Zach gets another crack against Americans
Zach Ayotte was more than willing to take another crack at trying out for a Team Ontario football squad that will play Team USA in an International Bowl game Jan. 12 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
“A guy I know hyped it up to me as the coolest experience ever and I went last year and being in Dallas was the best thing,” the Grade 11 student at A.N. Myer said. “We got smoked, but it was a fun experience.”
Team Ontario lost the game 47-6, but the 16-year-old loved every minute of the experience.
“It was playing against all the guys that were going to university,” the 6-foot-1, 260-pound lineman said. “The guard I was going up against signed an offer to attend Clemson. Just to see that level was quite an eye opener.”
Ayotte made this year’s team after attending a day-long tryout camp in Toronto.
“There was a lot of guys there so it was hard to get a good feel, but I had the feeling that I had presented myself good enough to make it,” he said. “I wasn’t too surprised that I had made it because I thought I had a good camp.”
Ayotte is looking forward to the game and the week of training camp that precedes it. The team is coached by a number of Ontario university coaches.
“It’s a lot of learning, a lot of watching tape and a lot of meetings,” he said. “It’s like a university experience and I got better in that week than in any other thing I had done in football.
“It was the coaching and the nitpicking I needed.”
His position was broken down to an entire new level for Ayotte.
“We talked about steps, we talked about angles and I would watch the same play on film 10 times to see everything I did wrong.”
Myer head coach Dave Buchanan is excited to see Ayotte get the opportunity to play from Team Ontario again.
“This Team Ontario thing is huge,” he said. “University coaches are coaching him for that time and from what I have seen from other kids who have had that opportunity, it’s making that connection. He gets on their radar and they know exactly who this person is.
That being said, Ayotte is already on that radar.
“They are waiting for him to grow older and graduate and he will have some choices, for sure,” Buchanan said.
Ayotte has a number of attributes university scouts are looking for in players.
“Whenever you get a player who is a big kid who can move, those kids are tougher to find and every coach will tell you that,” Buchanan said. “We historically haven’t had that at Myer and we had to make due without it. Having a player like this is a huge asset.”
Ayotte suited up on the offensive line and defensive line with the Marauders senior football team this season, but his passion lies on the defensive side of the ball.
“He’s very versatile and he can play anywhere,” Buchanan said.
Ayotte was named A.N. Myer’s rookie of the year.
“It was different,” he said. “It was a lot faster than I was used to and trying to become more agile was my big goal. I knew I would be OK with the strength.”
He also brings intangibles to the sport.
“He is a great competitor, he is dedicated to the game and has natural size which you can’t teach,” Buchanan said, adding Ayotte is always in the weight room and never misses a practice. “He has been focused on moving forward in football for a long time and he has aspirations to play in the CIS (U Sports) or possibly stuff in the States.”
Ayotte started playing house league football in 2013, before moving on to play travel football with the Niagara Spears and high school ball with the Marauders.
He was a member of the Niagara Spears Junior Varsity Tier 1 squad this past summer.
“I like all the contact and the process; all the weight training and the hype around it,” he said.
His goal is to play university football.
“Everyone says training camp is the hardest thing, but I am so excited for that. Just the grind of training camp and the two weeks of two-a-days will be intense and great character building.”
