Wrestling: Carida, McCarthy on right side of history

ATLANTIC CITY -- It was Heartbreak City in a matter of moments for the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area at 145 pounds on Saturday.

On one mat, Hackettstown senior Alex Carida, one of the title favorites as the No. 3 seed, was tossed to his back and pinned in his quarterfinal against Lacey's Luke Gauthier. One another mat just across the way, Newton junior Wyatt McCarthy held a five-point lead near the end of the second period and eventually was put to his back with a headlock for the decisive five points in a 10-7 loss to Delsea runner-up Nick Bennett.

Wyatt McCarthy and Alex Carida on the podium.

After the toughest defeats of their careers, Carida and McCarthy regrouped and came back to earn medals -- Carida finishing third and McCarthy seventh -- in the 85th State Championships at Boardwalk Hall. In all, 18 local wrestlers brought home medals from this year's tournament.

"It was definitely [rewarding] to wrestle back from losing in the quarters and take third," said Carida, who pinned McCarthy in the fifth round of wrestlebacks before avenging his loss to Gauthier -- 7-2, in the bronze medal bout. "I definitely got some revenge. He caught me ... it happens."

Carida (46-2), considered to be one of the best shots in recent memory to end Hackettstown's 50-year drought atop the podium, has nothing to hang his head about in an otherwise superb career. The Tigers have only one state champion -- two-timer Doug Blake (1967-68) -- and Carida is just their third finalist, joining Blake and Hank Deibel (122 pounds in 1979).

In addition, Carida, whose only other loss this season was 1-0 to DePaul junior Ricky Cabanillas, the state champion at 145, is the school's winningest wrestler at 142-28 and its highest finisher -- it has 11 medal winners overall -- since Owen Vernon took third at 152 pounds in 2008.

"My coaches just told me to forget about [the loss in the quarters] and wrestle back ... and I did," said Carida, who is also Warren County's all-time wins leader.

True to form, Carida, while a special achievement, said he hoped his wins record would stand for only a short time -- though it's not likely to be approached in the near future.

"It's a big deal," said Carida, a classy young man who will wrestle on the next level at Bloomsburg University. "Hopefully, I can inspire some of the young kids to succeed."

Championship heart

McCarthy, a No. 2 seed who could have easily packed it in after losing a match he had well under control and being a little under the weather, showed some serious guts in a 4-3 decision over tough Middletown North senior Stanley Wojdylak in the Blood Round.

That win guaranteed a medal for McCarthy (39-4), who got his 99th career victory in the seventh-place bout -- 6-1 over Jeff Johnson of Middlesex-Dunellen. He is Newton's first placewinner since Gus Protogeropoulos finished seventh at 220 in 2015.

McCarthy will look to become the Braves' first finalist since Ted Sibblies (1989) and their New Jersey record 83rd champion next season. The last winner for the Sussex County school was two-timer Andy Iliff (1986-87), who would love nothing more than to shed that distinction.

Here's a cool stat. Under coach Eric Bollette, the Braves, including Protogeropoulos and McCarthy, have gone 7-1 in state consolation finals -- Trevor Braxton (fourth at 119 in 2002), Austin Alpaugh (seventh at 152 in 2008), Kevin Churchill (seventh at 112 in 2009, third at 112 in '10), Evan Chrustic (seventh at 285 in '11) and Josh Sibblies (fifth at 182 in '13).