WINTHROP – Winthrop High School defensive players insist they’re not trying to outrun the past.

Whatever unspoken pressure that past provides, well, that probably explains why it’s so difficult to outrun the Winthrop High School defense.

Ten offenses have opened up their playbooks and prayed for safety and a modicum of success against the Ramblers. Seven of them didn’t score. Many of them didn’t come close.

Forget Dirigo’s defensive touchdown and forgive Lisbon’s late score in an issue that was long settled two weeks ago, and Winthrop hasn’t allowed a point since Sept. 12.

That absurd level of achievement gives the Ramblers the look of an historic team in Western Class C – pending the outcome of the regional championship game at 12:30 p.m. Saturday against Lisbon, of course.

“It’s good to put up zeroes,” said tackle Cory Staples, “but I think with us it’s just getting the win that’s important.”

The wins, the round numbers in the points against column, the negative yardage and the potential of a Gold Ball in the trophy case invariably invite comparisons to Winthrop’s 2000 state championship team.

Similarities are striking. Both teams allowed roughly a field goal per game over a three-month season. Each had an all-conference candidate at every position. The former and the latter were predicated upon a delicious combination of speed and nastiness.

“One of the coaches (Miah Clark) was a part of that team,” said middle linebacker Andrew Smithgall. “Sometimes I give him crap about that and say, ‘Oh, we’re better than you.’ But I know we’ve got to get there first before I can say that.”

Kevin Hart and Josh Confer have spent most of the season bum-rushing helpless quarterbacks from their encampments at end. Staples, Chris Minor and Skyler Whaley stuff the middle whether Winthrop runs its preferred 5-3 or drops into a 4-4.

Outside linebackers Jake Steele and Joe Morey either beat well-meaning backs to the perimeter or scare them into the clutches of Smithgall. And if a team gets the rare luxury of time to throw, Zach Farrington, Riley Cobb and Jason Raymond are equal threats to ruin their day in the secondary.

Chad Morang and David Ketchen also have made major contributions. Twelve different players have registered at least 25 tackles. Seven boast quarterback sacks. Six own fumble recoveries. Five have interceptions.

“You can’t say that one person outshines the others. That’s how we are defensively this year,” said Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton. “It’s a huge luxury as a coach. We just get to do the schemes and have the privilege of doing some great things because we have some great players.”

Although Smithgall’s perpetual game of smack-talk with Clark pays homage to the Ramblers who reigned when the current group of seniors roamed the hallways of fourth grade, Hart says there are few historians in the huddle.

“I know very little about it,” insisted Hart, who has 10 sacks and six fumble recoveries. “I don’t really look back at teams in comparison to any team, because we’re a new team and we come out to play how we play. The only past we get motivated by is last year.”

Winthrop dropped a 28-21 decision to Boothbay on its home field in the 2007 Western final.

Ten senior starters, compared to three in last year’s upstart unit, gave the Ramblers a hungrier and more desperate look this season.

Whoever’s looking across the line of scrimmage at them can tell you a little about desperation. Winthrop is still 67 yards away from surrendering a total of 1,000 for the season. The round numbers make for easy math: That averages out to double digits per game.

“It looked like our offense was really going to carry us this year. But our defense, it seems like we out-physical everyone every game,” said Staples. “We’re not the biggest team. We’re just physical.”

Stoneton was an assistant coach for the 2000 team that featured Clyde Moody, Walter Polky, Kevin Lorette and Clark as its resistance.

Trying to choose all-stars or a defensive MVP has been equally impossible this fall.

“It’s hard to compare teams. It’s such a different game. It’s kind of cool to see, because I was there for that and it’s cool to have that back again,” Stoneton said. “We preach history pretty hard. Green and white is for everybody that’s played before you. That’s where it’s at.”

Leaving its mark as a team that future Ramblers celebrate with reverence in 8, 25 or 50 years is less important to the current crop than being feared in the moment.

“Our defense,” Hart said succinctly, “strives to be the best.”