This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
10/20/2016 12:00 AMNico Ragaini has been playing football for as long as he can remember. Nico has fond memories of watching his father Gianni coach the football and baseball teams at Notre Dame-West Haven and knew that he wanted to suit up for the Green Knights one day.
“When I was little, we’d always go watch the games and I always wanted to play there,” says Nico. “In 8th grade, my best friends and I all wanted to go there together and it just seemed like a perfect match.”
While Nico has always known that he wanted to play football at Notre Dame, he had no idea that he’d get to continue competing alongside many of his teammates from the East Haven Youth Football program. The group, which has played together since 4th grade, saw a lot of success while growing up and even won a state title.
“We’ve been winning ever since then. The brotherhood has continued here at Notre Dame and, every single second, everyone on the team has my back and I’ve got theirs,” Nico says. “Coming here, we wanted to keep that winning feeling going.”
That’s certainly been the case for Nico and the Green Knights. Nico, who’s played varsity football at Notre Dame since his freshman year, helped the Green Knights advance to the state championship game in his sophomore season, after which they reached the semifinal round last fall. Although the current campaign began with two defeats, Nico and his teammates have since won three-straight contests and have one of their biggest games of the season this week when they host crosstown rival West Haven on Friday, Oct. 21.
“There are usually around 3,000 people at that game,” says Nico. “I just like playing against the best competition all the time. Playing in the SCC is probably the hardest division in entire state, so if we take any game lightly, we could lose. Each week, we just focus on getting better and beating the team we’re facing.”
While Nico is focused on Notre Dame’s success as a whole, he does have a host of accolades to his name, including being named All-State as a sophomore and a junior. Notre Dame’s Head Coach Tom Marcucci notes that Nico, a senior captain wide receiver/defensive back, is “one of the best players in the state.” Thus far this season, Nico has caught 28 passes for 441 yards.
Nico’s junior year was also full of highlights in his two other sports as he was part of Notre Dame’s All-State 4x400 relay in indoor track and made All-State in lacrosse. To top off last year, Nico was selected as the New Haven Register’s 2015-’16 Athlete of the Year.
“Going All-State in all three seasons was definitely awesome,” says Nico, an honors student. “I push myself to be the best, so whenever I get recognized, it feels great.”
Nico doesn’t take all of the credit, though. He’s quick to point out that he couldn’t succeed without the help of his teammates in all three sports.
“I have been so lucky to have such great teammates through my entire career. I’ve had amazing quarterbacks and our line blocks for me every single game, so without them, I couldn’t do what I do,” he says. “For the 4x400, I was the anchor and, by the time the baton got to me, I could’ve walked the last two laps because that’s how far ahead they got me.”
Nico began playing lacrosse in 6th grade. His parents took him to play in North Haven and he’s been traveling to summer tournaments ever since. Nico has competed for Notre Dame lacrosse since he was a freshman and Head Coach AJ Alessi appreciates the work ethic and leadership he sees from his captain.
“He brings great athleticism. He’s very fast, he’s a hard worker, and he’s a good leader,” says Alessi. “He’s a great player, both sides of the field. He sets a great example for everyone else. He’s a vocal kid in the huddle and on the field he gets pretty passionate and backs it up.”
Nico has received guidance from a number of other coaches, including Frank Quido, his trainer at Breakout Athletics in North Branford, as well as John Rava for lacrosse. Rava has helped Nico reach out to colleges about continuing his athletic career and, although Nico is verbally committed to play lacrosse at Cornell, the decision is not yet set in stone. Nico is still keeping his options open and waiting to see if he gets an opportunity to play football at the next level. No matter what, Nico will be continuing one of his favorite sports in college one way or the other.
“As of right now, the worst that can happen is I play [lacrosse] at Cornell, so that’s not a bad thing,” says Nico. “Being captain is great because I always try to be a leader on and off the field. If you came to a practice, you wouldn’t be able to tell who’s a captain because all of the upperclassmen are leaders out there, and that’s how we’ve been playing the last couple weeks.”