Even as he’s heading out the door of the high school soccer sphere, Boulder’s Xander Sevian is still raking in the honors.

Last week, the Panthers’ star forward learned he won the Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year award for boys soccer. The accolade, which dates back to 1985, distinguishes the best high school athletes for each sport in each state.

He joins others from Boulder and Broomfield counties in recent years, including Broomfield’s Marcus Von (2024), Boulder’s Cameron Gerber (2023), Broomfield’s Michael Mooney (2018), Legacy’s Tajon Buchanan (2017), Broomfield’s Porter Milner (2016), Boulder’s Quinn Liebmann (2015), Fairview’s Shane O’Neill (2012) and Broomfield’s Cole Chapleski (2010).

“I would say I hope I expected it. I worked really hard this season,” Sevian said. “I think I had a pretty good performance, and I woke up (Thursday) morning to a text that said I won. I was pretty excited.

“The work is just showing up to practice every day with a good mindset and (being) ready to train hard. And then after practice or before practice, just putting in that extra work to just give me those little improvements that add up over time. It’s training in my basement, going to the local middle school to get some shots in or just out back in my backyard, just playing with the ball.”

Sevian finished his season with 24 goals and 26 assists and marked down multiple points in 13 of the Panthers’ 19 games. He helped fuel them to a Class 5A state semifinal appearance, where they lost to eventual state runner-up Broomfield.

Before he stepped foot on the Recht Field pitch for his final season, head coach Hardy Kalisher knew Sevian’s presence alone would lift the entire team up. His end-of-season stats and Daily Camera player of the year designation more than proved why.

“He’s one of the top preps prospects to ever come out of Boulder County,” Kalisher told BoCoPreps in August. “He’s got talent. There’s no denying it. He is extremely hard-working but he’s an exceptional leader. We had 100 kids try out for this program and when I was checking in each kid for tryouts, there was one set of hands clapping (for) every kid, saying, ‘You got it. Let’s do it. You got it.’”

Sevian spent his first two high school seasons with Boulder, setting the goal-scoring record for a freshman in the process, before stepping away his junior year.

He joined MLS Next, a junior developmental league tied to Major League Soccer, and flourished even more.

He couldn’t stay away from his brothers in purple — which Kalisher dubbed “La Familia” — during his senior season, though.

“The whole La Familia community is like the best team community I’ve been on,” Sevian said. “It really feels like a family. When you’re out there and you’re tired and you got 10 minutes left in the game, you can feel your legs starting to go, you look around and you see all these people who are working for you and who love you and are ready to put in that effort for you. It reciprocates, and it makes you want to do the same thing for them.”

Last December, he was also named the MVP at the High School All-American Game, and he was the fifth-ranked recruit in the nation.

Now, Sevian will take his talents and his 3.63 GPA to Clemson University, which won the Division I national championship in 2023 and in 2021. The Tigers finished this past season ranked No. 15 according to NCAA.com. He hopes he can see as much playing time as possible in a program that stacked.

“I’m as excited as it gets,” Sevian said. “It’s really all I’ve been thinking about for the last couple of months. It’s a great program with great coaches, great facilities and I’m really excited to get started and see what the next level is like.”