North Shore can't repeat as Long Island Class IV champs

There was joy for the team from the South Shore. And then there was North Shore.

The sting of losing in the Long Island Class IV championship game was right there on the players’ faces and in their voices.

“They were the better team today,” North Shore senior quarterback Peter Liotta said after Bayport-Blue Point’s 35-7 win Friday at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium.

North Shore rode in on a 19-game winning streak. Last fall, the Vikings won their first Nassau title since 1975 before capturing the program’s first Long Island title.

They ruled Nassau again this season, moving to 11-0 with last week’s championship win over West Hempstead. But there would be only one repeat crown for them.

“This last step was pretty important to all of us,” Liotta said. “That feeling of becoming champions, that was something different than the counties and the undefeated season. This is what we really wanted, and we couldn’t get it done today.

“But it’s all good. We’ve got to keep our heads up. We had one hell of a season.”

Liotta and senior Nick La Rosa were at the forefront along the way. La Rosa ran for 81 yards and Liotta rushed for 56 and threw for the lone score.

“Obviously, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but there’s nothing I’d trade it for,” La Rosa said. “These are my guys. This is my family. I love these guys to death.”

North Shore coach Dan Agovino expressed his pride in this team.

“A tremendous season,” he said. “These guys, they battled all the way through, from winning against Malverne [in the Nassau semifinals] with no time left to having a tough county game against West Hempstead. They’re still champions no matter what.”

He added, “The program is firing on all cylinders. North Shore football is here to stay.”