09 Oct 2013 Fountain Lake's Eli Westerman 'all in'
by Mark Oliver
Fountain Lake senior defensive end Eli Westerman is not your typical football player. In fact, he never even wanted to play football. It was a bet with his father that led Eli to don a Fountain Lake jersey for the first time in seventh grade.
“I wasn’t into sports at all until seventh grade,” Westerman said. “I made a deal with my dad one day that if I wore his jersey to a football game, I had to play football the next year, and it kind of snowballed from there.”
Since he suited up, however, Westerman has been making his time on the field count and doing everything he can to help his team win.
Westerman was nominated by Coach Tommy Gilleran and selected for this year’s 501 Football Team.
“Eli is a natural born leader, and people will follow him,” Gilleran said. “He is always doing the right thing and saying the right thing. He is a person who wants to make everybody better.”
Beginning football at a later age was not an easy transition for Eli.
“Off the field, for many years, I had to deal with the negative stereotype of not being athletic and not being into sports,” Westerman said. “[Starting late] kind of put me back. I didn’t have as much knowledge [of the game] as other players, but I think I’ve caught up. Now that I’m one of the core players on the team this year, that negative stereotype has gone away.”
When Fountain Lake won the Class 3A state championship in 2009, Westerman served as a ball boy for the senior high team. Since 2009, the Cobras have reached the Class 3A semifinals three consecutive seasons, losing each time.
Now a pivotal member of the senior high Cobras, Westerman would like to taste victory just as he watched his former teammates four years ago.
“It’s heartbreaking when you lose, especially for the seniors,” Westerman said. “My goal this year is to become a really good pass rusher with several sacks against passing teams. On offense, I want to be a dominating blocker — the kind that people watch film on and don’t want to have to go around. This is my last chance. I have to work hard. This year, as a senior, I’m all in.”
This season, Eli has evolved his play, racking up 16 tackles through the first five games of the season. He currently leads the team in sacks and quarterback hurries.
Westerman also recovered a fumble against Two Rivers that helped turn the tide in the Cobras’ 44-27 victory a week ago.
“On the field, I’ve never been the biggest player,” Westerman said. “Even as a senior, I wouldn’t consider myself one of the strongest players — I’m just average. I have to work really hard and play with perfect technique. I only weigh 155 pounds. When I’m going up against 200-pound players, I have to keep my pad level low, shoot my hands and play perfect to be able to compete.”
Fountain Lake celebrates homecoming this week as the Cobras (3-2, 2-0) face the Horatio Lions (2-3, 0-2) in 5-3A play.
“There’s nowhere like playing on the hill,” Westerman said of Fountain Lake’s Larry Beckham Memorial Stadium. “The environment here is electric. You have the whole town behind you. It’s the only place I know where you have to play on a hill.”
As for the rest of the season, Westerman believes that when it comes to achieving the team’s goal of winning another state championship, you need more than just strength and size.
“We’re not the biggest team,” Westerman said. “We aren’t the most talented, but we have to have heart because that’s where games are won and where championships are won. On offense, we are developing into a dominant team that can run the ball down anyone’s throats. On defense, we fly to the ball and hit people really hard. There’s nothing like wearing a Cobra jersey, and we get every single ounce of energy we have every game.”
Off the field, Westerman is very active in academics at Fountain Lake. The senior currently holds a 4.0 GPA, is the reigning state MVP in Quiz Bowl and has received All-State honors in Quiz Bowl since he was in ninth grade. Eli is also involved in Fellowship of Christian Athletes and was also named Student Council Class President this year.
“As a senior, I realize that I don’t need to spread myself too thin with activities,” Westerman said. “I’m trying to focus on Student Government and Student Council. I’m going to try to serve the students and make decisions that will really help the student body.”
Despite his successes, on and off the field, the humble Westerman says he couldn’t do it without the help of some mentors.
“There are many important people in my life, but Coach Glenn Davis, our special teams coach and my position coach — he really embodies the idea of hard work and repetition,” Westerman said. “He’s a great guy, too. He is a great Cobra that really teaches me a lot about hard work.
“My calculus teacher, Ms. Wade, is awesome. It’s math. I’m not great at it, but she really pushes me, and I’m able to be successful in it because she is such a good teacher. Ms. East is my Physics teacher. She’s wonderful, too. She tries really hard to keep students involved, and yo
u can tell she really cares about students beyond the classroom.”
When he’s not on the field or in a classroom, Westerman is involved with Walnut Valley Baptist Church in Hot Springs and enjoying all the 501 has to offer with teammates Parker Ross and Cole Murray.
“We’re around all these awesome opportunities in the 501,” Westerman said. “I think when people speak lowly of Arkansas, it’s terrible. They don’t really have their eyes open. We have lakes, forests; Little Rock is a pretty city. Hot Springs is actually a pretty cool city when you go and look at what all it has to offer.”
After graduation, Westerman plans to attend college and has applied to Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Dartmouth and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
“Eli is an inspirational leader on and off the field,” Gilleran said. “He will do something big in his life because of his ability to make other people better.”
“When you step on that field and put on that Cobra jersey, I feel like I’m a part of a family and a fraternity,” Westerman said. “We’ve been very successful as a program over the years and when you’re playing for Fountain Lake, you have the whole community at your back. That’s a really good feeling. I don’t think a lot of schools have that. I’m just fortunate to go to Fountain Lake.”
