Althoff's Jason Dowell, top 2025 football prospect, wins Illinois Class 1A wrestling championship
CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS – Jason Dowell admits there were times he considered giving up the sport of wrestling, thinking maybe it wasn’t for him and he was just wasting his time.
The Althoff Catholic junior three-sport athlete kept with it, kept the faith, kept working and kept getting better.
The culmination of all that hard work paid off on Saturday night when Dowell defeated Jaylen Torres of St. Francis with a 2-1 decision to win the Illinois Class 1A championship at 285 pounds.
“There were so many times – it's my only my third year – where I was like maybe I should give up, maybe I shouldn't do this, maybe it's a waste of my time,” said Dowell, a Division I prospect in football and wrestling. “And this shows. God was right there. God was right there in my room, pushing me as hard as I can, telling me that He's right there with me. As it says in Mark 8:34, ‘To deny myself and pick up my cross and follow him.’
“That's what I try to do every single time I step on the mat, I step on the football field, on a baseball diamond. When I step anywhere and in everything I want to try to glorify Him. Man, getting this thing it’s amazing, it's so amazing, and this ain’t my final goal, this ain’t my final goal. This is leading up to where I want to be, I want to be with my father in heaven. It's amazing.”
Dowell finished third in 1A at 285 a year ago as a sophomore at Cahokia High School before transferring to Althoff over the summer.
Now he’s a state champion thanks to his faith in God and his faith in Althoff wrestling coach EJ Brooks, who finished third at the Illinois state championships as a senior at Cahokia in 2004 and later wrestled at the University of Missouri.
“Just being with that man (Brooks), just him believing in me,” Dowell said. “Of course God’s one, but (Brooks) being in that wrestling room and many times I was like, am I good enough to do this? Am I good enough to work on this? Am I good enough to figure this out? And him being real with me, him being the big brother he is to me, telling me no, you cannot do that yet. No, you should work on this. No, you shouldn't do that. You should change it up and do this. You should put your hand here. And him being right there in the room pushing me and pushing me and pushing me and pushing me.
“There's many times where I was like, man, why is he so nitpicky when it comes to this? Why is he so nitpicky when it comes to a certain move I do? But I try to model my wrestling to how he wrestled in his life. Him being with me and working with him 24-7 in that stupid wrestling room, 24/7, man, it’s a blessing. It’s a blessing 110 percent. I can't thank God and I can't thank him enough man.”
The Althoff junior standout finished his junior season with a 33-2 record. It was that last loss – losing to Roxana senior James Herring in the sectional championship match, 10-9, in an ultimate tiebreaker – that helped propel his championship run in Champaign.
Dowell and Herring almost had a rematch in the title match. Herring lost to Torres in the semifinals but rebounded to win the third-place match.
“I was cocky going into the sectionals,” Dowell said. “A pretty cool friend of mine named James Herring humbled my dumb self. I was looking around thinking I was more than I was. He humbled me. Sometimes you need it. So me coming here with confidence and not cockiness was an absolute blessing. And I'm just very happy I'm here.”
Now, Dowell will turn his attention to the upcoming baseball season and be able to focus a little more on his college recruitment.
Althoff has been a popular stop for college football coaches this offseason with Dowell, junior running back Dierre Hill Jr. and junior wide receiver Charleston Colden already established as Division I prospects.
Dowell has scholarship offers from Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Iowa State, Cincinnati, Auburn, Oregon, Kansas, USC, Michigan State, Indiana, Kansas State and Minnesota.
Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, Illinois’ Bret Bielema and Kansas State’s Chris Klieman are among the head coach who have visited Althoff this offseason.
“I haven't taken visits because of course wrestling and a little bit of baseball, but once it rolls around more, I'm gonna be taking more visits,” Dowell said. “With football, it's really what God wants to do with my life, where He wants to leave me, where He wants to take me, the heights that He was to take me yet and the lows that I'm gonna have to experience to just grow as a person and grow as a servant towards Him. That's where He wants to take me.”
Dowell’s faith guides him in everything he does and will continue to.
“That's all I have,” Dowell said. “I just said Mark 8:34 is my favorite scripture. I love it. I try to write it on my heart, try to remember every single day. It models my life and what I want to do with my life, denying myself every single day, picking up my cross and following God in everything I do – whether it's a wrestling room, whether it’s a football field, or it’s the baseball diamond or it’s my classroom, I try to follow Him every single thing I do, deny myself and pick up His name and raise His name as high as I can.”
Jason Dowell wins Illinois wrestling championship
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- Nate Latsch | latsch@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveIL
