By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Shepherd Hill’s Sawyer Ayotte grew up in a family where wrestling was all around him. His father was a high school wrestling coach and his three older brothers (Ethan, Owen, and Austin) all wrestled, but the sport was just not for the younger Ayotte. 

 “When I was younger I really wasn’t interested in wrestling. I’d go and watch my brothers, but I just didn’t get into it; I tried it and had no interest whatsoever,” he said. “It didn’t upset my father, he figured I’d eventually change my mind and get into it when I was older.”

While his brothers continued to wrestle all around him Sawyer tried other sports and although he was giving them a shot, nothing seemed to pique his interest and eventually he decided to give wrestling another try. This time around a spark was lit and he found wrestling gave him a feeling of self-worth. 

 “When I got out there I realized that I was responsible for everything that happened,” Ayotte said. “There was no team, everything good or bad was all on me and I really liked that individuality.”

During his freshman season, Shepherd Hill didn’t have a big team, so he knew that he’d make varsity. That year he went 20-11 on the mat for the Rams; unfortunately, there was no tournament that year due to Covid.

 “That season I found that I enjoyed winning, but more so hated losing,” he said. “With that I wanted to improve so during the off-season I wrestled on two club teams six days a week and participated in countless tournaments hoping to do better the next year.”

Things definitely improved for Ayotte during his sophomore season as the SH grappler accumulated 40 wins, finished second at the Sectional Tournament, fifth at the State Tournament and sixth at the All-State Tournament but wasn’t able to place at the New England Tournament going 2-2.

The disappointing showing angered the young wrestler as he expected to do better and wanted to end up on the medal podium so when things didn’t go the way he was hoping for, he committed to a hard-working off-season regimen. He continued to work hard, took part in numerous tournaments, but the biggest improvement came from attending a two-week wrestling camp in Missouri.

“We practiced three times a day, got a lot of drills and live work in,” Ayotte said. “At practice I got dialed in on working on a couple of moves that I had learned and the coaching staff taught me how to fix a few things.”

With his new-found confidence the young Ayotte entered his junior campaign hoping to be a State Champion in his 150-pound weight class as well as one that placed at the New Englands. 

Ayotte would conclude his junior season by going 36-4 during the regular season and would add another 12 wins to only two losses in the post-season. He was named a Wachusett Interscholastic League All-Star as well as the league MVP. During the post-season Ayotte would then go on to win championships at the Sectionals, the Division 2 States and the All-States. By capturing the title at the All-States he became the first ever wrestler to do so at Shepherd Hill. 

 “He trained hard all year round,” Coach Ayotte said. “We definitely expected him to go pretty far this year; we were hoping for better results at the New Englands, but to have only one bad tournament, that’s not too bad.”

Much like his coach and father, Ayotte knew that his ability was capable of getting him deep into tournaments and, if he wrestled to the best of his ability, he should have a lot of success. 

 “Winning the All-States was great feeling, especially being the number two seed and not expected to win,” he said. “I knew that I had the ability and the seeding didn’t bother me; they don’t mean anything.”

Going into the All-State Tournament, Ayotte got a view of his side of the bracket in the 150-lb weight class and knew that he should be able to get to the semi-finals with no problem. But he also knew that it would be a tough match in that round, as he was going up against a wrestler that he had split with during the season.

 “I had a really good feeling going into the All-States and was extremely proud that all my hard work finally paid off,” he said. “But, I was not satisfied as I still had to take part in the New England Tournament and that day I was not feeling great. I lost my two matches to the kid who ended up finishing second and the kid I beat in the semi-finals at the All-States.”

Now that he has put a lot of championships on his resume, he still has work to do come next winter, his senior season. Ayotte wants to repeat what he did this year while adding New England Champion to that resume as well as setting the record for wins at Shepherd Hill; a record his older brother Ethan holds. Sawyer currently sits at 116 wins over his first three seasons and finds himself one win behind his older brother’s record and two from owning it. 

Following high school, Ayotte would like to wrestle for a Division 1 college, but if that is not an option he’ll take what ever is offered to him. 

 “I want to go out and become the best wrestler that I possibly can, while never quitting,” he said. 

If his past off seasons have been any indication of how he’ll do in his senior year; Shepherd Hill may be looking at a back-to-back All-State Champion that may even become the first ever New England Champion at the high school.