At last year’s NJSIAA/IBEW Local 102 Region 1 Tournament in West Milford, High Point heavyweight Gavin Mericle picked off top-seeded Robert Ekins of Don Bosco Prep in the quarterfinals.
Fast forward to Friday in West Milford and another Wildcat pulled off the upset of the first night in sophomore 120-pounder Carter Drouin.
Drouin, the No. 8 seed, took it to Waldwick-Midland Park fellow sophomore Gio Giardina by 12-3 major decision in the quarterfinals. A parade of takedowns and a reversal provided the scoring for Drouin, who defeated Westwood’s Victor Ye by 11-4 decision in the pre-quarterfinals.
“It’s the same as every other win,” Drouin said. [I] fought to my offense. The seed didn’t matter. I just went out there and did my thing and moved on."
Giardina came into the tournament wrestling as well as anyone in the bracket and fresh off a District 1 title in which he pinned and teched his way to the top of the podium.
Drouin had plenty of respect for Giardina’s skill set, but saw this as a matchup that worked to his advantage once the wrestling began.
“I was getting to my high Cs and doubles well,” Drouin said. “I was working off dumps and able to pull myself in. I was tough on top too and that helped me get the win. He was tough and wrestled hard, but stuff worked for me that match and his stuff wasn’t working for him. It was a good win.
“We’re at the point in the season where everyone is peaking at the right time,” High Point head coach Billy Smith added. “Carter put a season together and he hadn’t done that before. He’s the type of kid that once he gets his motor running, he’s hard to wrestle. When he’s on, he can wrestle with anybody in the state.”
That motor Smith referred to is what Drouin takes pride in. He had his season cut short last year in early February due to concussion protocol and had to pour a lot into this season to get to this stage.
Friday’s wins brought him to 40 for his career and it’s the effort in the wrestling room that he’s seeing translate to live action.
“I feel like my work ethic is what I’m most proud of,” Drouin said. “It’s not really my accomplishments. It’s how hard I train and how much work I put in. What you do off the mat shows on the mat.
“He’s a hard worker for sure,” Smith added. “For him to be in a good mental state and to attack obstacle in front of him, that’s important. When he has a chip on his shoulder, you can see it on the mat and he wrestles like it. We want that right version of Carter out there tomorrow so he can get a couple of more wins and get his ticket to AC.”
Drouin was the highest seed to advance until West Essex sophomore DJ Fiore put Ramapo senior Jonah Smith to his back in the second period (3:16) of the final match of the night.
Fiore was the No. 13 seed at heavyweight with Smith checking in at No. 4 in the bracket.
Ryan Patti can be reached at rpatti@njadvancemedia.com or via direct message here.
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