Football, Track
Favorite athlete: Tim Tebow
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: My favorite memory was getting the Hammer Award as a sophomore in my first high school varsity game. The Hammer Award is given for getting the biggest hit in that game.
Most embarrassing/funniest moment competing in sports: My most embarrassing moment was on a kickoff return – I was supposed to be the back returner but went and lined up on the other team’s side.
Music on iPod: Music ranging from hip hop to rock and all the way up to country.
Future plans: My future plan is to be a college student-athlete.
Words to live by: ‘Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.’
One goal before turning 30: My goal is to be the absolute best at whatever I may be doing.
One thing people don’t know about me: As much as I am goofy and funny with my friends, I am very determined to get to where I want to be in life.
By Mary Jane Souder
The ending was a most appropriate one.
With 13 seconds showing on the scoreboard clock of Quakertown’s Thanksgiving Day game against Pennridge, Michael Sawyer hauled in a pass from sophomore quarterback Alec Vera and sprinted 70 yards down the sidelines for a touchdown.
“I was halfway on the field trying to make sure he stayed inbounds as he’s running down the sidelines, just trying to yell and cheer at the same time,” Quakertown coach George Banas said. “I felt so good for him scoring those touchdowns.”
Sawyer’s touchdown – his second of the game - didn’t have an impact on the outcome as the Rams earned a 28-13 win to capture sole possession of the SOL Continental Conference crown, but it did put an exclamation point on an outstanding final high school season for Sawyer.
The emotions Banas was feeling as he cheered Sawyer on were less about the touchdown than they were a glowing testament to the way the Panthers’ star running back handled himself during a difficult 1-10 season.
“He very well could have pointed the finger and felt sorry for himself because of the year we were having,” Banas said. “He did the total opposite.
“He was nothing but positive and led by example with how he practiced and how he played. He would try to motivate the kids to go out every day and practice and get better and also try and win games and never give up.”
Sawyer, it turns out, doesn’t have an ounce of quit in him. As a matter of fact, just the opposite is true.
“I remember as an underclassman I really looked up to the seniors on the team, so if we would go in at halftime and we would be down a couple of touchdowns, I would get up and give a speech,” Sawyer said. “I would really just try and pick the guys up.”
It’s the kind of positive approach that is often hard to find on a team that has just one win in 11 games.
“For him to lead the underclassmen and show them that even in a 1-10 season that this kid can be like this – you couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Banas said. “This senior class is like that. They’re really good that way, but to have your best player leading the way – a lot of (stars) are full of themselves.”
Sawyer has been playing football for 13 years, and he also excels in track where he earned a spot in districts last spring in the 100 meters. Football, however, is his passion.
“My mom always says that ever since I could walk I was always carrying a ball and always throwing it around,” Sawyer said. “She told me she always knew I was going to be an athlete.”
Football was one of several sports Sawyer competed in as he was growing up. He played baseball for nine years but gave that up when he entered high school.
“With lifting year round and track and football, it was just too much,” Sawyer said.
It was while he was playing baseball at Milford Middle School that Sawyer caught the eye of the track coach, who asked him to give track a try. He was a natural.
“Once I started winning a lot in track, I decided to do that,” Sawyer said.
Although he experienced success on the track, football remained his sport of choice, and after seeing some varsity time as a sophomore, Sawyer became a key member of the Panthers’ backfield as a junior.
“He did some good things for us, and we thought going into this year that he would be the guy that would carry our offense, and he did,” Banas said. “He was our offensive threat this year.”
Sawyer was the team’s workhorse, rushing for 859 yards and accumulating 250 receiving yards. He also had close to 500 yards in returns as both the kickoff and punt returner for the Panthers. All told, Sawyer accounted for 1,637 yards of offense.
“He’s a tremendous kid,” Banas said. “To be in that position where you know you’re going to be THE guy – you can let that go to your head.
“Mike didn’t do that at all. He’s very grounded, always has a smile on his face, always laughing and cracking jokes but at the right time and right place. When it’s time to work, he knows he’s got to work.”
And work Sawyer did.
“His work ethic in the offseason is what got him to be a powerful back with a lot of speed,” Banas said. “He’s able to hit a hole and drive through a couple of arm tackles, and once he gets into the open field, he’s really tough to catch.”
Sawyer acknowledged that his team’s struggles this season did not come as a big surprise.
“I think everyone had an idea because of how short we were on size and how young our team was,” he said. “I think we all had an idea how every game was going to be tough for us.
“I was just never negative. If something happened, I just tried to show the underclassmen that football is a sport where it’s all four quarters. There’s really no time to put your head down. I saw that when I started to get pumped up, then everyone else got pumped up. There were a couple of games where we really stuck in it.”
The Panthers had just two returning starters in the senior class – Sawyer and Nate Flath. That lack of experience, according to Sawyer, took its toll on the young Panthers.
“After you get a couple of games under your belt or a whole season of playing varsity, the game slows down, and it’s just much easier,” Sawyer said.
Through it all, the Panthers stuck together.
“We’re a pretty close-knit team,” Sawyer said. “We’re kind of like brothers.”
The Panthers may have saved their best for last, taking an early lead in their Thanksgiving Day game against Pennridge and forcing the Rams to extend themselves to earn the win.
“Coach always says that game is so special,” Sawyer said. “I have been going to that game since I can remember, and to know it was my last time to be a Panther, to wear a Quakertown uniform, it’s really emotional.
“I always figure I could have done better, but I was really happy to score a couple of times.”
Although he is undecided on a college and major, Sawyer lists West Chester and Shippensburg as two of the top schools he is considering, and wherever he goes, football will be part of his future.
“If you play football, you know what working hard is,” Sawyer said. “A lot of kids don’t know what it’s like to be exhausted every day and just repeat that every day. It makes you a better man.”
