Dillon Worster experienced a senior year that all athletes dream of before they walk off with their high school diplomas in hand.

Oxford Hills wrestling team captain Dillon Worster took third place in his class at the New England regional wrestling championship this winter. Brewster Burns photo

The 6-foot-2 Oxford Hills stalwart won his first state title on the wrestling mat this winter and was a key defensive end and a lineman for the Vikings football team, which muscled its way into the Class A State football championship game this past fall. His success as an athlete also explains why he has been chosen the Sun Journal’s All-Region Wrestler of the Year.

Worster took down Sean Wakefield of Massabesic with a fall to win the 195-pound class division at Class A states and finished third at New Englands. His overall record for the 2021-22 season was 37-1.

“He is a heckuva competitor,” Oxford Hills coach Tony Stevens said. “He works hard. He has a huge will to win. Never late to practices and he puts his time in on the offseason as well as wrestling in the spring and summer. So he does all the extra stuff to get to that point.

“He also plays football, which helps (in) wrestling. Doing other sports makes your all-around athletic ability better.”

Worster knew a state title was within his reach as well as an opportunity to shine on the mat this season.

“That kind of came as expected,” Worster said. “I had wrestled all throughout the summer (and) really didn’t have too much competition with any of the Maine kids.”

Worster and his father contracted food poisoning the night after he wrestled in the first day of the New England championships. That affected him the following day.

“The second day, I was throwing up the first period. It was pretty rough,” Worster said, “ but I managed to do better than I thought I would given the circumstances, I’d guess you’d say.”

Oxford Hills’ Dillon Worster grapples with an opponent during a wrestling match this season. Submitted photo

Worster said he’s known for his bearhug maneuver when he is taking care of business on the mat.

“It kind of comes natural because I am typically taller than everyone,” he said. “My best style of wrestling is actually Greco-Roman. However, with going to New Englands, I knew that I wasn’t going to just bearhug everybody. Usually, I can get a take down out of it. 

“I would try to get my first takedown, and where I had the food poisoning, I kind of just tried to get the first few points and coast the rest of the match. I coasted all the way through until I got to the semifinals and I ended up losing to (Christopher Murphy of Guilford, Conn.), who won the whole thing. 

“I was up by a point, and I knew I wasn’t going to just coast on the points, so my goal was to get another takedown. … He ended up putting me in a standing cradle and I was just out of it. … I just accepted the fact that I had to come back and take third at that point.”

Stevens said the combination of Worster’s strength and technique also served the wrestler well, but there is another asset that gives the senior an edge on the mat.

“The biggest thing is his competitive fire,” the longtime wrestling coach said. “He has that pride that he wants to win every match when he walks out on the mat. He knows where he is at in every close match. He knows what he has to do.” 

Although the Vikings football team fell to Thorton Academy in the state title game, 42-27, Worster enjoyed himself with his teammates.

“Football-wise, I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to play with,” he said. “We had a lot of fun on and off the field.” 

Stevens added that Worster also served a positive role model to underclassmen in the wrestling program and taught them how to conduct themselves as athletes.

“He is just a good, all-around wrestler, great teammate, good kid, had no attitude, no egos — just great to have him on the team,” Stevens said. “He (also) does a fantastic job in the classroom. He is a very good student-athlete.”

The senior has been planning his future and has set his sights on an apprenticeship program offered by Maine Maritime Academy and Bath Iron Works. He plans on commuting to Maine Maritime a couple of days a week to complete his courses there while working at BIW.