Entering the 2025-26 high school wrestling season, Macomb High boys coach Luke Ladd looked at Jeshua McPheeters as a wild card.
But the junior came up all aces in qualifying for the Illinois High School Association Class 1A State Finals that began Thursday at State Farm Center in Champaign.
“Coming into the season, you want to talk about a wild card,” said Ladd of McPheeters. “He didn’t even qualify for sectionals last year.”
“It was an unknown,” he added. “His confidence was there. He’d hit the weightroom hard and put in a lot of work over the year. He put on a lot of muscle.”
“It was definitely something that I was really looking forward to and really wanted to do in my high school career,” said McPheeters of reaching the state finals.
The off-season paid off as McPheeters earned first team all-conference honors at linebacker for the football Bombers, who finished 9-2, reaching the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.
“That football season really helped propel him,” said Ladd. “He had a couple of really good playoff games and knew that he could play with the best of them.”
“Then he came into wrestling and he said ‘Now it’s my turn to show what I can do individually.’” “It gave me momentum, carrying it into another season,” said McPheeters of his performance during football season. “I just wanted to do better and I had some goals in mind.”
Among those goals was to win a tournament. He achieved that in early December, capturing the 190-pound division crown at the Carson Dejarnett Tournament held at Homer Musgrove FieldHouse in Sterling.
McPheeters posted a 3-0 record, winning all three bouts by decision.
But as the season progressed, the 175-pound division would be where McPheeters would land.
Entering regional competition at Camp Point Central on Jan. 31, McPheeters had a record of 33-8.
He finished second, posting a 2-1 record in advancing to sectional competition at Stanford Olympia.
At the sectional, McPheeters was seeded 10th out of 12 wrestlers. But he won three matches, advancing to the finals before losing to Beardstown’s Gunner Looker.
“He didn’t hold back,” said Ladd of McPheeters. “He had a goal in mind and he wanted it more than those other kids and beat three really good quality kids on his way to being a state qualifier.”
All season, I was just expected to win and win,” said McPheeters. “But when I got to sectionals, I don’t think anyone expected me to get as far as I did.”
“I felt like I was the underdog at the sectional and just pulled it off,” he added. “I just had to keep wrestling and keep moving.”
Ladd noted that McPheeters battled illness the week before sectional. But then the junior “wrestled the tournament of his life.”
And when he defeated Tolono Unity’s Josh Heath 8-6 in the semifinal to clinch his spot at state?
“I started flexing. I was excited,” said McPheeters.
“No one expects me to do this, so I have to expect myself to do this. Hold myself to a higher standard, even when no one else does,” said McPheeters.
Seeded seventh of 16 wrestlers, McPheeters opened competition against No. 10 seed junior Nick Moreland of Lawrenceville (31-11).
“Of course there’s no easy matches when you go down there,” said Ladd. “But once you punch your ticket and you get down there, anything can happen.”
“You have to control your nerves and do what you do and not change,” he added. “If we can control his nerves at all, he’s got the skill set to compete.”
“The way I see it, it’s just another match,” said McPheeters. “I’m just going to roll match by match, not get too big of a head. There’s going to be kids just as good, if not even better.”
“I just have to prepare myself for that and I’ve just got to be able to adjust match by match,” he added.
“I’ve still got a lot of improvement to go as a wrestler,” said McPheeters. “I just look to keep improving match by match.”
McPheeters looks to be the first Bomber boys wrestler to medal since Ethan Ladd placed fifth in the 220-pound division and Max Ryner fourth in the 195-pound division back in 2023.
“Nothing this kid does would surprise me,” said coach Luke Ladd of McPheeters.
