teams, Puleo began to understand what it meant to be part of one.

“This is like home,” he said. “This year, something special happened. I’ve never had a team as close as this one. We as a team, we hang out, we do pasta parties every Thursday before the game. We have this special bond that I’ve never had before as a team.”

That bond helped the Panthers get through some tough times during the season, including a double overtime loss to Londonderry that Puleo doesn’t think would have made it to overtime if it had happened to any other team.

“We were down (41-13) at halftime,” he said. “It was a miserable game, raining and cold and not a lot of people wanted to be there. But after that halftime, the team came together. We talked about things and we didn’t change much, but we changed our mentality and we ended up coming back 41-41.”

While games like that have taught him lessons on the field, Puleo also believes football has helped him learn off it.

“It makes you keep your grades up,” he said. “That’s my biggest thing. I keep my grades up to be able to play sports in high school and to get into a good college to move me further. With football every day except for Sundays, and every day after school until 6 o’clock, it keeps you out of trouble. It keeps you disciplined.”

As for Thursday’s Turkey Bowl against Nashua North, Puleo has bittersweet feelings going into it.

“It’s probably going to be my last game,” he said. “I’m extremely excited for this game, but pretty sad that it’s going to be over soon. At the rate that our team has been going, I know I’m not going to lose friends from this team. It just feels great being a part of this family.”