Devin Lee of ‘Iolani remembers sitting at the end of the Raiders bench at age 6 while his father, Chris, roamed the sidelines as boys varsity coach.

Ten years later, his father is back in charge of the Raiders and Devin Lee has established himself as the state’s top player.

Devin Lee, a midfielder who helped lead ‘Iolani to the Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Division I State Championships, was named the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Boys Soccer Player of the Year as voted on by a panel of coaches.

“I’m just so grateful to be the Player of the Year,” he said. “I’m so thankful the coaches brought up my name and gave me the honor. I’m overjoyed with excitement and compassion for everybody that helped me throughout this season and hoping for a good season next year.”

Fellow Raiders forward Brody Awaya, defender Kekama Kane and goalkeeper Braydon Obrero joined Devin Lee on the Stellar 11. All four are juniors.

“This year’s team we had a lot of technical players, players that understood how to move and work off of each other,” said Chris Lee, who was named Coach of the Year. “They were also able to make the adjustments that the coaches talked to them about. That’s the reason we were able to pull it off this year.”

Mililani, the state runner-up, also placed four players on the first team: forwards Caleb Ishizaka and Tyler Cole Tamashiro, midfielder Elijah Kuni and defender Kalen Toguchi, who drew oohs and ahhs from fans for his long throw-ins.

Campbell was represented by forward Tyler Welsch and defender Cody Mar, while Kamehameha placed midfielder Azis Camerrer. The Sabers and Warriors advanced to the state semifinals.

Devin Lee, Obrero and Ishizaka were repeat first-team selections.

Devin Lee finished the season with eight goals and eight assists and was one of three team captains for the Raiders, who finished 12-0-1.

“He’s versatile enough and he understands the different roles that he needs to play,” Chris Lee said. “If you ask him what he prefers playing, he would say attacking more because he gets the opportunity to attack and score. He can play more of a defensive role. Sometimes we ask him to play that in the course of a game.”

In the state final against Mililani, Devin Lee scored the game-tying goal on a penalty kick at 65:15, and converted another penalty kick in the shootout as ‘Iolani prevailed 2-1 (4-2 PKs).

“I was really just picturing the outcome that I wanted and was going to happen in my head,” he said of the game-tying penalty kick. “As soon as I stepped up to take it, I just said to myself one last time, ‘I got this and this is me.’ As soon as I watched the ball go in, I was just so overjoyed and it was an amazing moment just running back to my team, celebrating with them, looking into the crowd and seeing all the ‘Iolani fans and our parents cheering us on and yelling. It was just such an unbelievable moment.”

Rewind about 10 years, and Devin Lee would attend ‘Iolani practices, eat his snacks and watch the varsity players train under his father.

“I would even get to sit on the bench during games and watch the games, so that was pretty cool,” he said. “Getting to experience that at that age it was just unreal and something that I could look up to and picture myself (doing) in the future.”

By the time Devin Lee got to intermediate school, he said he would practice with the JV and varsity teams if they needed an extra player.

Devin Lee decided to skip his freshman year at ‘Iolani and accept an invitation to attend the Seattle Sounders Academy as part of its U-15 team. Kuni, the Mililani midfielder, attended the academy at the same time.

Devin Lee and Chris Lee both moved to Seattle, with the father able to work remotely.

“It was one of the bigger decisions in my life that I had to make,” Devin Lee said. “I knew I was giving up my freshman year here, which I knew was a key year for us to win, but I knew that playing professionally was one of my dreams and I knew I would have to sacrifice playing my freshman year to be able to get that opportunity to chase after my dream.”

The Lees missed the Raiders’ 2023 state title season with Grant Fukuda and Travis Watanabe serving as co-coaches. Devin Lee and Chris Lee returned the following year, which ended in a loss to Mililani in the state championship game.

“We remembered losing that championship and I just remember telling myself that I never wanted to feel that feeling ever again,” Devin Lee said. “I really had to step up as a leader and as the captain of our team (this season) and make sure everybody was on point and everybody was staying focused.”

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BOYS ALL-STATE SOCCER

FIRST TEAM

FORWARDS

Brody Awaya (‘Iolani, Jr.)

Caleb Ishizaka (Mililani, Sr.)

Tyler Cole Tamashiro (Mililani, Sr.)

Tyler Welsch (Campbell, Jr.)

MIDFIELDERS

Azis Camerrer (Kamehameha, Jr.)

Elijah Kuni (Mililani, Jr.)

Devin Lee (‘Iolani, Jr.)

DEFENDERS

Kekama Kane (‘Iolani, Jr.)

Cody Mar (Campbell, Sr.)

Kalen Toguchi (Mililani, Sr.)

GOALKEEPER

Braydon Obrero (‘Iolani, Jr.)

SECOND TEAM

FORWARDS

Keli Fisher (Kamehameha, Jr.)

Asa Hironaka (‘Iolani, So.)

Sye Sandobal (Aiea, Sr.)

Brennyn Yoshida (Kapolei, So.)

MIDFIELDERS

Devin DesJardin (Campbell, Sr.)

Lorenzo Gonzalez (King Kekaulike, Jr.)

William Henderson (Kamehameha-Hawaii, Sr.)

DEFENDERS

Anthony Ancheta (‘Iolani, Jr.)

Maika Warner (Baldwin, Sr.)

Micah Yamato (Kamehameha, Jr.)

GOALKEEPER

Kobi Miyamoto (Mililani, Sr.)

HONORABLE MENTION

ILH

‘Iolani: Dan Arima. Kamehameha: Kyler Ching, Kama Medeiros. Le Jardin: Andrew Howell, Maxton Molzhon. Mid-Pacific: Maxamus Miller. Punahou: Blaze Bailey, Brady Lau. Saint Louis: Landon Dimaya.

OIA EAST

Castle: Justin Katayama, Damon Turcios. Kahuku: Kea Lerner. Kailua: Brody Person. Kaiser: Isaac Davies, Tayte Sato. Moanalua: Elijah Hayes.

OIA WEST

Campbell: Bryson Ancheta, Jeremiah Antonio-Makinano. Mililani: Jackson Cosner, Derek Wurlitzer. Pearl City: Manoa Monteiro. Radford: Caleb Pollard. Waipahu: Evan Baptista, Travis Goto-Hirokawa.

BIIF

Hilo: Channing Oda. KamehamehaHawaii: Jacob Aiona, Micah Chung, Everton “Kaiao” Kuamoo. Keaau: Rayden Handy. Waiakea: Kolby Okutsu.

MIL

Baldwin: Jorden Carbonell. King Kekaulike: Rex Riecke, Joaquin Tavares. Seabury Hall: James Notarangelo, Kala’i Romanchak.

KIF

Kapaa: Kamalei Dasalia-Mundon, Kamalei Gonsalves, Jared Varela. Kauai: Kai Potts. Waimea: Kyren Toma.