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Wisconsin Sports Network and WisSports.net are happy to announce Bay Port's Matt Lorbeck as the 2016 recipient of the John Anderson Award as the most outstanding senior linebacker in Wisconsin, part of the WSN Senior Football Awards.

In a very competitive FRCC, Lorbeck was voted the Defensive Player of the Year. In 11 games, he recorded 112 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, and 7 sacks for head coach Gary Westerman.

"He pursues the football as hard as any player I have coached," Westerman said. "He's a very explosive athlete, holding the school record in the squat and power clean." 

The 6-4, 230-pound senior has committed to Northern Illinois and was named WFCA First Team All-State as well as the WFCA Defensive Player of the Year.

Finalists for the award were Lorbeck, Noah Harvey of Arrowhead, Devon Krzanowski of Fond du Lac, Auston Mozdzen of Germantown, and Noah Nordness of Marquette.

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), and Menomonie's Mason Stokke (2015).

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; Justin Hull, WSCO The Score 95.3 in Appleton; JR Radcliffe, NOW Newspapers; Dan Barwick, WSN Contributor; Jason Cox, Eau Claire Leader-Telegram; Fan Vote

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.