Eye in the Sky: Unsung Heroes of the Open Division's First Round

<p>It's easy to get caught up in the big stat lines and highlight plays when the Open rolls around, but every one of these first‑round games had a handful of guys who did the kind of work that doesn't necessarily show up in the stat sheet. </p>   <p>These are the players who made the small, gritty, momentum‑tilting plays that teams lean on when everything tightens up in November — the blockers who quietly kept drives alive, the defenders who filled the alley without hesitation, the specialists who executed under real pressure, and the young kids who stepped into massive roles without blinking. </p>   <p>None of them were the headline names coming in, but if you actually watched the games and paid attention to the little things, you saw how important each one of them was. </p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Brophy: Not Your Traditional 'Unsung' Hero</h2>    <p class="text-gray-700">Calling [player_tooltip player_id='401155' first='Daylen' last='Sharper'] an “unsung” guy almost feels wrong when you look at the numbers he put up, but the way he did it absolutely fits what this list is about. With so much attention on [player_tooltip player_id='401157' first='Devin' last='Fitzgerald'] and Brophy's quarterback run game, Sharper took all that tilted coverage as a challenge and turned in one of the cleanest performances of the first round. He wasn't just racking up empty-yardage stats – his catches kept drives alive, bailed out the quarterback when pressure collapsed the pocket, and showed up in those moments where everyone in the stadium knew Brophy had to have it. He's a big, physical target who understands how to work leverage, sit in open windows, and then fight through contact after the catch, and it showed up over and over again against Casteel. The stat line looks great on its own, but when you layer in the timing of those plays with the high IQ and polish he brings to the position, it's pretty clear why this felt like a statement game. In a playoff environment where a couple of misfires can flip everything, Sharper was steady, efficient, and undeniably reliable when Brophy needed someone other than Fitzgerald to tilt the game.</p>   <video controls playsinline preload="metadata" style="width:100%;max-width:900px;height:auto;background:#000;border-radius:12px" src="https://hls.bcast.nfhsnetwork.com/broadcast/bdc108dc12916/vod.m3u8#t=8934,8944"> </video>    <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Casteel: An Extra Tackle and an Extra Pass-Catcher, Rolled up Into One Player</h2>    <p class="text-gray-700">Casteel TE #9 – Riley HuntRiley Hunt is the kind of tight end you don't appreciate until you really sit down and watch how the offense actually functions. In a game where Casteel had to keep their quarterback clean long enough to push the ball downfield in a shootout, Hunt basically played like an extra tackle with soft hands. He was attached to the formation a ton, taking on defensive ends and outside backers, widening rush lanes, and giving his tackles just enough help to sort out stunts and pressure looks. When he did release, it wasn't just “run a flat and get tackled” – he's a big body who can box defenders out, win on leverage, and pull down throws most guys simply don't have the catch radius for. The box score is never going to tell you how many times his chip slowed a rusher just enough for a deep shot to develop, or how his presence in protection let them call the kind of vertical concepts that kept them in the game. In this one, he was a huge part of why Casteel could trade punches all night, even if his name doesn't jump off the stat sheet.</p>     <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Red Mountain: Always in the Right Place at the Right Time</h2>    <p class="text-gray-700">Watching Red Mountain in this one, it just felt like the same guy was showing up around the ball every single time they needed a stop – that was [player_tooltip player_id='739444' first='Jameson' last='Wade']. He came into the postseason already established as one of the most productive tacklers in the state, but this game was more about how quietly dominant he was than any single highlight play. ALA–QC never really got comfortable running the football, and Wade was the main reason why. He fit runs downhill without overrunning them, scraped sideline-to-sideline when they tried to bounce things, and seemed to be standing up from the bottom of every pile after a key third-down stop. Add in the sack and forced fumble he logged, and you get the full picture of a middle linebacker who just has a feel for when to trigger and how to finish. For a Red Mountain team that leaned on its defense to grind out a win, Wade was the heartbeat of that unit.</p>     <h2 class="wp-block-heading">ALA-Queen Creek: A QB Making His First Ever Start In the Open Playoffs?!</h2>    <p class="text-gray-700">There aren't many tougher ways to introduce yourself to the varsity world than making your first-ever start in an Open Division playoff game against a defense like Red Mountain's, but [player_tooltip player_id='1325793' first='Cody' last='Lalama'] handled it like he'd been there before. The numbers on their own are impressive for a debut – throwing for 217 yards and two touchdowns while completing 68% of his passes against a front that can flat-out get after you – but what stood out most was how calm he looked doing it. ALA–QC didn't have an easy night running the ball, which meant he was playing behind the sticks more than you'd like, taking live bullets all night, and still finding ways to get the ball out on time. There were snaps where he took hits and popped right back up, snaps where he quietly worked through progressions and hit the right matchup instead of forcing something just because it was a playoff game, and snaps where his poise clearly settled everyone else down. For a program that's now sliding into the 6A bracket with big expectations, that kind of early proof-of-concept from a young quarterback is huge. He may not have walked out with the win here, but he showed enough in one night to make you think ALA–QC's future under center is in really good hands.