Yorkville senior Jack Ferguson is the Record Newspapers Wrestler of the Year

Jack Ferguson this winter had one of the most accomplished seasons ever by a Yorkville wrestler.

What he didn’t achieve still sticks with him.

Ferguson in February lost in triple overtime in the 157-pound semifinals of the IHSA individual state wrestling meet. It was only his third loss against 52 wins. Weeks later, it still shaded his perspective.

“I feel like for the most part I got the job done, won the matches I needed to win. Postseason is not the end result I wanted – I wanted to win, and didn’t get that," Ferguson said, “but my career is not over. I’m wrestling in college, bigger things to come, still got a lot to improve on. Make corrections and hopefully some bigger things to come.”

Ferguson did some big things at Yorkville.

He was part of trophy-winning teams at the IHSA dual state tournament in 2023 and 2024. Ferguson this season won a Yorkville program record 52 matches.

He bounced back from that devastating semifinal loss to eventual champion Liam Kelly of Mount Carmel to win a 5-2 decision over Huntley’s Radic Dvorak for third place. That resilience was not lost on Ferguson.

“The same thing happened my junior year two years ago. I lost in the semis, and I didn’t really come back. I lost in the consolation semis – that sucked, hurt worse than losing in the semifinals this year," Ferguson said.

“I knew I was going to go out there and take the next best thing. I came back, wrestled hard and got third. That is a good feeling, nothing to be ashamed of, a great accomplishment.”

Ferguson, the Record Newspapers Wrestler of the Year, accomplished a lot for Yorkville coach Jake Oster’s program.

“It was a really good season, one of the best that we have had in our history here,” Oster said. “Finishing up third in state, that wasn’t a goal for him, losing a triple-overtime ride-out in the semis was a hard one for him and for us. But he bounced back.”

In a room full of talented wrestlers, Ferguson was the one Oster said was the consistent guy that could be counted on to score big points.

Ferguson was part of a senior class that recorded 700 career wins. He will wrestle collegiately at Central Missouri.

“He was a leader in the room, he was the guy. No matter what was going on, him and Van [Rosauer] were going to be scrapping hard that day, setting the tone for everybody in the room. He will be a guy that is missed.

“He just has a will to want to win and dominate and score points. Some guys will get a takedown and hang on. Jack went out there and dominated everyone. He set a record for takedowns in a season, I think he had 212, he had 25 technical falls on the year, which is a record for us.”

Ferguson said he was always looking to score points to help his team in a dual aspect. He also took that aggressive mindset to tournaments.

“I didn’t want to leave anything in the ref’s hands,” Ferguson said. “I wanted to show people that I was the best one out there. Getting a tech and getting a pin, that is the way to do it.”

Ferguson got started wrestling at a young age, 5 or 6 years old, following in the footsteps of older brother Cole, a 2021 Yorkville graduate.

His dad started him in practices, although he didn’t force him into it. Ferguson started wrestling tournaments around age 7.

“I knew at that point it was the sport for me. The best feeling in the world is getting your hand raised after a win,” Ferguson said. “It is all on you out there. Nobody else to blame, not relying on anyone else. That is what I like, is the individuality. At the same time the duals, being on a great team, these past four years at Yorkville it’s been a good run.”