shut off water before replacing sprinkler head?

[Sugi_84]

I believe a previous owner installed a solid cap on our associations sprinkler (1 side of the street seems to be 1 zone, cap probably installed to stop from spraying vehicle). If the automatic (timed) sprinklers aren't running, can I just unscrew the cap and shove the guts of a matching sprinkler head in and screw it back down without having to shutoff the water?

 

[Twowaxhack]

I believe a previous owner installed a solid cap on our associations sprinkler (1 side of the street seems to be 1 zone, cap probably installed to stop from spraying vehicle). If the automatic (timed) sprinklers aren't running, can I just unscrew the cap and shove the guts of a matching sprinkler head in and screw it back down without having to shutoff the water?

Yep