Upper Dublin's Sowers overcomes illness to make national lacrosse team

Within the 5-foot-8, 165-pound body of Michael Sowers is a heart that refuses to quit and a spleen that nearly derailed his football and lacrosse dreams.

Last week, the senior attacker for Upper Dublin, who is believed to be the all-time assist leader in U.S. boys' high school lacrosse history, was named to the U.S. men's under-19 national lacrosse team.

To understand the significance of the accomplishment, however, you need to consider his bout with mononucleosis during football season.

"It's definitely incredible," said Sowers, who will play lacrosse at Princeton. "It's awesome, especially because you put so much work in, and to see the result pay off is definitely awesome."

Less splendid was the persistent illness and fatigue that sapped his strength early in November while Sowers played football and simultaneously prepared for the U-19 national lacrosse team.

The lacrosse process started with a 105-player tryout June 29 to July 1 at Stevenson University in Maryland. From that pool, 51 players were selected for an early August weekend tryout at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. That field was whittled to 30 for a November weekend at Ohio State and then finally to 23 after a January weekend at the IMG Academy in Florida.

Sowers - who played defensive back, receiver, and punt returner for the District 1 football champion Cardinals - continued to compete on both fields, unaware of why his sickness persisted.

Eventually, "I kind of knew it was something bad," he said, "because it wasn't going away."

Four weeks before the Cardinals won their first District 1 football championship, Sowers played with a high fever in a playoff win against Garnet Valley.

"Michael's toughness definitely comes from football," said his father, David, who is also Upper Dublin's lacrosse coach. "He had a 103 temperature, but you weren't going to get him off the field."

Following that game, Sowers traveled to Ohio State for the U-19 lacrosse tryout, but said he was too sick to compete.

Sluggishly, he did manage to play in the Cardinals' football victory the following week but could go no further after a doctor determined his spleen was enlarged because of mononucleosis.

"He just started sobbing," his father said. "We had to shut him down. I told him, 'Michael, you can't. It's an enlarged spleen. I'm not going to risk it.' "

Though he didn't play, Sowers suited up in the District 1 finale against North Penn, which the Cardinals won, 46-21.

He remained determined, however, to play the following week against eventual Class 4A runner-up Parkland.

"I looked up everything that had to do with the spleen," Sowers said. "Anything that somebody posted: eat greens, eat vegetables, we were doing it. We were making vegetable smoothies and throwing ridiculous stuff in there, and on top of that I was getting checked almost every day to see if it improved."

Sowers said he didn't practice all week and finally got the all-clear the day before the game, which Parkland won, 30-14.

On the field, Sowers had to cover Parkland's stud receiver, Kenny Yeboah, a 6-foot-5 senior headed for Temple who finished with seven catches for 100 yards.

The mind-set it took to play that game is the same one Sowers brings with him to the lacrosse field.

"The thing I take out of football is the toughness," he said. "Especially when we got into the playoffs, and they had [big] receivers, and you develop that chip on your shoulders because you're not that big, and I'm not running a 4.5 [40-yard dash]. So it's really about playing with that toughness and that edge that I'll battle with anybody."

That attitude was required in January, when Sowers traveled to Florida for the final U.S. team lacrosse workout.

"He was upset because he knew he wasn't 100 percent," David Sowers said. "I said, 'Michael, just make the play in front of you, and you'll be fine.' He played really well in Florida, and the rest fell in place for him."

This season, the Cardinals (4-0) hope to rebound after last year's upset loss to Conestoga in the second round of the PIAA lacrosse playoffs.

According to Lacrosse Magazine, Sowers' recent 12-assist game against Plymouth Whitemarsh gave him 309 for his career, eclipsing the previously best-known record of 307 by Palmyra-Macedon (N.Y.) graduate Ben Reeves (2011 to 2014). Sowers is also just the third known player to surpass 300 career assists, according to the same report.

His main focus now is on finishing his Upper Dublin lacrosse career with his fellow seniors. Given everything it took to earn it, however, Sowers will really savor making the U-19 national team.

"It definitely taught me a lesson," he said. "I kind of dedicated a whole summer to it in the sense that I didn't really get a chance to see my friends or anything. It was definitely nice to see it all pay off and get rewarded, and it's such a great reward. In lacrosse, it's such a true honor."

@AceCarterINQ