OBSERVER File Photo Clymer/Sherman/Panama quarterback Tate Catanese threw for 2,383 yards and 34 touchdowns while also running for 590 yards and 13 touchdowns this season as the Wolfpack won the NYSPHSAA Class D title.

Tate Catanese turned in a fine season in 2023 en route to winning The Post-Journal/OBSERVER’s Football Player of the Year honor as a junior.

This season, the Clymer/Sherman/Panama quarterback was even better as a senior and led his Wolfpack to a New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D state championship.

Catanese finished the season 170 of 273 through the air for 2,383 yards and 34 touchdowns while throwing just 10 interceptions.

On the ground, he was second on Clymer/Sherman/Panama with 590 yards and led the team with 13 touchdowns.

Catanese did a phenomenal job of getting the football to all three of the Wolfpack’s explosive receiving threats. Bryce Hinsdale, the state’s all-time leader in receptions, finished the year with 62 catches for 832 yards and six touchdowns. Carter Brink, who tied for the Section VI lead in receiving touchdowns this year with 19, caught 51 passes for 905 yards. And tight end Alex Barmore had 42 catches for 513 yards and seven touchdowns.

Catanese opened the season with arguably the worst game of his career, throwing for just 148 yards and three interceptions in a 24-3 loss to defending state Class C champion Waverly.

A week later, he found his rhythm, needing just eight completions to throw for 176 yards and three touchdowns in a 48-0 shutout of Randolph.

In Week 3, a 41-12 win over Gowanda/Pine Valley, Catanese threw for 202 yards and four touchdowns. He followed that up with 258 yards and three touchdowns in a 21-6 defeat of Franklinville/Ellicottville in Week 4.

Week 5 saw the Wolfpack tested by nonleague Class B power Lackawanna and Catanese threw for 259 yards to go along with four touchdowns, but was also intercepted three times.

Another nonleague game followed, a 50-6 win over Lake Shore during which Catanese threw for 180 yards on a perfect 8-for-8 throwing afternoon that included three touchdowns.

A 15-7 win over Wilson and a 56-0 shutout of Cattaraugus-Little Valley ended the regular season. Catanese combined for just 155 yards and two touchdowns in those games.

Catanese had a fine regular season, but took his game to the next level during Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s state championship run.

In a 51-24 victory over Gowanda/Pine Valley in the Section VI semifinals, Catanese went 17 of 26 for 294 yards and three touchdowns.

A week later, in the sectional final at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, he put on his best Josh Allen performance with 87 yards and two touchdowns through the air as well as 83 yards and two touchdowns on the ground as the Wolfpack claimed their fourth sectional crown in 10 years since becoming a merged program with a 33-8 win over Franklinville/Ellicottville.

Against Section V’s Avon in the Far West Regional at SUNY Brockport, Catanese went 17 of 24 for 213 yards and two scores through the air while adding 66 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

In a 43-14 victory over Section III’s Dolgeville in the West Semifinal at Vestal High School, he went 16 of 20 for 233 yards and four touchdowns through the air to go along with 53 yards on the ground.

And finally, in a dominant 46-7 win over Section IX’s Burke Catholic in the state final at the JMA Dome in Syracuse, Catanese went 12 of 16 for 178 yards and another four touchdowns through the air while adding his final rushing touchdown of the season.

Brink was named a Section VI Class D co-Offensive Player of the Year and Hinsdale’s name can be found in Section VI and NYSPHSAA record books for his four-year performance for the Wolfpack.

But as head coach Ty Harper said following the season, Catanese “was the engine.”

For growing his game through three seasons as Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s starting quarterback, setting most of the program’s passing records in the process, and leading the Wolfpack to their third state title in the past seven years, Catanese is once again the OBSERVER/Post-Journal Football Player of the Year.