All-City Boys Soccer: Federal Way’s Kelyn Rowe earns Player of the Year honors

Published 3:00 pm Friday, June 4, 2010

Everyone who has seen Kelyn Rowe play the game of soccer knows he is a game changer.

Rowe was one of the most highly-regarded recruits in the nation (No. 5, according to topdrawersoccer.com) before signing a national letter of intent to play at UCLA. The senior has been literally all around the world playing soccer and hopes to one day play in the English Premier League, the world’s pinnacle of professional soccer.

“He’s an absolute game changer,” said Kentwood head coach Aaron Radford. “He’s an absolute professional-style player. He can change the game.”

But Rowe’s impact on the soccer field was felt big-time this season at Federal Way High School. For the first time since his freshman year, Rowe donned the Eagle uniform, led Federal Way back into the state tournament and earned The Mirror’s Player of the Year honors.

Rowe didn’t play for the Eagles during his sophomore and junior seasons because of his commitment to his club team, Crossfire Premier out of Redmond. Crossfire is part of the U.S. Development Academy, a national travel league for the country’s top prep players.

“I would make that decision again if I had to,” Rowe said, while signing his national letter of intent in February. “It was a better decision for my future.”

Federal Way’s run to the state semifinals this season came after two straight seasons of missing the playoffs. The last time the Eagles advanced into the postseason came during Rowe’s freshman year when he guided Federal Way to the Class 4A title match. During the final, Rowe tallied two goals and an assist, but Pasco prevailed, 4-3.

“He is the best player in the state,” said Federal Way head coach Jason Baumgardt.

This season, Rowe scored 32 of the Eagles’ 49 goals and had an eye-popping 25 goals in Federal Way’s last 10 games. Rowe also scored nine of the Eagles’ 11 goals during their four-game postseason winning streak that ended in a state semifinal loss to Lake Stevens.

To put Rowe’s offensive season in perspective all you have to do is look at last year, when the Eagles finished 2-11-3. During the 2009 season, Federal Way’s entire team scored only 12 goals with a pretty similar roster.

But Rowe wasn’t able to play during the Final Four this season because he flew out to Florida with his club team, Crossfire Premier, for a national-level showcase over the weekend. Rowe was in Florida in an attempt to turn some heads of the coaching staff of the United States National Team.

The Eagles were shut out in both of their games over the weekend by Lake Stevens and Ferris without Rowe, who scored all five goals during Federal Way’s 5-1 quarterfinal victory over Beamer.

“That has been his goal for a long time,” Baumgardt said. “He wants to play on the National Team.”

In the past two years, Rowe has travelled to a half dozen countries around the world, including Argentina and Uruguay with the U.S. men’s under-18 national team and a tour of Europe with a select group of high school players.