Seniors lead North Shore's charge

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The Vikings headed into the 2018-19 campaign as the defending Conference 4A champions with a multitude of extremely talented wrestlers with key experience from last season’s run. With that experience, North Shore projects to be right amongst the top teams in the conference with a large crop of upperclassmen.

“We have a vast amount of seniors,” head coach Mike Emmert said. “It is fun to watch them progress. You get to see them go from boys to men, and I really think that you could fully see that process from junior to senior year. They’ve really come into their own.”

Of the many seniors is standout Steve Grabher. He’s the third brother in his family to wrestle for the North Shore program under Emmert. There must be something in the Grabher gene, as Stevens’s two older brothers Robbie and Danny have both, at one point, held the school record for most varsity wins. Robbie, the eldest, initially held it with 126 until Danny overtook the record and set a new mark that still holds today at 167. Steve now sits at 146 wins on his career after his last victory, and will most likely eclipse the 150-win mark soon.

Junior Antonio George returns as one of the most dedicated on the mat for another hopeful All-County season. George became the first wrestler in school history to have an All-County freshman season. “The kid is on fire right now,” Emmert said. “He beat the Suffolk County Champ in a controlling match recently.”

North Shore also has some fantastic talent and dedication in Mike Dergarabedian and Michael Bianchi. “(Dergarabedian) hasn’t yet achieved the level of his ability yet. He is special,” Emmert said. “Bianchi is our workhorse and last year was just one match away from being All-County.”

Emmert spoke candidly on the fact that although last season he had some great talent, he may have a greater nucleus of talent this year. The difference, as he puts it, are those “middle guys.” “I might have the most amount of talent I’ve had this year,” Emmert said. “But after our elite talent last year, we had some middle of the road talent that actually ended up being some of our workhorses. This year we have a lot of freshmen after our group of 8-10 really elite wrestlers.”

The 18-year head coach preaches a mantra that his head coach instilled in him when he was a North Shore Viking years ago. ‘Refuse to Lose’ has been what Emmert and his 18 distinct and unique teams have lived by in the wrestling season. “It is a different outlook for all of life, not just for wrestling,” Emmert said. “Whatever you want to do in life, put your head down and work harder than the guy next to you and refuse to lose.”

As for team expectations, the Vikings have a number of All-County caliber wrestlers that will help propel North Shore to within reach of yet another conference championship.

“We definitely have the talent on the team to be conference champions,” Emmert said. “After the holidays, when we have kids that can make the weight classes needed with the weight allowances, we’ll sacrifice less forfeits and we’ll be in better position.”