SAMMAMISH, Wash. – Once upon a time, before the college football landscape evolved and high school seniors started to graduate early to get a jump on their ascension to the next level, All-American games were reserved for seniors.

Over the past couple of years, though, that rule has started to change, with juniors being made eligible for selection. However, that change had yet to result in an underclassman from Washington being selected.

Until now.

Eastside Catholic’s star junior Tytan McNeal found out recently that he has been selected to play in the Navy All-American Bowl and the Polynesian Bowl.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “It shows I’m one of the top players in the country, and I’ll get to spend time with some of the other top players in the country while competing against them. It’s an honor to be selected to play in a game that’s been around for so many years.”

His selection is a testament to years of hard work and back-to-back standouts seasons on both the football field and basketball court.

Rated the No. 1 tight end recruit in the country, McNeal is primed for a monster season in coach Jeremy Thielbahr’s first year back with the Crusaders.

“We’re looking solid,” McNeal said. “Coach T has allowed me to showcase my abilities within the team, and I think we’re going to take that next step forward.”

When asked how his game has evolved since last season, the junior emphasized his leadership, while adding that he’s gotten faster and stronger since helping Eastside Catholic to the Class 3A semifinals in 2025.

While McNeal sees his future on the football field right now, he will also be a key returner on the Crusaders’ basketball team.

“I’m thinking a little bit about basketball,” McNeal said. “If it happens, it happens, but it’s not the end of the world. Football is where I see my future going.”

SAMMAMISH, Wash. – Ask anyone on the Skyline coaching staff about a player to watch and, without hesitation, they bring up Ari Gibbons.

Named a second-team All-KingCo cornerback as a sophomore, Gibbons has the skill set to finish his career as one of the top athletes to play at the school on the Plateau.

“To get those accolades, you’ve got to be a team player,” he said. “You’ve got to win games. You’ve got to help the people around you improve. If you’ve got a bad attitude and bad energy around you, that accolade probably wouldn’t have been given. If we have a bad attitude as a team, the effort’s not going to show on the field.”

Coming from a coaching staff that includes former Washington State standout Peyton Pelluer, former Washington star Kasen Williams and former WSU player Gino Simone, that’s high praise.

And it’s praise Gibbons has earned, backed by a strong work ethic and a humility that has allowed him to handle the attention that comes with being one of the Spartans’ top players.

Early on, Gibbons let his play speak for itself. He was the kind of player who allowed the upperclassmen to handle the vocal leadership duties.

Now that he’s a junior, though, his role has shifted.

“I’ve always let my play do the talking,” he said. “I’m not quiet, but I’m not the most vocal on the team. I’ve come a long way with that. I know the younger kids are looking at me. When I look at myself and think of how I was as a freshman, I had upperclassmen come up to me and I was like, ‘Damn, this is pretty cool.’”

Gibbons understands the impact his leadership can have on a younger player.

“It’s a good feeling to have somebody older than you believing in you,” he said.

With Skyline playing its first game of the season at Kentwood on Thursday night, Gibbons is heading into the year with a simple mentality:

“Dominate.”

“I just want to improve on last year,” he said. “We had a pretty good season last year. Obviously, we lost to Puyallup in our last playoff game, but the end goal is to always improve, whether that’s yourself, the team, or just winning more games.”

Like a lot of high school standouts, Gibbons fell in love with the game at a young age. He spent a few years in Singapore as a child, and he was young enough that watching Seahawks and Washington games at 4 a.m. wasn’t really an option.

When he moved back to Washington, however, he jumped right back into football. Now, he’s as much a fan – particularly of college football – as he is a student of the game.

That combination of talent, preparation and an increasing willingness to lead is what has Gibbons’ coaches so excited about what comes next. He has already shown he can make plays. Now, as a junior, he’s learning that his biggest impact might come from everything he does between those plays – setting the tone, bringing energy and helping the players around him believe they can be better, too.

And, while he’s determined to maintain a trajectory that leads to playing at the next level, his immediate focus is on right now: his teammates, his effort and helping Skyline become the best team it can be.

BELLEVUE, Wash. – For all high school athletes who play a fall sport, this is a busy time of year. There’s the daily routine of practices and the first days of class, along with the preparation required to find success both on the field and in the classroom.

For Kason Carta, a recent Sunday brought a few more things to get done – to-dos that required a delicate scheduling dance.

