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Wisconsin Sports Network and WisSports.net are happy to announce Germantown's Cooper Catalano as the 2024 recipient of the John Anderson Award as the most outstanding senior linebacker in Wisconsin, part of the WSN Senior Football Awards.

Cooper Catalano has been a varsity standout since his freshman season, when he recorded 120 tackles and three sacks. He’s kept it up since then, and this year shattered the state's all-time tackles record, as he's up to 583 in his career. 

As a senior, he is second in the state in 2024 with 178 tackles, also recording nine tackles for loss, three sacks, one fumble recovery, three forced fumbles, and three interceptions. 

With such standout play and abilities at a young age, he garnered college attention pretty quickly, but made an early decision to commit to the in-state Wisconsin Badgers.

"Cooper is like a magnet for the ball and is a tenacious tackler," said head coach Jake Davis. "Simply put…he is a tackling machine and having his best year to date as a senior."

Catalano was a WFCA All-State choice and the WFCA's Large Schools Defensive Player of the Year.

Finalists for the award were Catalano, Carson Fletcher of Racine Horlick, Isaiah Groom of Potosi/Cassville, Mitchell Nigro of Marquette, and Bobby Salm of Appleton North.

Past winners include Arrowhead's Derek Landisch (2010), Wisconsin Rapids' Vince Biegel (2011), Green Bay Southwest's Nathan Paup (2012), Mukwonago's Dominic Cizauskas (2013), Wausau West's Jake Whalen (2014), Menomonie's Mason Stokke (2015), Bay Port's Matt Lorbeck (2016), Catholic Memorial's C.J. Goetz (2017), Grantsburg's Leo Chenal (2018), Marquette's Riley Nowakowski (2019), Xavier's Mac Strand (2020), Kaukauna's Will Campbell (2021), Bay Port's Josiah Azure (2022), and Oak Creek's Drew Braam (2023).

The award is named after John Anderson, a former Waukesha South standout who received All-Conference and All-State recognition on both offense and defense for the Blackshirts. He would go on to star for the University of Michigan for four seasons where he twice earned All-Big Ten honors. Anderson would be selected by the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the 1978 NFL Draft and go on to a successful 12-year career. Upon his retirement he was the Packers all-time leader in tackles with 1,020 (the Packer only have stats compiled since 1975) and still holds that record today. He was named to the NFL's All-Decade team for the 1980's and the Packers Hall of Fame in 1996.

The voting panel for the WSN Senior Football Awards consisted of:  Travis Wilson, WSN General Manager and Head Football Writer;  Norbert Durst, WSN Content Manager; Dennis Semrau, ESPN Madison; Bob Brainerd, Thursday Night Throwdown broadcaster; Jimmie Kaska, Civic Media; Dan Barwick, WSN Contributor; Colton Wilson, WSN Content Producer; Fan Vote

Travis Wilson serves as the WisSports.net General Manager, Football Editor, and contributing writer for other parts of the site. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisWSN.

For the latest and most up to date football news and recruiting information, follow Travis on Twitter @travisWSN. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Travis at travis(at)wissports.net.