Wantagh's Luke Martini wins Newsday's Thorp Award

Sayville coach Rob Hoss said it best.

“Tackling Luke Martini is like trying to tackle a ghost,” Hoss laughed. “Now you see him, now you don’t.”
Such was the case for Nassau Conference III football teams. Martini was a wrecker of game plans. The elusive one rushed for 1,968 yards and 21 touchdowns, leading Wantagh to the conference championship.

“I thought he got better each week without question,” Carey coach Mike Stanley said. “He was one of the most dynamic players we played and well beyond his years. He’s certainly no typical sophomore.”

For his accomplishments, Martini, a halfback/outside linebacker, was presented Newsday’s 84th Tom Thorp Award as Nassau’s most outstanding player Wednesday night at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.

The announcement held historical significance in more than one way. Martini became the first sophomore to earn the prestigious award. And he now shares the distinction with his brother Dylan, who was the 83rd recipient in 2024. They are the first set of brothers to win the Thorp.

“Amazing, that two brothers could win the Thorp Award in back-to-back years,” Wantagh coach Keith Sachs said. “Dylan was a freak athlete and graceful. He was athletic and would glide through a defense. Luke is a totally different kind of player than his brother. He’s like a bull in a China shop. He gets every ounce out of his body and plays with an edge.”

Martini, 16, never came off the field this season, playing on special teams, offense and defense. He was a game changer.

Martini’s impact on offense came in many ways. On top of his running style, where he averaged 12 yards per carry, he also caught 27 passes for 329 yards and four scores. And he threw two option passes for touchdowns and another for a two-point conversion.

“He was so dangerous we’d always have a player assigned to him at the second level because he doesn’t go down on first contact,” Hoss said. “We had to near foot him and close the gap because he’s too shifty in space. We had quite a few one-on ones with him and we whiffed in space.”
Hoss said the game plan for the Long Island Class III championship game was set to limit Martini’s bend back runs into the open field. He didn’t want to leave his secondary on a virtual island trying to tackle him one on one.

“We have good tacklers in the open field, and he still made us miss,” Hoss said. “We had free hitters on him and whiffed. He’s extremely shifty and then he’s explosive. We needed a clean shot to tackle him, and it had to be perfect. He had unique ability and great balance and was quick enough to beat us on the edge.”

Hoss said his coaches watched game films of Martini in preparation for the LIC.

“I watched it play out live, after watching so much film on him. And I was horrified – he was even better than I thought. How do we stop this guy? We needed great angles of pursuit.”

Opponents also felt Martini’s impact on defense. The outside linebacker led Nassau in interceptions with six. He also made 97 tackles, including 18 for a loss and five sacks.

Two of those interceptions effectively ended the season for playoff opponents. His red zone interception ended Carey’s run in the Conference III semifinals. And his theft against Bethpage in the fourth quarter of the Conference III final ended the Golden Eagles comeback bid.

“Martini was the best player in our league,” Stanley said. “He impacted all phases of the game.”

The emergence of the youngest Martini as a superstar caught Sachs a little off guard.

“We knew he was special, but he matured much quicker than we anticipated,” Sachs said. “He picked up defensive schemes and understood our own game calls rather quickly. He was a perfect complement to our other big playmakers Joe Nicholson and Devin Paccione. People started to notice he was more than a big-time lacrosse player.”

Sachs said Martini is the number one lacrosse recruit in the country for the class of 2027. He led Wantagh lacrosse in scoring in eighth and ninth grade.

“I’m so happy people got to see him on the big stage,” Sachs said. “They had the chance to appreciate what we see every day. We knew he’d contribute but we didn’t expect this right out of the gate. It’s hard to believe he’s a sophomore.”

Wantagh (8-4) fell to undefeated Sayville (12-0) in the LI Class III title game. But Martini and his teammates gave the Golden Flashes quite the scare.

“Hopefully we never see Martini in an LIC again,” Hoss laughed. “He’s scary good.”

By Gregg Sarra

gregg.sarra@newsday.com@Gregg_Sarra

Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.