Colton Bower, North Kitsap's program-altering three-sport athlete, is SBLive's 2A Senior Athlete of the Year

A multi-positional standout, Bower led North Kitsap's football team to its deepest run in program history. He played a pivotal role on one of the top basketball programs in the state. And the Washington State-bound catcher helped the Vikings nab the top overall baseball playoff seed.

Author:
Andy Buhler, SBLive Sports
Publish date:
Jun 17, 2022 9:13 PM EDT

Welcome to a continuing tradition at SBLive Washington – honoring the WaFd Bank 2021-22 senior athletes of the year for each classification, recognizing the top multi-sport athlete in the state.

The criteria isn’t too expansive: The starting point is finding seniors who are all-league/all-state performers in two or more sports. Totality of career is also a factor. So are administrator/coach/fan recommendation.

Enjoy as we honor some of Washington’s top multi-sport senior athletes!

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When former Washington Huskies coach Jimmy Lake came to North Kitsap in 2018, the school’s head football coach Jeff Weible recalled to Lake the time he called former Sehome standout Taylor Rapp, now a safety with the L.A. Rams, the smartest football player he’d ever coached.

Weible then pointed to his standout freshman linebacker.

“I said ‘that’s Colton Bower,’ ” Weible said. “He’s the smartest football player you’ll ever coach.”

After that conversation, Bower, SBLive’s 2A Senior Athlete of the Year, led more than one of the Vikings’ programs to newfound heights. He played multiple positions and nearly every role from star to role player. And though a Division I football offer never materialized — bafflingly, if you ask Weible — Bower's impact was second-to-none.

When the football team needed a hero, Bower put on his proverbial cape. When the basketball team needed an interior presence and defensive disruptor, he went further than asked, setting a program record for charges in a season.

“I just did whatever the team needed,” Bower said.

Bower, who is signed to play baseball at Washington State, never thought about taking a season off or specializing in one sport to improve his college chances. He loved trying new things and adjusting on the fly when seasons changed and overlapped.

Weible, North Kitsap’s football and baseball coach, sums up Bower in one word: “Irreplaceable.”

Not just for his athletic ability, natural leadership or willingness to fill whichever role the team needs to win. But also the way he carries himself — and leads with actions instead of talk.

“The kind of example he sets doing the right thing all of the time,” Weible said.

“And he says about three words a day.”

Vikings basketball coach Scott Orness called Bower the best overall athlete he's coached in 24 years, calling his work ethic and calm mental focus "separators." When Bower was a freshman, one of his teachers told Weible he stood up for a girl who was getting picked on in class, made sure she was OK and scolded her bullies.

“For a freshman kid to do that, it spoke to me,” Weible said.

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COLTON BOWER BIO

School: North Kitsap.

Sports: Football, basketball, baseball.

Next step: Signed to play baseball at Washington State, where he is interested in studying criminal justice and sports management.

Senior-year highlights: Football: Led North Kitsap to an 11-1 season, 2A Olympic League title and 2A state semifinal appearance, the deepest postseason run in program history. Basketball: Missed freshman basketball season. Came off the bench as a pivotal interior defensive presence, often guarding the opposing team’s top player while undersized at 6-foot-2. Vikings went 23-4, nabbed the No. 1 overall seed in the state 2A tournament, reached the semifinals and lost in the third place game. Baseball: Led the team to a 21-3 overall record, No. 1 seed in the 2A state playoffs, 2A Olympic League title. Hit .479 on the season with 34 hits, 36 RBI and caught 10 runners on back picks.

Career accomplishments: Football: Four-year starter and standout across multiple positions. First team all-state linebacker as a freshman, 2A Olympia League MVP as a sophomore, junior and senior, playing quarterback, defensive back and place kicker. Led the Vikings to a 2A state semifinal appearance, its deepest postseason run. Basketball: Missed his freshman year with a broken ankle suffered during football season. Three-year contributor and rotation player during the Vikings’ first 2A state basketball title as a sophomore inn 2020. Led the team in charges taken as a junior and senior. Baseball: Four-year varsity player, three-year all-league selection as a catcher.

School/community achievements: 3.9 GPA; local youth flag football coach and little league baseball volunteer coach.

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