North Shore wrestlers thriving

Last season’s North Shore wrestling campaign almost didn’t exist.

Amid the pandemic, the Vikings returned for a shortened season that became even shorter. After three dual-meet matches, their season was cancelled because of a Covid-19 outbreak on the squad. 

It has made this successful season that much sweeter for the maroon-and-white grapplers. The Vikings had soared into last weekend’s Division II Nassau County dual-meet championships with an unbeaten conference record. 

“They put in the work and took advantage of this full year,” second-year coach Anthony Facchini said. “They’re one of the hardest-working kids I’ve seen. We might not be the most technical, but it’s one of the toughest. We wrestle tough every day.’’ 

The squad was laden with 12 seniors, led by tri-captains Matt O’Donnell in the 110-pound class, Andrew Noak (172) and Mark Russo (189.)

In the lightweight class, North Shore dominated with O’Donnell at 110. He has weaved a 15-4 record with his diligence at cutting weight from his normal 120-pound frame. 

“He’s just tough, he does everything right, eats right, works hard,’’ said Facchini, in his second season after taking over for Mike Emmert. “He goes into every match with a “you’re-not-going-to-stop-me” mentality.’’ 

Noak, who played on the historic North Shore football team, battled back from a pair of finger injuries to post a 13-3 record. He’s considering wrestling in college.

And Russo, who moved last year to Minnesota, returned to Long Island to be the Vikings’ vocal leader in compiling a 9-2 record. “He’s the guy that gets our team pumped up, gets them going,’’ Facchini said. 

The club features 10 players from North Shore’s epic Long Island championship football squad.

“We had a great football team and great football payers usually make great wrestlers,’’ Facchini said. “Great wrestlers make great football players.’’

Other senior standouts included Joe Zuccarello (152 lbs), Gavin Goss (145 lbs), Matteo Kanakaris (118 lbs), Nick Sucari (160 lbs) and Aaron Baversa (172 lbs). 

A wave of injuries hit the club at the county dual meet tournament at Clark last Saturday as North Shore sought its first-ever Nassau title. Missing four starters, favored North Shore wound up losing in the semifinals to Seaford. 

“It was a tough loss - some of the underclassmen were brought up and couldn’t pull off the upset,” Facchini said. “But they wrestled tough. The boys went into it excited because we had never won it.” 

The season is not done. On tap is the individual Nassau County tournament at Cold Spring Harbor Feb 12 when North Shore hopes to be healthier. 

Its three captains, O’Donnell, Noak and Russo, have a chance to do something special there to cap a special season.