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The Thumb Sportswriter's Association is a cumulative association of Thumb-area sports editors and sports writers from nine Thumb-area newspapers.

Burton, who has led the Green Devils for the past 22 seasons, guided his team to the school's sixth Greater Thumb East championship after going 17-1 in the regular season, including a perfect mark of 14-0 in the GTE.

"We were not expecting to have that kind of success this season," Burton said. "You have to remember, we lost three starters from a year ago. The only starter we returned this season was Donovan (Ogboh). We had some good performances this year from a few juniors, including A.J. Burton and Jack MacPhail. We got off to a good start and we carried that through the season.

"And ofcourse it seemed like every lucky break went our way over the course of the season."

If not for a loss in the third game of the season to Reese, the Green Devils would have recorded the first undefeated regular season in school history. In that game, though, the lucky bounces Burton referred to went the way of the Rockets.

"We fell behind early in that game," Burton said. "We fell behind by seven points and then they ran that lead to 12. And that was how it stayed the whole game. We ended up losing by ten, and Reese was an awfully good team this season.

"I think that loss made us realize what we needed to work on and it ended up being a good learning experience."

Burton's team rebounded after that loss and ran off 15 consecutive wins to close out the regular season, and that included winning a second consecutive Greater Thumb East championship, the ninth league title in Burton's 22 years at the helm in Brown City. When asked how he has been able to maintain such a successful program over the course of two decades, Burton deflected the credit to others who have been associated with the program.

"I think I have been fortunate to be in the right spot at the right time," Burton said. "I have been fortunate to have some outstanding players come through Brown City over the last 22 seasons."

Burton now becomes the fourth coach honored as Coach of the Year in three seasons by the TSA. USA's Mark Gainforth was awarded Coach of the Year honors on the initial squad in 2006 and Kingston's Mike Rea and Cros-Lex's Don Roberts were named co-coaches of the year in 2007.

"I know all of those coaches personally," Burton said. "Those are some great coaches and to be named right along with them is an honor."