First, Bellevue’s senior quarterback arrived at the school around 9:30 a.m. for a media day photoshoot. Then he needed to complete his Candidate Fitness Assessment for the Air Force Academy, a series of six events designed to gauge the strength, agility, speed and endurance of future cadets.

“You have to run a mile, do pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, throw a basketball; it’s kind of a random test, but it’s something everyone has to do,” Carta said.

He wanted to make sure he completed the test before the physical toll of a long football season began to have an impact on his body. Once he finished the test, he needed to make sure he had time to watch his mother, Candace Oliver’s, Sunday sermon.

It was the kind of day that seemed to embody the Greek words on his right forearm, a tattoo he acquired recently in Hermosa Beach, Calif., while on vacation with his father, Frank, and stepmother, Melissa.

In a bold font, the translation reads, “Know Thyself.”

“It really just resonated with me,” said Carta, whose fresh ink matches one his father has. “You’ve got to be able to know yourself. You don’t have to change for other people. If you know who God has called you to be, you don’t need to adapt to please other people. You can just be yourself.”

Whether he’s preparing for his future or his senior season, he’s comfortable with himself – and that makes all the difference.

“It’s something I’ve lived by my whole life,” he said. “That’s why I picked it.”

On this particular Sunday, he was joined by Frank and Melissa, who is a personal trainer and was able to administer the assessment. It’s a testament to the support network he has around him, a family effort that includes Candace, his step father, Bryan, Frank, and Melissa.

“Having them there, they’ve done everything for me,” he said. “They instilled hard work in me. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.”

The day before was Bellevue’s first day of full contact, a big step toward a season that starts next Saturday at Kennedy Catholic.

“We’ve got a very physical team,” Carta said. “(Camp) has been super fun. We’re almost too physical. We were a young team last year, so we’ll be ready to go.”

Earlier this summer, Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer grabbed headlines when he was photographed throwing with his shirt off.

Objectively, he was shredded.

So what does Mateer’s physique have to do with Anacortes quarterback Ryan Harrington?

More than you might think.

Like Mateer, Harrington will begin his college career at Washington State. And like Mateer, he has spent plenty of time in the weight room getting ready for the next level.

“I do love the weight room,” Harrington said with a laugh when asked about the comparison to Mateer. “I live in the weight room, always trying to get bigger, stronger, faster. I think my strength is a key part of my game.”

It shows.

Watching Harrington earlier this summer at the Glacier Peak 7-on-7 event, there was little question he belonged on the field with the bigger programs. His arm was strong, his throws were accurate, and he more than held his own against teams like Lake Stevens.

For Harrington, that’s nothing new.

“We love every opportunity we get to go out and compete against the 4As, because we know we can,” he said. “And we do. It’s always great to show that our athletes can compete against those from bigger schools.”

That belief has been building for years.

Last season, the Seahawks made a run to the Class 2A state semifinals before falling to Archbishop Murphy, which went on to win the championship. Now, everything Harrington and his teammates have done in the offseason has been about getting back there – and going one step further.

For Harrington, this season has been a long time coming.

He has been preparing for it since third grade, when he first stepped onto a football field and fell in love with the game.

“I fell in love with it at such a young age,” he said. “I stuck with it, and it’s been great to me. I’m going to continue playing for as long as I can.”

Quarterback, however, wasn’t always the plan.

Harrington spent most of his early football career at receiver and running back before making the move in eighth grade. The transition made sense. He had always had an arm.

“I’ve always had a super strong arm,” he said. “I played baseball, and I could throw pretty hard.”

Once he got the opportunity to play quarterback, he never looked back.

And eventually, college coaches couldn’t look away.

Playing at a smaller school can make getting noticed a little more difficult. There aren’t always the same crowds, cameras or recruiting eyes that follow the bigger programs around the Seattle area.

Harrington took that as motivation.

“Playing at a smaller school definitely gives me that chip on my shoulder, because there just isn’t as much exposure,” he said. “You’re not in that Seattle area where there’s all the cameras, so it made me work harder to get my name out there.”

The numbers helped.

Last season, Harrington threw for 3,372 yards and 30 touchdowns while completing close to 70 percent of his passes. Eventually, the exposure came, and with it, an opportunity to play at Washington State.

For Harrington, the commitment brought something else: relief.

“It was like a weight lifted off my chest once I committed,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about that now. I can just lock in and focus on my season.”

And that’s exactly what he’s doing.

The college decision is made. The scholarship is secured. The next level is waiting.

