Triple digits
Villa Novan uses hatred for losing to achieve goals on the mat
Woonsocket wrestler Julian Jerez savors 100th win
WOONSOCKET —Nydia Caro remembers when her son, Woonsocket senior Julian Jerez, would come home dejected after wrestling practice his freshman year.
“I knew nothing about the sport when he first started and he really wasn’t that much into it and he would say ‘I’m going to quit and I’m not going to come back,’” Caro said. Wednesday night. “I would just tell him he’s not going to quit. He started something and he’s going to finish it. That’s the best thing he did because he stayed with it and loves it.”
Jerez, who had never wrestled before walking through the doors of Woonsocket High, didn’t quit and persevered through the meat grinder that is Division I wrestling for the first two years. Eventually, the Villa Novan grew to the love the sport and his hard work paid off Wednesday night against East Greenwich.
Wrestling in the final match of the Division II dual meet, Jerez kept the Villa Novans undefeated with a 2-minute, 15-second pin of Avenger Matthew Sommer to become the first Woonsocket wrestler in program history to record 100 wins.
“This feels great,” Jerez said after the pin. “Just knowing that everyone cares about me and I was the first to achieve at Woonsocket is great.”
“Words can’t describe how proud I am of him,” Caro said. “He’s a good person and he’s humble and he’s great.”
Jerez’s journey to becoming the first wrestler in school history to reach the century mark began the way most highschool wrestling careers begin – on the gridiron. Jerez played on the freshman football team and heard one of his teammates was going to tryout for the Division I wrestling team.
As Jerez put it, he wasn’t sure if wrestling was like WWE, but he wanted to join his classmates in a winter sport. Jerez didn’t have much fun wrestling at 106 pounds during his freshman year, but he became the first Villa Novan to bring home two medals as a freshman.
Jerez finished fourth at the Cranston Invitational and then he took fourth at the Smithfield Invitational.
“The senior captains, Josh Hidalgo, Mark Roman and Darien Briggs really pushed me,” Jerez said. “The repeated losses to the senior guys really pushed me because I knew I could be on their level if I worked hard. I came one day to practice and I kept coming back and kept coming back. I wanted to quit, but my mom kept pushing me.”
After losing his only two matches at the state tournament, Jerez pushed himself in the offseason and began training at Northeast Elite. The move paid off, as Jerez reached the 113pound Smithfield Invitational final before dropping a one-point decision to Moses Brown’s Abe Bloom, who won a New England title in 2015.
Woonsocket coach Matt Morrow said the difference between Jerez and other athletes who start wrestling was Jerez’s down right hatred of los- ing.
“His sophomore year he gave me the best quote I’ve ever heard as a coach, ‘I hate losing more than I enjoy winning,’” Morrow said.
“Every loss pushes me more than any win,” Jerez said. “Winning is good, but losing isn’t fun and you can’t blame somebody else, you can only blame yourself. That’s why I hate losing more than I like winning. It’s no one’s fault except mine. That’s what pushes me to get better.”
Jerez earned his first state medal as a sophomore 113-pounder when he advanced all the way to the semifinals before losing his final three matches to finish sixth. Needless to say, the sting of those Saturday defeats at the PCTA were all the motivation Jerez needed going into his junior season.
Jerez put the state on notice in the first tournament of his junior season when he pinned eventual state champion Blake Stammas of EWG in the second period of the 126-pound final at South County Invitational
“By the start of my junior year I realized I could become what I am,” Jerez said. “I knew I could become one of the greatest wrestlers at Woonsocket. I don’t want to sound cocky, but I just thought I could become what I am.”
The Villa Novan followed up the victory with another dominant display in the Hurricane Invitational and the Smithfield Invitational to go into the state meet as one of the favorites in a wide-open 126-pound weight class.
But, for the second straight season, a Bishop Hendricken wrestler stopped Jerez from a trip to the state final. Dylan DiSano defeated Jerez 3-1 in the quarterfinals and even though he came back to win four matches and earn a trip to New Englands, that loss to DiSano stuck with Jerez.
“My loss last year at the state tournament to the kid from Bishop Hendricken,” Jerez said about a loss that still motivates him. “It was totally my fault and it pushed me.”
Jerez, who went 1-2 at New Englands, has simply been untouchable this season. He pinned all four of his opponents at the South County Invitational and won the North Providence Invitational.
As Jerez winds down his superlative career, he’s still chasing an accomplishment only Monte Davis (2006) and Justin Switzer (2009) have achieved as Villa Novans in the last decade.
“State championship,” Jerez said. “State championship is driving me right now. Just knowing I could be on top of the whole state is pushing me more than anything. I just need to keep working hard and believing in myself.”