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Leo Chenal of Grantsburg selected to receive John Anderson Award

11/14/2018, 1:00pm CST
By Travis Wilson

Wisconsin Sports Network and WisSports.net are happy to announce Grantsburg's Leo Chenal as the 2018 recipient of the John Anderson Award as the most outstanding senior linebacker in Wisconsin, part of the WSN Senior Football Awards.

Despite missing a game to a mission trip and playing sparingly in the second half of games, Chenal has been one of the most dominant two-way players in the state.

On defense, the University of Wisconsin recruit has 120 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, three fumble recoveries, two interceptions, and a sack as the Pirates were unbeaten in the regular season during Chenal's four-year career.

He also has more than 2000 rushing yards with 42 touchdowns for the unbeaten Pirates. Not surprisingly, he was recently selected as the Small Schools Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year in the state of Wisconsin by the WFCA.

"Leo is the most explosive, well-rounded athlete I've ever coached and he brings an unmatched energy to every single game and practice," said head coach Adam Hale.

Finalists for the award were Chenal, Tristan Argall of Kimberly, John Klus of Oregon, Derik LeCaptain of Southern Door, and Hakeem McCullers of Sun Prairie.

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), and Catholic Memorial's C.J. Goetz (2017).

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; B.J. DeGroot, WSCO The Score 95.3 in Appleton; Curt Hogg, NOW Newspapers; Dan Barwick, WSN Contributor; Colton Wilson, WSN Content Producer; Fan Vote

Tag(s): News Archive  News  Travis Wilson  Senior FB Awards