But first, there’s unfinished business in Anacortes. One more season. One more run. And Harrington is already locked in.

PUYALLUP, Wash. – Raymond Preston Lagat will tell you he wasn’t “always the best player.”

For the Graham-Kapowsin senior, his high school football career has been all about leveling up.

“It’s just about hard work,” the Portland State commit said recently…

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PUYALLUP, Wash. – Walk into the New Level Baseball facility in Puyallup on a summer afternoon and it takes a minute for your eyes to adjust to the dimly lit facility. Just inside the doors, there’s a vast array of netting that separates an expansive series of batting cages.

Turn to the left and there’s a gym, walls covered with co…

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SNOHOMISH, Wash. – Being competitive while having fun – it’s the only way Seth Price knows how to play football.

“We’re just focused on getting better, staying present and taking everything one moment at a time,” the Lake Stevens senior said.

During Glac…

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PUYALLUP, Wash. – When Jayce Halasz was a kid, he looked up to his older brother, Treyvon. Halasz will never forget being 7 years old and watching Treyvon turn jet sweeps into touchdowns.

“He was pretty good in seventh grade,” said Halasz, who is preparing for his junior year at Graham-Kapowsin.

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RENTON, Wash. – Fred Wilson was trying to figure out what to do next. His college basketball playing career had run its course, but he didn’t have his degree.

He was working as a security guard at Virginia Mason. He spent his days thinking about something his grandmother, Sandra, said.

“I don’t know much about basketball, but I wan…

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SNOHOMISH, Wash. – It says a lot about a player when a 146-yard, one-touchdown outing during which they completed 40 percent of their passes still counts as the worst game of their season.

But when Lake Stevens quarterback Blake Moser looks back at 2025, he considers his performance at Bellevue – a 21-14 win – his worst.

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SNOHOMISH, Wash. – As one of the top prospects in the state heading into the fall, it would be understandable if Zach Albright was focused on himself, his senior year and his football future.

For the Washington-bound tight end, though, his goal is to squeeze the most out of every moment with his Glacier Peak teammates.

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SEATTLE – Like most of us, Leo Harnetiaux was looking for something to do during the COVID pandemic.

In sixth grade at the time, he followed the lead of his older brother, Austin, who was a sophomore at Seattle Prep.

The brothers lived down the street, …

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SNOHOMISH, Wash. – When Mac Faw was asked about the 2025 season, he said it was “rough.”

After Ingraham finished the year with a 3-4 record, the senior safety wants to make sure his final season with the Rams helps set a winning foundation.

“We just want…

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SNOHOMISH, Wash. – When Greg Herd took over as Eastlake’s head coach, it didn’t take him long to notice he had a two-way standout in James Ort. At the time, though, Ort was playing receiver and safety.

With a 6-foot-7 frame, Herd knew he wanted Ort to “play with his hand in the dirt.”

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BELLEVUE, Wash. – When asked to describe the way he plays linebacker, Cayden Thomason used one word: “Relentless.”

Watch his highlight tape and it’s clear he plays up to his expectations.

“I do all that I can to feel like I’ve left it all on the field fo…

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SEATTLE – Bryce Fisher stood in front of a group of Seattle Prep football players inside the Merlino Center.

An alum of the school who played in the Super Bowl with the Seahawks in 2006, Fisher talked to the Panthers about how he was able to go from seventh-round pick to the starting lineup.

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BELLEVUE, Wash. – Sometimes you’re in a gym and there’s a guy who stands out. I’m not talking about a player who can jump out of the gym like Rainier Beach’s Kam Babbs, or a shooter who is so accurate it’s more of a surprise when he misses than when he makes a three, like Eastside Catholic’s Steven Sun.

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BELLEVUE, Wash. – Kason Carta walked up to Bellevue High School for a summer weights session wearing a T-shirt that couldn’t have been more appropriate.

Framed by the two straps of his backpack, the gray shirt read: Nothing Easy. Bellevue Football.

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WOODINVILLE, Wash. – To say last season ended in disappointment for Luca Villasenor and Eastside Catholic would be underselling the importance of the moment.

On a cold November afternoon at Mount Tahoma High School, the Crusaders took the field against the Thunderbirds in the Class 3A semifinals.

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WOODINVILLE, Wash. – Before he ever stepped on a football field, Jonah Leavengood had to write a letter.

This wasn’t just any letter. It was an explanation for his mom, making a compelling case as to why football was the right choice for a young track standout.

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