Gatorade Player Of The Year – Louisiana adds Mr. Football Louisiana To The List – 2020 ATH Christian Westcott Lakeshore High School
Louisiana Farm Bureau Insurance/LSWA Mr. Football
Christian Westcott was selected as the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Offensive Most Valuable Player in Class 4A earlier this month, grabbed several local awards and in December was honored as the Gatorade Louisiana Football Player of the Year.
Westcott, the Titans senior quarterback, can now add the Louisiana Farm Bureau Insurance/LSWA Mr. Football honor to his accomplishments from the 2019 season. Westcott completed 151 of 275 passes for 2,779 yards and 35 touchdowns, and he rushed 198 times for 1,368 yards and 38 more scores. He also had a defensive touchdown and registered 20 tackles for loss, 6½ sacks and forced four fumbles.
Westcott is the first player from St. Tammany Parish ever to win the award, which is chosen by a statewide panel prep writers. He is the fifth player chosen from the New Orleans metro area since 2013, adding his name in along the likes of Hahnville’s Pooka Williams in 2017, Landry-Walker’s Keytaon Thompson in 2016, Deshawn Capers-Smith of Warren Easton in 2014 and St. Augustine’s Leonard Fournette in 2013. The Dunham School’s Derek Stingley Jr., who just finished his freshman season at LSU as a defensive back and kick returner, won the award last year.
La. Farm Bureau Insurance/Mr. Football winners
2019: Christian Westcott, Lakeshore
2018: Derek Stingley Jr., Dunham
2017: Anthony “Pooka” Williams, Hahnville
2016: Keytaon Thompson, Landry-Walker
2015: Lindsey Scott, Zachary
2014: Deshawn Capers-Smith, Warren Easton
2013: Leonard Fournette, St. Augustine
2012: John Diarse, Neville
2011: Landon Collins, Dutchtown
2010: Anthony Johnson, O. Perry Walker
2009: Gavin Webster, Lutcher
2007: Randall Mackey, Bastrop
2006: Joe McKnight, John Curtis
2005: Charles Scott, Jonesboro-Hodge
2004: Ryan Perrilloux, East St. John
2003: Chris Markey, Jesuit
2002: Robert Lane, Neville
2001: Jason Miller, Iota
2000: Byron Robertson, St. Thomas Aquinas
1999: Brock Berlin, Evangel
1998: Bradie James, West Monroe
1997: Adam McConathy, West Monroe
1996: Travis Minor, Baton Rouge-Catholic
1995: Cecil Collins, Leesville
December 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
GatoradePOYQuestions@Fleishman.com
LAKESHORE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-ATHLETE NAMED GATORADE LOUISIANA FOOTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO (December 6, 2019) — In its 35th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade
Company today announced Christian Westcott of Lakeshore High School as its 2019-20 Gatorade Louisiana
Football Player of the Year. Westcott is the first Gatorade Louisiana Football Player of the Year to be chosen from
Lakeshore High School.
Link to Website and Profile: https://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/winner/christian-westcott/37494
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic
achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Westcott as Louisiana’s best
high school football player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award to
be announced in December, Westcott joins an elite group of past state football award-winners, including Emmitt
Smith (1986-87, Escambia High School, Fla.), Matthew Stafford (2005-06 Highland Park High School, Texas) and
Christian McCaffrey (2012-13, 2013-14, Valor Christian High School, Colo.).
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior quarterback and defensive end had led the Titans to a 13-0 record and a berth in the
Class 4A state semifinals against Warren Easton High at the time of his selection. The District 9-4A Offensive Player of
the Year, Westcott passed for 2,346 yards and 30 touchdowns while rushing for 1,181 yards and 35 scores through 13
games. The District 8-4A Defensive Player of the Year as a junior, Westcott also totaled 47.5 tackles, including 19.5
tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and two interceptions this fall, returning one for a TD entering the state
semifinals.
The vice president of Lakeshore’s chapter of the Future Farmers of America, Westcott has volunteered locally
providing food to the elderly and needy, and he has donated his time with the Miracle League, which helps children
with disabilities play baseball. “Christian Westcott is absolutely remarkable,” said Chris Blocker, head coach of
Fontainebleau High. “He is very hard to defend, and the intensity he brings to the game is second to none. He is one
heck of a player.”
Westcott has maintained an A average in the classroom. He remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the
50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball,
boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track and field, and awards one National Player of the
Year in each sport. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High
School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.
Westcott joins recent Gatorade Louisiana Football Players of the Year Derek Stingley Jr. (2018-19, The Dunham
School), Slade Bolden (2017-18, West Monroe High School), Keytaon Thompson (2016-17, Landry-Walker High
School), Lindsey Scott (2015-16, Zachary High School) and Deshawn Capers-Smith (2014-15, Warren Easton Charter
High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Westcott has the opportunity to award a $1,000
grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to submit an essay to win one
of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of
professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming
coaches, business owners and educators.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate studentathletes, visit www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/Gatorade.
