Senior Dylan Martini is the first Wantagh High School athlete to get his name on the Tom Thorpe Memorial Award Plaque in its 83-year history as the most outstanding football player in Nassau County.
Photo courtesy of the Wantagh School District
The Tom Thorpe Memorial Award, given to the best football player in Nassau County each season, has been awarded to a player from Wantagh High School for the first time in its history.
Dylan Martini was announced the winner of the award on Monday, Dec. 9, at the annual Nassau County High School Football Coaches Association banquet. The senior was the first player in the school’s history to earn the honor since its inception in 1942. Martini had 1,976 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns while his team won the Class IX Long Island Championship.
Martini said that his team got together early in the offseason to get ready for the season. The squad had workout sessions dating back to February and got into practice over the summer, according to Martini.
The senior came into the season as the team’s lead running back, something that took him a little off guard.
“Getting the most carries in the backfield gave me that confidence, I never really had that in a coach before,” he said.
“I think we knew it was coming,” Wantagh football coach Keith Sachs said about Martini. “I don’t think he knew it was coming, but we did. This year we knew it was going to be his team.”
Wantagh hit the ground running and only had one hiccup throughout the year. The team lost to Plainedge in overtime in October, a game that Martini said could have had the potential to break a team apart, but not his team. Wantagh went on to defeat Plainedge 48-21 in the county title game one month later before claiming the Long Island championship.
“The main goal was winning the Long Island championship,” Martini said. “You don’t win a game unless you are on the same page and everyone has the same goal in mind. The Thorpe Award is great, but you don’t get to that point without your team.”
Martini was a finalist for the award in 2023 and joins a long list of Wantagh players to earn nominations. “We can take the time to give them a real good application,” Sachs said about the coach’s responsibility to submit applications for county awards. “They deserve it.”
Martini is committed to playing lacrosse at the University of Albany once he graduates from high school. When asked about his football career, he didn’t entirely rule out the possibility of it continuing as well.
“I gotta see how the cards play,” he said. “I don’t ever want football to end.”