By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
Drew Reca was interested to see how wrestling practice would be at Robbinsville High School wrestling Monday.
For the first time since Reca was a sophomore, the Ravens were coming to a practice after losing a match to a Mercer County team. Ewing edged the Ravens, 34-33, in a quad meet Saturday to break Robbinsville’s streak and also hand them their first home loss to a Mercer County team since 2007.
”The loss to Ewing hit the team kind of hard,” said Reca, a senior who won by forfeit against Ewing, by pin in a 58-16 win over Notre Dame and by pin in a 33-31 win over Hightstown. “It was rough on us. The kids really responded (Monday) at practice. We’re going to bounce back. We know we’re not going to just walk in and claim Mercer County. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. We can’t overlook anyone. We’re hoping to bounce back.”
Getting back in the wrestling room seemed the perfect place to regroup. It’s where everything started for Reca, now the only four-year varsity starter left for the Ravens. All around the wrestling room is the youth that the Ravens are relying on this year.
”This year’s team is kind of interesting,” said Robbinsville head coach Rich Gildner, whose team is 3-1. “It’s a good balance of the older guys with experience and then I have eight guys in the lineup that it’s their first year wrestling varsity. It’s interesting how the older guys are taking the younger guys on their wing.
”Some of them are coming along quicker than others. Some of them have been wrestling for six, seven, eight years. A couple others, it’s only their second or third year. It’s kind of where I expected us to be at. What cost us against Ewing was giving up bonus points. That’s the inexperience.”
The inexperience needs matches, like the one scheduled for Wednesday against Steinert.
”It’s very different this year,” Reca said. “We’re not blowing teams out. Every match is going to be a battle.
”Once the kids start getting mat time, experience comes the more you wrestle. They’re going to get better as the season goes on.”
But Reca knows that they can improve significantly just by getting in the wrestling room with the veterans. It’s never easy, but it pays off handsomely.
”You just go hard in the room,” Reca said. “Everything starts in the room. Hard work will beat talent. I’ve beaten guys I had no business beating based on talent, but I’ve worked hard.”
Reca has improved each year. He started at 135 pounds, moved to 140 as a sophomore where he went 19-12, cut significant weight last year to wrestle at 145 and go 18-8 and now is at 152 for his final scholastic season.
”I feel like I’m a pretty quick 52,” Reca said. “The weight cutting was pretty bad for me. It wasn’t comfortable for me. It didn’t help my attitude. This year, I feel stronger and a lot faster.”
Reca still placed third in his weight class at the county and district tournaments last year. This year, he’d like to finish higher while also helping the Ravens duplicate their success of a year ago. For that to happen, he’ll have to help bring along some of the less experienced Ravens.
”We take our older guys like Ice (Jared Icenhower) and (David) Bossie and have like a brother system,” Reca said. “We take the guys around our weight and help them.”
Said Gildner: “We did lose a few kids that are in school but chose not to come out for the team. The way we practiced in the room, the attitude, the older kids have stepped up. They’ve shown the younger kids we have a tradition of winning. Them being positive and teaching the younger kids what they need to be successful has been a tremendous help to me.”
Reca is one of the veterans that the Robbinsville team is counting on every match this year. He started the year 3-3 but has won his last three matches.
”I started off really slow, but it’s against the best competition in the state,” Reca said. “I went against a couple studs. I’ve been battle tested which is good. I went 3-0 this weekend and I worked on a lot. I’m excited how it’s going so far. I feel my shots are there. I feel comfortable on my feet. I think Gildner is doing anything in his power to make me better.”
Gildner is also counting on Reca to continue to be a shining example to the less experienced wrestlers of how far hard work can bring them.
”He’s kind of taken on that role of taking the younger guys under his wing and pulling them aside and guiding them in the right direction,” Gildner said. “He’s one of the kids that comes in the room every day and gives you 100 percent of what he’s doing.
”I know he’s frustrated with his three loses. The losses he has are to quality kids, to kids that went to regions and placed in regions. Those are the kind of matches that will be important at the end of the year to get him experience and get him to the level he wants to be in.”
Reca has plenty of motivation after advancing farther than ever last year. He was happy enough to have placed at districts to move on to regions.
”I could have had a better showing at regions,” Reca said. “It was my first year at regions. I lost in regions. I was kind of shell-shocked about the thing. I was kind of happy about making it and not focused on wrestling. I want to go all the way to Atlantic City, and hopefully be district champ and county champ.”

