By Jamie Lasorsa
At the young age of 14, Sterling resident Nicholas Viano is making a name for himself on the football field. After his family moved back to Sterling from California in 2021, Nicholas began playing with the Wachusett Youth Football team and was instantly a shining star among his peers. Unfortunately, due to a devastating injury, Nicholas was forced to take the bench for the end of that season.
After a complete ACL tear in March of 2021 cut his season short, Nicholas endured a full year of hard rest, surgery, and intense physical therapy to get back on the playing field. He got the all-clear to play again just before the start of the 2022 fall season and hasn’t looked back.
Despite his injury, Nicholas dominated during his regular season with Wachusett Youth Football and excelled in his positions at D-Tackle, Defense, and Offensive Line. He stood out so much to his coaches that he was nominated to play on the 2022 Central MA All-Star team. Now, if the name Viano sounds familiar to you, it may be because Nicholas’s older brother Anthony was also chosen to play the year prior on the 2021 Central MA All-Star team.
17 teams from all over Central MA sent their best players to try-out for a position on the All-Star team, and Nicholas was one of 40 players who were ultimately chosen to travel to compete at Nationals in Kissimmee Florida in early December.
Nicholas’ dad Mike traveled with him and the team to the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex, attending from December 3rd through the 10th. Nicholas’ brother Anthony joined him for a few days as well, as he wanted to be sure to be there to cheer his brother on during his shining moments on the field.
Their team, “Commonwealth Chaos”, played in a series of 3 games. Their first game was a win over Maryland, the second game they lost to San Diego, but they bounced back and won their third game against New Hampshire for an overall 3rd place national ranking, just as his brother had placed the year prior.
Nicholas came back with a lot to prove in 2022 and he’s made many people proud, receiving the Lineman MVP award from his Wachusett Youth coaches at the end of the season banquet. His coach Jeff Hatin had this to say, “Such a great kid and an impressive athlete. I feel so lucky that I got to be part of his journey. I am so excited to see what happens next for this young man!”
Nicholas says he plans to play football throughout his high school career, starting with just recently hearing the news he has been chosen to play on the Worcester Cowboys 14U Alpha Spring team. He is very excited about this opportunity. He would also like to give a shout out to the following teammates whom he really enjoyed playing with on the Central MA All-Star team: Ryan Fernandez, Joshua Labarge, Max Brown, and Grady Frisch.
Football fans take note, Nicholas will be one to watch in the coming years of local football stars.