JASPER — Jeb Prechtel knows what it’s like, time and again, to come close to victory, only to feel the agony of defeat. The Jasper senior twice has made it to the sectional championship in high school — only to fall as a runner-up both times, and he made his way to semistate his first three years, losing in the match to go to state by a single point both his sophomore and junior years.
This season, however, Prechtel’s taking no prisoners — heading into Saturday’s sectional at Southridge at 27-0, having won the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference Championship Jan. 21 in the 160-pound class, and is ranked third in the state at 160, according to IndianaMat.com.
“All the time I’ve put in in the offseason with my coaches at Jasper and in Evansville (with Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club) — just working as I can 100% of the time really helps,” Prechtel said.”
“The improvements is really his leadership as far as not just telling what to do or how to act or how to perform — he’s showing it on the mat, off the mat,” said Wildcats coach Alex Lee, who’s in his second year manning the team. “Before, he led by actions — this year, he’s being a lot more verbal about it and just having realistic goals.”
Prechtel knows he wants to stand atop the podium, and not simply this weekend at Huntingburg Memorial Gym, either.
“Every year, my goal was to go (onto) state, and falling short of that goal has just pushed me harder and harder each year,” he said. “I’m not going to be just a semi-state guy this year — my goal is to be a state champion.”
One day after semistate his junior year, one week of vacation last summer — and that’s it, that’s the extent of the time he’s taken off in between his junior and senior years. Prechtel’s put in the work in, be it in the wrestling room, lifting weights or seeing competition from across the country.
All the shortcomings he’s had, plus the work he’s put in, helped lead to the season he’s enjoying, having bested fellow senior Luke Kemper of Evansville Central, 12-4, for SIAC glory at Castle.
“I knew my championship was going to be tough — wrestling (the) number-five ranked kid in the state,” Prechtel said. “I already wrestled him earlier this year, so I knew it was going to be tough, and coming out with a major in the match — it just felt really good, feel like I’ve wrestled my best.”
“I don’t think it was so much that he’s just an amazing wrestler,” Lee said. “His goals are a lot bigger than just winning one match or even just going undefeated or winning a SIAC Championship or a sectional championship, he wants to be a state champ — and I think that’s why he’s where he’s at right now.”
Lee told The Herald in a 2022 interview that every good wrestler gets caught, but thinks, “You’d have to be really lucky to catch Jeb this year.”
“My belief in what he can do this year as far as being a state champ is very, very high,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anybody else that’s going to have his back or push him more than me this year. I think Jeb, his goals are realistic and being a state champ is something he’s worked for. I don’t think being caught is something that’s going to happen to him — he’s worked too hard for it.”
He ran into tough competition at the 2022 semi-state when he lost by a point in the match to go to state against Columbus East’s Kade Law, who now wrestles for Purdue University. Prechtel himself has received offers to wrestle at the next level, though he has yet to make a decision.
For now, he’s getting ready with his Wildcat teammates to try to make something happen as the program seeks its first sectional championship since 2015, while Prechtel can get his 100th career win in a sectional will feature some tough competition in Tell City and also the host Raiders — who topped the Wildcats, 54-22 in a Jan. 17 dual.
“We had a lot of guys that were winning their matches and caught got on their back, got pinned,” Prechtel said of the loss to the Raiders. “And I think when people learn that there’s consequences to getting thrown to your back, I feel like there’s going to be a lot more fight to those guys than there was when we faced them in the dual because that was unacceptable.”
