A's Player of the Month: Liberty's Kilolo Westerlund

Kilolo Westerlund, Liberty Patriots varsity emblem shot player, poses for a photograph aft a crippled against Southwest Career and Technical Academy astatine Liberty High School successful Henderson Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. Photo by Wade Vandervort

Sponsored by The A’s and Las Vegas Aviators

Kilolo Westerlund takes a abbreviated walk for the Liberty High emblem shot squad against visiting SECTA, makes a speedy cutback determination and sprints downfield toward the extremity zone.

Once the elder gets going astatine afloat speed, cipher is catching her. Her speed, powerfulness and moves connected this touchdown tally are unmatched.

“She’s a large athlete; she’s physically gifted,” Liberty manager Al Tucay said. “But what sets her isolated is she’s a tremendous competitor.”

Westerlund is dominating the contention with 81 catches for 1,697 yards and 28 touchdowns done 11 games, according to MaxPreps. Westerlund’s greatness isn’t constricted to the section gridiron.

She’s 1 of 3 locals connected the 12-team under-17 nationalist team, joining Tia Brown of Palo Verde and Akemi Higa of Desert Oasis. Liberty teammate Trishell Tucay — the coach’s girl — is portion of the under-15 nationalist squad.

Women’s emblem shot volition soon beryllium a athletics successful the Olympics.

“The athletics has conscionable taken disconnected implicit the past 10 years,” manager Tucay said. “They’ve been successful the shadows of the boys each of these years, and present they person their ain platform.”

Westerlund grew up playing rugby and volleyball. She decided to articulation the emblem shot squad arsenic a freshman, adjacent though she had nary acquisition and didn’t cognize overmuch astir the sport.

She became obsessed with becoming a bully player.

Whether it was studying her playbook connected the mode to school, watching crippled movie oregon attending other practices, she became immersed successful the sport.

In the offseason, her nine squad travels the federation looking for competition. She was adjacent a impermanent subordinate for a squad successful New York.

“I went to the tryout and did truly bad,” she said. “But determination were lone 7 players, and we each made the team. After that, I did my ain probe and I watched a batch of football. That’s erstwhile I fell successful emotion with being portion of it.”

On crippled days, it’s communal for Westerlund to beryllium greeted by a treble squad for the opposing team. That’s proven problematic for the defence due to the fact that Trishell Tucay has besides had a beardown play with 1,049 yards and 15 touchdowns. Liberty is 9-2 overall.

“There’s bully shot being played (in Las Vegas) and we are arrogant of the squad we have,” manager Tucay said.

The Clark County School District successful 2012 became 1 of the archetypal districts nationally to connection the sport. The exemplary has been replicated by different schoolhouse districts crossed the county.

CCSD schools each person 3 teams and hundreds of girls are surviving retired their gridiron dreams.

For Westerlund, that imagination volition proceed successful college.

A fistful of NAIA universities connection the sport, and Westerlund is being courted by the apical programs, her manager said. There’s nary authoritative ranking strategy for players arsenic successful tackle football, but manager Tucay said his apical subordinate is an equivalent of a five-star recruit.

That’s due to the fact that of her teammates, Westerlund said.

“Flag shot is similar 1 large family,” she said. “I deliberation everyone who plays has a immense passionateness and it truly shows.”