Renton football teams this season featured an unusually high amount of impact from freshmen. Two players in particular, Hazen’s Cody Moorhead and Lindbergh’s Matt Stuart, don’t look like freshmen (each is 6-foot-4) and don’t play like freshmen. Yet both were just 14 years old at the start of the season.

Matt Stuart

A few hours before the Lindbergh’s second game of the season against Foster, Matt Stuart went from the tallest kid on the sidelines to 14-year-old starting quarterback.

Making the shift even more unlikely, Stuart had never played a down of football before the Sept. 11 game.

Stuart, 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, has always been big. As such, he was too big to play junior football growing up.

Finally a freshman (and now 15 years old) at Lindbergh, he has a chance to play the game he loves.

Senior Derek Herley started the Eagles’ first game of the season at quarterback. Just before Lindbergh’s game against Foster, Herley approached Stuart in the locker room and told him to get ready to start.

“It was a little scary because I really wasn’t expecting it,” Stuart said. “I didn’t have long to be nervous, though.”

There have been bumps in the road, there have been growing pains, but through the the 10 games he’s started, Stuart has 21 passing touchdowns.

“I’ve wanted to play for so long now,” he said. “It’s been a really great year, probably the best one of my life.”

The Eagles play in the 3A state quarterfinals against Liberty Friday night.

Cody Moorhead

In the trenches on offense and defense, Hazen’s Cody Moorhead doesn’t act his age… in a good way.

Moorhead, just 14 years old, started at right tackle and defensive end for the Highlanders.

The offensive line is where it all started for Hazen this year. With a new run-heavy, Wing-T offense the linemen were the unsung heroes for the team.

While running backs James Holland and Co. got the touchdowns, Moorhead and the linemen got the satisfaction.

“It makes us feel really happy when the offense scores because it means we’re doing our job,” Moorhead said. “I’m really pleased with how our line has done this year.”

Moorhead started the year at tight end and moved to right tackle midseason.

“Putting a freshman on varsity is a big risk,” he said. “I’m really excited the coaches gave me an opportunity so I put it all on the line to show them what I can do.”

The Highlanders finished second in the Seamount and fell out in the state tournament play-in round against Mount Si. Hazen beat Kennedy 28-14 Oct. 22 for the first time in 18 years.