From his basement in Todd as a third grader, to the podium during the NCHSAA Wrestling Tournament, Aaron Scott has always had one passion, wrestling.

Scott, the son of Brad and Sandy Scott, is a junior at Ashe County High School and has recently been named the North Carolina Most Outstanding Wrestler for 2A classification after winning the NCHSAA Individual Tournament for the 140-pound division.

Scott is a three-sport star, excelling in three varsity sports as a student at Ashe County High School, participating in football in the fall, wrestling in the winter, and baseball during the spring.

This past winter season, Scott endured a season of over 40 matches, and compiled a near perfect record, which featured only two losses tallied to his name. Scott dominated the Mountain Valley Conference (MVAC) season and the tournament, as he finished the entire MVAC season undefeated, earning the MVAC Most Outstanding Wrestler award, the Regular Season Title for his weight class, and then also the MVAC Tournament Championship in his weight class.

Scott marks the third wrestler from Ashe County High School to win a state championship, with the previous two being Austin Mikeal and Derek Miller.

At roughly the same time that Mikeal and Miller won their State Title, Scott was just beginning his training as a wrestler, which started when he was in third grade, at the age of seven years old.

“My dad always wrestled when he was in high school and guess it just rubbed off on me,” Scott explained with a chuckle. “At first he taught me everything I knew, and we got a mat in the basement that he bought and we practiced on it for a long time.”

When he first started wrestling, Scott and his father would travel to Alleghany to compete and practice, along with his facility in his basement.

From the first moments on the mat, scuffling with his dad, Scott knew what he wanted to achieve from his wrestling.

“Ever since I was little, it’s been a goal of mine to win a state championship,” Scott elaborated. “Heading into this season, I knew I had a pretty good chance, I just did not know it would actually happen.”

After Scott initiated his wrestling career in Alleghany, he competed on the wrestling squad at Ashe County Middle School, and then moved onto Ashe County High School.

As a freshman on the varsity squad, Scott faced numerous upperclass men in his first year as a Husky. Scott countered their age and size over him by simply ‘not thinking about it.’

Scott explained his pre match technique, which he held thus far all the way through high school, of heading into a match ‘with his head.’

“Most people get up, and jump around, beat themselves, but I just get stretched out, get my head, try not to think about it to much cause if I do, then I get nervous.”

Scott relived the first match of this year’s State Tournament when he entered the match not focused, and without the right mindset.

Scott explained his difficulty during the match by simply saying, “It took me a while to get in the match.”

Scott realized his error in future matches in the tournament, and swept through the bracket till there was only one wrestler between him and the title, and that was Richard Bateman from Manteo High School, out of Roanoke Island. Scott was leading late in the match, and with his composure, took advantage of Bateman’s mistakes as Bateman began to panic in the closing stages of the match.

Scott relived the match by explaining, “During my Championship Match, my opponent was a strong guy, I was up going into the third period, and when time was running out, he started to panic, and rushed his moves. I would get up to my feet, which was where I wanted to be.”

As the time expired during the match, Scott realized that his dreams had come true; he had won a state championship!

Immediately following the match, Scott found his father, who hugged his neck and congratulated him with the comment: “It paid off and all your hard work is worth something.”

Scott feels that his accomplishments this past season is a sign of the improvements the Huskies’ wrestling program is making as a whole.

“We are getting back to where we use to be,” Scott commented. “This year we had a winning record, we won a lot of matches, and we got a lot of good incoming wrestlers that will just add to the team.”

Scott looks to repeat his title next season, and work towards his other goal of an undefeated season, along with hopefully adding a team championship in the mix with the incoming freshmen class, and returning wrestlers from this season.

Scott said there was one thing that made his season happen, “the help of everyone.”

Scott explained that he would like to thank everyone that helped him.

“I would like to thank Danny Dillard, Brandon Dillard, Jeremy Williams, Dale Wineberg, Allen Lewis, Earl Rowland, Coach Keith Phillips, and my dad for all they do during the season.”