The foundation to the success of any team lies in its unity and commitment. Under head coach John Jacobs, the team showed the progress they have made due to his training. Coach Jacobs has been a teacher for 29 years, the last 15 at Pekin, where he teaches driver’s education. He has been the head wrestling coach for 24 years.

“I didn’t choose wrestling, wrestling chose me,” Jacobs explained. “When I started coaching I only planned on being an assistant football coach, but I was helping with wrestling as well and when the last coach retired, the job kind of just fell to me.”

During his coaching career at Pekin, Jacobs had 14 wrestlers qualify for the state tournament, most recently Shamon Handegan, Jaylah Dalton, Jared Dowell, and Ryan and Tyler Haynes.

One of the standout athletes this season was senior Ramez Watson, who placed 5th in the Class 3A 144-pound weight class at the IHSA Individual State Finals, held February 15–17 at the State Farm Center in Champaign.

“Placing in state was a great feeling,” Watson stated. “I’ve worked all my life to get where I am today, and I’ve never gotten to wrestle at a state tournament. When I qualified my eighth grade year, COVID-19 ruined it. But now to be able to finally prove I was always one of the best wrestlers in the state feels great to me.”

Watson’s fifth-place title match win was his 100th win of his high school career and showed his progression as a wrestler due to his hard work.

“The experience from wrestling there was like no other,” he said. “It was so cool to walk out of the tunnel and see the entire arena filled with people, and I knew there were going to be eyes on me.”

Equally deserving of recognition is sophomore Tessa Donaldson. Donaldson has wrestled for eight years and plans to continue wrestling at a university in Florida. She was the first female to win regionals at Pekin Community High School, which is one of her biggest accomplishments.

“Being the first girl to do something like that inspires so many other girls,” she stated. Donaldson hopes to keep girls wrestling alive and to prove that girls can wrestle.

Donaldson credits her cousin Shamon Handegan, who placed second last year as a senior at the state tournament, and Jaylah Dalton, who also qualified for state last year, as her inspiration. She admired how Dalton didn’t let being a girl wrestler stop her from doing what she loves.

The PCHS wrestling team’s season was nothing short of remarkable. Led by Watson and Donaldson, their achievements provide inspiration for young wrestlers. This season will be remembered not only for the victories, but for the barriers that were broken.