Naperville Central’s Jacob Smetters knows he’s an underdog. The city’s only wrestler at state won’t back down.

Naperville Central junior Jacob Smetters will go it alone.

He is the only Naperville wrestler who qualified for the individual state meet that begins Thursday at the State Farm Center in Champaign.

“I have mixed feelings about it,” Smetters said. “On the one hand, I am really excited.

“I just wish my friends and teammates were also there with me.”

Smetters punched his ticket by finishing in fourth place in the 195-pound weight class during the Class 3A Hinsdale Central Sectional on Saturday.

Getting to that point wasn’t easy for him. Smetters (30-18) had to bounce back from a loss in the quarterfinal round by winning three straight consolation matches to earn a spot in the third-place match.

He took full advantage of the double-elimination format.

“After I lost the quarterfinal, I looked at the bracket and saw who I was wrestling and just felt the door crack open and I had a shot,” he said. “My mindset just completely changed, and the further I got, I just told myself, ‘I have come this far, and I am not laying down now.’”

Smetters is the last individual standing. But his teammates are preparing too. Naperville Central won the Glenbard East Regional to qualify for the Marmion Dual Team Sectional on Feb. 21.

“Everyone’s attitude right now is doing everything possible to get Jacob as ready as he needs to be,” junior Chris Bern said.

“We are really excited for Jake,” junior Ty Martin said. “It is a huge accomplishment for him. Obviously it is unfortunate that it didn’t go our way for some of the other guys. But we are all still training in preparation for Jake’s state run and the team dual against Mount Carmel.”

Smetters’ performance in the sectional marked the high point of an up-and-down season.

“This is my first year on varsity, and I went from dominating at junior varsity and then all of a sudden the competition just skyrocketed and everybody was better than me,” he said. “It was a shock.”

The wrestling schedule is a highly compressed one, with tournaments and dual meets coming one after another.

“I went through this slump in January where I had a lot of self-doubt, and I wasn’t sure that I belonged out there,” Smetters said

The turning point was the DuPage Valley Conference Meet. Smetters said he reflected on his attitude and approach after a 4-3 loss against Naperville North’s Steve Harvey in the semifinals.

“During that slump, I lost matches I should have won,” Smetters said. “I just realized my biggest adjustment was my mindset. I had to go into every match thinking I was just as good and I was going to make the other guy tired before me.”

Smetters defeated Waubonsie Valley’s Josh Housour in the third-place match at the conference meet and has won seven of his past 10 matches.

“Wrestling is so much about what you imagine you are capable of,” Smetters said. “I want the other guy to have to think about me and imagine that I am the one who is going to end his season.”

Smetters will face St. Charles North’s Drew Surges in a first-round match at state on Thursday.

“I am now preparing to convince myself to win a match I shouldn’t win,” he said. “I’m going to do whatever I have to do to get to that podium Saturday.”

Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.