No matter the coach, no matter the conference, Seth Wiltbank just lets his game do the talking.

“It’s the same game, no difference. We just rise to the challenge,” the Round Valley High School senior said after his 34-yard third-quarter touchdown run sealed a 19-6 region-opening win at Payson. “Our goal is a state championship.”

The third-ranked Elks can take one step closer to that goal by taking control of the region Friday, Oct. 8, at the East’s other 6-0 leader, sixth-ranked Show Low High School.

“Everybody on Show Low’s team, we’ve got to make sure they don’t have any breakout plays,” said Round Valley sophomore quarterback Ryker Marble, who completed seven of his nine passes to finish 11th among all 3A passers through his first six varsity games. “We’ve got to be ready for what they show us.”

With the Cougars, Elks and all four other regional rivals ranked to advance to next month’s playoffs, the East Region has become Arizona’s toughest. Its best running back, with over 700 yards, is Wiltbank, the region’s Offensive Player of the Year in his debut season in the 3A Conference.

“Seth’s an athlete. He had a crazy game,” said Marble, who actually opened the scoring with 10 of his 75 yards rushing at the 1:30 mark of the first quarter, sneaking behind 265-pound second-team all-3A center Jadon Cisco. “A lot of teams, when they watch our film, they key on Seth, so I think they’re not expecting when I keep it. It just catches teams off-balance and opens things up a lot more in our offense.”

Wiltbank’s 12 carries for 125 yards on a muddy Longhorn Field behind Cisco and other seniors like Josh Davis, Kayden Sloane, Brandon Strickland and Kyler Rominger, as well as juniors Keanu Clark and Armando Garcia, moved him into the top five rushers in 3A.

“We just had great line-blocking up front, so I was able to make big plays,” said Wiltbank, who scaled senior Payson cornerback Nick Dimbat to catch Marble’s only pass to him with 3:34 in the second quarter for a 12-0 halftime lead. “Our quarterback is just taking charge and leading us. Now it’s not just one person they’re keying on.”

Through his first six games as new Round Valley head coach, Brad Baca has those same six linemen blocking for Wiltbank holding opponents to nine points per night defensively.

Coming into his Oct. 1 region opener, Payson head coach Bryan Burke’s offense was on a roll, outscoring its previous three opponents, 140-12.  

Baca, who took Round Valley’s reins after 2019 2A Coach of the Year Marcus Bell fell in the state quarterfinals in his only season as a 3A head coach, played those linemen forward on the line of scrimmage and pinched his ends in to keep Longhorns junior quarterback Dexter Waterman from getting outside the tackles or otherwise in space--until it was too late.  

“Whether he was going to pass, whether he was going to run it up the middle, sweep, it doesn’t matter: We were going to try and get a stop any way we can,” Marble said. “I’ll give it to them: Payson’s a really tough team.”

One shut down for good after a three-yard touchdown run by senior Travis Christianson with less than five minutes to play. 

“I felt like we had a little bit of a momentum change,” said Christianson, who failed to get further traction against Baca’s defense despite the Longhorns recovering the subsequent onside kick at their own 43. “I wasn’t quite sure how long it would last, with two minutes being left on the clock. I thought we could, at least, pull something out.”

But Payson would come up short after a dropped pass from Waterman at midfield on fourth down. The Longhorns stay home Oct. 8 but otherwise get no relief from the East Region gauntlet with defending state champion Snowflake, 1-0 in the region after a 41-0 win at 15th-ranked Blue Ridge.