TURNER — As a 185-pound junior nose tackle, Will Parkin should have been an easy person to overlook in Leavitt’s 2013 Class C championship defense.

Matt Powell, Conor O’Malley, Levi Morin and Clay Rowland earned the headlines among a star-studded, senior-laden lot. All four are on a college roster this autumn.

The number of tackles for loss and loose footballs that fell into Parkin’s clutch, however, were neither a product of luck nor getting lost in the shuffle.

“He was our best player on defense last year, and he is again this year,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “Once we put him on the nose last year, it probably solidified our defense. We’ve always kind of built it from that spot out, anyway.”

Parkin also starts at left guard, a position that is crucial both for protecting quarterback Levi Craig’s blind side and pulling diagonally to rip open holes for backs Julian Kirouac, Billy Bedard and Isaiah Calder.

The experiment of moving Parkin to center and linebacker lasted one game of his senior season – a 35-34 loss to Cape Elizabeth in a double-overtime gem. His return to the comfort zone and a nine-game winning streak probably are not a coincidence for Leavitt (9-1), which hosts Wells (8-2) for the Class C West title at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

“Coaches tell us all the time, for linemen, it’s almost entirely based on footwork,” Parkin said. “You can be as big and strong as can be, but if you don’t have the footwork, you’re not going to make plays.”

Parkin makes a play, or at least delivers a hit, on almost every snap of each game.

In 2013, he helped anchor a line that paved the way to more than 3,000 yards on the ground. This season, keeping Craig upright to throw a state-leading 33 touchdowns is Parkin’s chief contribution.

Defensively, pick a sample of any five Leavitt tackles from any game and Parkin probably has a hand in three or four of them.

“We’ve moved him around a little bit more this year, because the guys around him probably aren’t quite as good as last year. Teams have tried to double-team him and triple-team him at times,” Hathaway said. “Some games we’ll move him outside. Some games we’ve stood him up and let him play linebacker a little bit. I think he’s at his best when he’s at nose.”

Parkin didn’t have a natural position on either side of the ball when he entered high school, and with good reason: He had never played football.

After suiting up for soccer at Tripp Middle School, Parkin remembers a year-end assembly at which athletes were invited to sign for summer sports.

“I was ready to do soccer again, and just a crowd of people brought me over to the football one,” he said.

The decision had immediate and painful consequences.

On his first day practicing in pads, Parkin went to hit a blocking sled. It toppled awkwardly, falling on him and fracturing his wrist.

“So it didn’t start off great. My freshman year I was not very good,” Parkin said. “Sophomore year I developed a love for the game and a love for my teammates. I became part of this environment. That’s when I started to enjoy it, and I’ve loved it ever since.”

Hathaway still wasn’t sure what to do with Parkin, who had an athletic build and sprinter’s speed, but alas, the proverbial hands of stone.

“Sophomore year we decided we were going to put him in the line, and as the year went on he just got better, and he was the guy,” Hathaway said.

In his first start at Gardiner, Parkin’s block sprang O’Malley for a 70-yard touchdown run that provided the only points in a 6-0 victory.

Even while making an immediate impact, Parkin could get away with keeping a low profile on a 2013 team loaded with seniors.

“When one or two guys are the only non-seniors on the starting offense and defense, it’s a lot different. Everyone’s sort of the same page and serious about it. Not that the younger guys don’t take it seriously, but if I messed up, everyone got on me,” Parkin said. “This year it’s a smaller amount of seniors, so there are fewer leadership roles. The younger guys are coming into their own. As the season is progressing, they’re becoming so much better and more mature.”

Coming into this season, Parkin, Bedard and two-way end Mitchel Davis were the only returning starters.

“His leadership has been phenomenal. Number one, for such a good player, he’s such a humble kid. He’s the first guy to credit somebody else. He’s not a kid that’s overly full of himself,” Hathaway said. “He’s not going to look past any opponent, so when that’s the guy who’s setting the tone for everybody else … He’s done a good job grounding everybody and keeping everybody on task. When he says something, none of those other guys are going to say anything back.”

Parkin’s all-out, all-the-time style of play rubs off on his teammates and sometimes makes coaches chuckle and shake their heads.

He has been fighting an undisclosed injury for about three weeks. Even Hathaway can’t even squeeze much information out of his player, other than that he receives treatment every day before practice.

“You can’t take him out. You can’t make him miss practice. You can’t get him off the field,” the coach said. “You can’t really ask him questions about things. He’s not going to tell you. He’s just going to go out there and play. He’s been banged up, but you wouldn’t notice by watching him play, and it’s nothing that’s going to affect him Saturday.”

When asked about Leavitt’s impressive title defense and his own football future, Parkin’s answers hold true to form.

Few imagined that the Hornets would be hosting another regional final, but they clinched that privilege with a decisive 28-14 victory over preseason favorite Spruce Mountain in the final game of the regular season.

“I believed myself that the team would make it this far,” Parkin said. “But Levi Craig completely surprised me. All these other players, exploding into their own person, they surprised me. I am a little surprised by how good we are.”

The same could be said for college coaches, who haven’t seemed to notice a player with a championship pedigree, athleticism and room for continued improvement.

“I’m not really sure if I’m at the level to play at the next level, if my skills are there,” he said. “If they talk to me and offer me, sure.”

Two more wins on the state’s biggest stage, and Parkin can almost count on joining the Hornets’ post-secondary parade.

koakes@sunjournal.com