TURNER — Scott Sleeper’s football helmet looks like it lost a fight with a box of crayons.

“Cape Elizabeth is that kind of purple color,” the Leavitt linebacker said, his index finger directing traffic for a teammate and a curious visitor. “Green is probably from us. That blue is from Yarmouth. A lot of that black, that’s all from Spruce.”

Clay Rowland doesn’t have the benefit of visible scrapes and scratches, but he could tally his interceptions the same way.

There was one that saved a game against Brady Neujahr and Yarmouth. Another that denied Nate Booth in the end zone and stopped a Wells comeback in its tracks. Two while his team nursed a slender lead over Peter Theriault and Spruce Mountain in the playoffs.

“If the opportunity comes, then you’ve got to take them. I think that’s the difference from last year,” free safety Rowland said. “When the opportunities were there, we weren’t taking them, or I wasn’t taking them. This year if it’s there, you’ve got to come through.”

Every opportunity, every win, has fallen into place for Leavitt (10-0) heading into Saturday night’s Class C state final against Winslow (9-1), and seniors Sleeper and Rowland are two easily overlooked reasons.

Overlooked, because it’s a double disservice to call them “quiet.”

Even coach Mike Hathaway caught himself saying the two aren’t among the statistical leaders on the Leavitt defense before quickly issuing a correction. Sleeper is second on the squad with just south of 100 tackles. Rowland leads the team with five interceptions.

And their leadership skills, never explicitly seen in a box score, are unsurpassed.

“Those two guys clearly are the voice on our defense,” Hathaway said. “Part of that is because of where they play (on the field), but it’s also because of who they are. They’re both natural leaders by voice, which is pretty cool, because they’re not necessarily the most talented guys on the team but they’re not afraid to step up.”

Both cherish the part of their job description that includes hitting the guy with the ball.

Sleeper shifted from safety to linebacker his sophomore season.

“It just kind of mixed more with my personality and my attitude about the game I guess,” Sleeper said.

Although he is assigned to the outskirts of Leavitt’s defense, Rowland sees himself as the same type of hybrid player.

“I like to play safety as if I’m both a linebacker and a free safety,” Rowland said. “When a play is coming my way, I don’t want to give them more than three to five yards.”

And when the ball is in the air?

“I like to get in a little chess match where it’s me against the quarterback and who can be smarter. I like to try to be the smarter one out there,” he added. “A lot of playing free safety is communicating. You’ve got to communicate with the other guys out there in the secondary. It’s not manned up. We play a zone defense, and you’ve got to talk or you’ll find yourself hanging in the dust.”

Their intelligence is as much a common denominator as toughness and a nose for the ball.

Sleeper’s first college choice is Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. Rowland is in the process of applying by early decision to Bowdoin College.

“They have a high football IQ. They watch a lot of film. I can talk to those guys like I talk to an assistant coach and they understand what’s going on,” Hathaway said. “They’re fun kids to coach. Two great kids, very mature, and we’re lucky to have them.”

Both played on special teams when Leavitt lost to Wells in the 2011 Class B final.

Winslow is a team with similar weapons, most notably a quarterback who can throw on the run, a bruising fullback and halfbacks with speed and elusiveness.

“They run the ball hard. They’re pretty balanced all the way up through. I think it’s going to be a good game,” Rowland said.

Sleeper can almost smell the orange paint.

“We’re definitely going to have to be physical up front,” he said. “We can’t just get one guy to the ball and think that’s going to be enough.”

koakes@sunjournal.com