Henry Burns from Sedgwick was voted as the Wichita Small School Player of the Year. Burns received over 15,00 votes, which was 48 percent of the overall vote.

“It feels really good to be nominated player of the year,” Burns said. “There are so many great players out there and it is really cool that I was named player of the year. This year was very different from other years but my teammates and coaches acted as if nothing had changed and we played really well this year.”

Burns was a dominant two-way player for Sedgwick, which finished the season 8-2. He finished with over 1,250 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns, while also racking up 115 tackles.

He was voted to the VYPE All-State team as a defensive back and also received votes at wide receiver.

“Henry has been a big part of our program for the last three years,” Sedgwick coach Jeff Werner said. “He has been a big play player for us on both sides of the ball. On defense he is the best run-stopping safety I have coached and is an extremely good tackler and did so at a high volume.  When Henry played well on defense we were hard to beat. Then to flip sides and be our big play wide receiver really showed how good of a football player he was for us.”

There was a particular moment of the Cardinals’ season that stood out to Burns because of how his teammates responded to adversity and how he played perhaps his best game of the season.

“My favorite game this year was when we played Remington for homecoming,” Burns said. “We had three of our starters out due to COVID close contacts and we had some freshmen and sophomores step up in a big way. In the game I had three touchdown receptions for over 200 (total) yards. On the other side of the ball I had over 20 solo tackles.”

While Burns has not chosen a college yet, he indicated that a decision is on the horizon.