Chesterton senior and returning all-state linebacker Zane Westerlund hungry to improve with an eye toward playing college football

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

This year’s Chesterton football team is short on players who have proven a lot at the varsity level, which can make for a motivated bunch.
Yet, nobody is any more driven to improve than the player who has proven the most.
Senior Zane Westerlund earned junior all-state honors last season from his outside linebacker position. He has moved to inside linebacker, where hopes to have an even louder impact, loud enough to draw the attention of college recruiters.
Westerlund led the team in sacks last season with five and ranked second to graduated linebacker Lucas Anderson with 62 tackles.
In the sectional title game vs. LaPorte, Westerlund gave the Trojans the lead a few minutes into the game when he blocked a punt, pivoted quickly, scooped up the ball and returned it for a touchdown. The Slicers came back to win 20-17.
A high-flying outside hitter on the volleyball team, Westerlund considers himself a football player first and spent his summer dedicated to becoming a better prospect.
“It was a great summer,” Westerlund said. “I went to a lot of camps, trying to get my name out there. I was working on building my body, getting stronger and faster and working on the team getting better.”
The speed workouts, he said, consisted of “a lot of running, a lot of hill sprints. Practicing my form and hill sprints. I do feel a lot faster, but I still feel like I have room to grow there.”
If linebacker becomes the team’s best position that wouldn’t be the first time. Even in years when the secondary lacks speed and the front line lacks size and strength, the linebackers always seem to get the job done and there is reason to believe the middle of the defense, anchored by Westerlund, will produce again.
“We’ve got (Peyton) Dilbeck playing linebacker now, and Charlie (Cunningham), again, great athlete, a bunch of bulldogs at linebacker,” Westerlund said of fellow seniors. “We know what we’re doing, so if we can communicate we can play with anybody. Communication is going to help us because we’re not the biggest guys out there.”
Cunningham is listed at 5-feet-10 inches, 180 pounds, Dilbeck at 6-0, 190, Westerlund at 6-1, 230. Mauro Semidei, a 6-0, 215-pound junior, also brings athleticism to the position, but in Friday night’s Maroon & Gold scrimmage he played more on offense, carrying the football and catching passes. If Semidei plays in Chesterton’s 3-4 defense, he’ll fill an outside linebacker position.
Moving inside won’t give Westerlund nearly as many opportunities for sacks, but he likes how the shift opens opportunities in other ways.
“I’m involved in every play. It doesn’t matter if he’s going left or going right, I can still make the play from my position,” Westerlund said. “That’s one thing from last year, even though I liked playing the edge, they can run the ball away from you. Now at middle if I can make the right read I can be in on every play. That’s a big plus to playing in the middle.”
Westerlund and Dilbeck are volleyball teammates and played freshman basketball and more recently intramural basketball on the same team. Given that, Westerlund acknowledged possible bias in naming Dilbeck as the defensive teammate who has improved the most recently.
“Dilbeck’s come a long way just through this summer coming from corner to play linebacker,” Westerlund said. “He’s way better at tackling now. He can actually tackle now. He’s learned the coverages. He’s learned what to do, and he’s just a pure athlete.”
Dilbeck’s speed equips him well for teeing off on quarterbacks.
“He’s really fast, one of the fastest on the team, if not the fastest,” Westerlund said.
The Maroon & Gold night was cut short by lightning, which kept the crowd from seeing each player introduced, but the Trojans still took enough snaps to go to school on the night.
“The thing I like about it is it gives me a gauge of where we are as a team,” Westerlund said. “We have a lot to work on as far as being aggressive and getting out there and hitting.”
The next test comes when Hammond Central visits Chesterton this coming Friday for a 6 p.m. scrimmage. The Trojans open at home the following Friday, Aug. 21, at 7 p.m. vs. Hobart.