North Shore slips below .500

North Shore has gone from two straight Nassau County Conference IV football championships to a losing record with one game left before the playoffs. 

But don’t sleep on the Vikings, who fell to 3-4 after a heartbreaking triple-overtime loss at Locust Valley last Saturday. 

“We’ve lost a couple of close games but we see we have the ability to beat any team in the conference,’’ senior star outside linebacker Matthew D’Aversa said. “It’s about getting ready for the playoffs.’’

The regular-season finale is this Saturday versus Island Trees that will include postponed homecoming festivities. 

A victory and the maroon could still host a playoff game as a fourth seed. A loss and the Vikings fall to the sixth or seventh seed and become longshots. 

Host Locust Valley celebrated with gusto after it hung on, 20-13. It was a wild jubilee that illustrates how opponents view beating the Sea Cliff/Glen Head school like it is the Rose Bowl. 

“We knew we’d face challenges replacing a lot of last season’s team,’’ veteran head coach Dan Agovino said. “A lot of things are going right but we haven’t been able to take advantage of some of the opportunities that have been given to us. 

“In order to get to the championship level, we have to take advantage of them. We had a few (Saturday) and weren’t able to capitalize.’’ 

North Shore should’ve escaped Locust Valley with a winning record with the first two overtimes appearing in its favor when the defense shut down the green machine. Each team gets a possession from the 20-yard line. 

In the first OT, the Vikings missed a 22-yard field goal for the win. In the second round, with the ball at the 4, a fumbled with a big hole opened occurred after a bad exchange. 

Then in the third overtime, North Shore had another apparent defensive stop nullified by pass interference, leading to the winning score. 

"It was definitely a tough loss,’’ said D’Aversa. "We were there the whole game. Hopefully we get to play them again in the playoffs and take our anger out on them.’’

 D’Aversa wasn’t on the past two title teams. When North Shore won the 2021 Long Island crown, D’Aversa was on JV. Last season he sat out the season. He had a concussion but also wanted to concentrate on lacrosse recruiting visits. The Sea Cliff resident will attend St. John’s for lacrosse. 

In the second half and OT, D’Aversa dominated. “He had some heck of a game,’’ Agovino said. ‘He’s one of our players who play on perimeter but we had him coming up and made tremendous amount of plays in the Locust Valley backfield. He was playing like a man possessed.’’

 While the defense has carried North Shore for much of the season, quarterback Garret Gates has been huge and piled up 131 rushing yards Saturday.

North Shore's titles were built on its slew of running backs. Gianlucca Sferrazza, after inheriting the starting job in Week 3, has been solid, though was held down versus Locust Valley. Sferrazza scored the tying touchdown early in the fourth quarter to cap a 65-yard drive that gave him 10 scores for the season. But he was held to just 20 yards on 5 carries.

The most valuable player in a non-skill position has been offensive lineman/defensive end Justin Rosen, who had 9 tackles versus Locust Valley.

A couple of breaks and the Vikings could be carrying a glossier record. They lost their season opener, 14-12, to Cold Spring Harbor and 12-7 to Conference 4 power Malverne Oct. 7.

“The conference is up for grabs,’’ Agovino said. “We feel we can beat anyone in the conference and anyone can beat us. We do believe in this group. We feel they’re capable of pulling it together and making a playoff run.’’