A dedicated ESPNHS POY team managed the Gatorade State Football Player of the Year selection process, resulting in this winner based on the awards program's three pillars: athletic production and impact in the 2011 season, high academic achievement and exemplary personal character. For his 50 fellow Gatorade State Football Player of the Year winners, click here.

THE WINNER: Vince Biegel

THE BASICS: Anatomy of a POY

School: Lincoln (Wisconsin Falls, Wisc.)

Grade: Senior

Position: Linebacker

Height: 6-foot-3

Weight: 225 pounds

THE PILLARS: Gatorade criteria

Athletic achievement: Biegel amassed 172 tackles, 21 sacks and three interceptions this past season, leading the Red Rapids (12-2) to the Division 1 state final. A 2012 U.S. Army All-American, he was selected as the 2011 Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Defensive Player of the Year.

Academic excellence: Biegel has maintained a 3.12 GPA in the classroom.

Exemplary character: Biegel has volunteered locally on behalf of multiple community service initiatives in association with his church youth group and as an elementary school guest reader.

THE PRAISE: Christopher Kujawa, head coach of rival Oshkosh (Wisc.)

“I have coached football for 20 years and Vince Biegel is the best linebacker I have seen in my coaching career. He runs, hits and covers better than any linebacker I have seen and he is a definite game-changer.”

THE FUTURE: Collegiate destination

Biegel has verbally committed to play football on an athletic scholarship at the University of Wisconsin beginning in the fall of 2012.