</p>     <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mountain View: The Epitome of an Unsung Hero</h2>    <p class="text-gray-700">Jackson Walker is pretty much the textbook definition of an unsung hero because you can watch an entire game, feel his presence constantly, and then open the stat sheet and not see his name at all. That was the case against Centennial. Up front, he was fighting a huge, talented offensive line that wants nothing more than to lean on you and run the ball right through your chest, and Jackson just kept absorbing double teams and battling through contact. On early downs, he held his ground enough to give his linebackers clean lanes, taking on two bodies at a time so somebody behind him could scrape and make the tackle. On obvious passing downs, Centennial clearly respected him – sliding attention his way, chipping, or making sure he didn't get those easy one-on-one shots to collapse the pocket. And the few snaps where he did get that single block, you saw why tye were throwing help his way: he was able to compress the edge and hurry throws, even if it never got recorded as a sack. None of that shows up under tackles or TFLs, but it absolutely shows up in how hard Centennial had to work to get comfortable up front. For Mountain View, having a guy willing to play that role, do that dirty work, and take on those matchups without any guarantee of numbers is invaluable.</p>   <div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;max-width:900px;margin:0 auto"> <iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1138658037?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" frameborder="0"> </iframe> </div>    <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Centennial: Two Bookends Holding Down the Edge</h2>    <p class="text-gray-700">If you want to understand why Centennial's offense feels like it can just wear teams down over four quarters, you start with [player_tooltip player_id='883378' first='Ben' last='Lowther']. Whenever Centennial needed to settle things down or flip the field against Mountain View, they weren't shy about running right behind their massive junior tackle. Lowther is exactly what you expect from a line that's been talked up as one of the biggest and most physical in school history — long, powerful, and surprisingly light on his feet once he gets moving. He consistently caved in edges, pushed back defenders, and created the kind of vertical lanes that let Centennial stay patient with their run game. Even without stat-sheet recognition, you could feel his impact in how often the Coyotes leaned on his side to reset the line of scrimmage.</p>      <p class="text-gray-700">On the opposite edge, [player_tooltip player_id='1327630' first='Karmello' last='Calloway'] brought his own brand of dominance. Tall, long-framed, and already looking like a future high-level prospect, Calloway handled speed and power without ever looking rushed or panicked. Against Mountain View, the biggest runs of the night kept showing up behind him — whether he was collapsing an edge, sealing off pursuit, or climbing to the second level with ease. Centennial trusted him in every situation, calling anything they wanted to his side because they knew he could anchor the edge and keep the pocket clean when they needed to throw. Like Lowther, his work didn't show up in pancakes or stat lines, but it defined the physical identity Centennial leaned on throughout the game.</p>   <div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;max-width:900px;margin:0 auto"> <iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1138692816?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" frameborder="0"> </iframe> </div>    <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Williams Field: So Many Options to Choose From</h2>    <p class="text-gray-700">[player_tooltip player_id='884216' first='Russell' last='Moss'] is one of those players whose impact you really feel, especially because his frame doesn't necessarily line up with the plays he keeps making. He's not the biggest linebacker on the field, but his instincts and feel for leverage let him constantly beat bigger bodies to the spot. All night against Pinnacle, he was diagnosing plays, slipping blocks with his hands, and getting into running lanes. Sniffing out that critical fourth-down screen in the fourth quarter that could've flipped momentum the other way. I was really impressed watching him throughout the night.</p>   <video controls playsinline preload="metadata" style="width:100%;max-width:900px;height:auto;background:#000;border-radius:12px" src="https://hls.bcast.nfhsnetwork.com/broadcast/bdc108dc12916/vod.m3u8#t=8934,8944"> </video>     <p class="text-gray-700">And honestly, you could've slapped the unsung label on kicker Brooks Rodenbaugh too. He put on a clinic in situational kicking: knocking down field goals when the margin for error was thin, dropping in the perfectly executed squib that Pinnacle couldn't handle, and then drilling the game-winner after a bobbled hold like he'd rehearsed that exact disaster scenario a thousand times. Executing a squib with that level of precision is hard enough on its own — the angle, the way you have to thread it between coverage lanes without giving the return team a clean handle. On top of that, adjusting mid‑step to a bobbled hold and a ball that isn't set exactly where it's supposed to be is extremely difficult for a kicker at any level. Most guys panic or overcorrect in that situation, but Rodenbaugh stayed composed, trusted his mechanics, and drilled it like nothing was wrong.</p>   <video controls playsinline preload="metadata" style="width:100%;max-width:900px;height:auto;background:#000;border-radius:12px" src="https://hls.bcast.nfhsnetwork.com/broadcast/bdc108dc12916/vod.m3u8#t=9877,9888"> </video>    <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Pinnacle: A Monster in Two Phases</h2>    <p class="text-gray-700">Pinnacle DB/OLB #0 – Kash SilvaKash Silva was as steady as they come on the defensive end, and did his best to completely flip the game on special teams, too. The blocked punt that got taken back for a touchdown in this one is the obvious headliner — perfect get-off, great timing, and the kind of swing play that can completely flip momentum — but it's everything else he did that makes him such an easy choice here. As a former DB who's added weight and slid into that outside backer/nickel role, he moves with a smoothness you don't usually see out there in the flat, able to carry routes, trigger downhill on quick game, and still be physical enough to fit the run. Against a Williams Field offense with a sharp quarterback and real threats at receiver, Kash held up in coverage, tackled well in space, and gave Pinnacle a legit matchup piece they could trust in tough assignments.</p>

It's easy to get caught up in the big stat lines and highlight plays when the Open rolls around, but every one of these first‑round games had a handful of guys who did the kind of work that doesn't necessarily show up in the stat sheet.