WINTHROP – Ask a Winthrop High School student or football fan to identify the most indispensable parts of the Ramblers’ Western Class C championship machine and you’ll hear mostly the same answers.

There’s Jake Steele, a green menace at tailback, slot receiver, linebacker and punt returner. Votes would roll in for unflappable quarterback Jordan Conant or favorite receiver Andrew Smithgall. Or if a Winthrop backer loves defense, there’s no doubt he or she adores Kevin Hart and his tireless pass rush.

Quiz the coaching staff, however, and a litany of lesser names ascend to the top of the list.

Ryan Conant, Spencer Smith, Travis Hutchins, Chris Bowers, Tyler Arsenault, Eric Duplessis and Travis Luce didn’t rate a single vote for the Campbell Conference all-star team. Even the most faithful follower of Winthrop football would need a roster to match numbers with their names. Fifteen Ramblers will see a majority of the snaps in the Class C championship game against John Bapst, and those silent seven are not among them.

Nevertheless, “we tell those guys they are the reason this team is as good as it is,” said Winthrop assistant coach David Setchell.

They’re part of the Ramblers’ scout, or ‘look’ team, a gang short on glamour and name recognition but with their fingerprints smudged all over each of Winthrop’s 11 victories this fall.

In Maine high school football, and particularly the thinner Class C ranks, two-way starters are the rule. That leaves Winthrop in the surprisingly comfortable position of employing reserves – primarily freshmen and sophomores – to simulate everything Bapst may try after Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. kickoff in this final week of practice.

“Just run their plays and make sure we get the motions down right so we can simulate the plays they might throw at us,” said Bowers, a freshman who lines up at center and defensive tackle during live drills. “It’s fun. We get to go against guys that are playing in a state championship game.”

That could mean a youthful secondary showing the elder Conant what seams might be open in first-and-10 or second-and-short situations.

It might involve lining up in a variation of the ‘wildcat’ formation, such as the one that resulted in the Crusaders’ quarterback Derek Smith catching a pivotal touchdown pass in Bapst’s Eastern Maine championship victory over Bucksport.

“We watch the film together on Mondays. They see what they do,” said Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton. “We have cards made up for them. They try to replicate what the (other) offense is doing.”

Skill level and safety are serious issues for most scout team coaches. The prospect of lining up 15-year-old boys against 18-year-old men with three extra years experience in the film room and weight room can be a dangerous proposition.

The Ramblers don’t see it as a necessary evil but an opportunity. Winthrop’s starters get a live look at a well-schooled group that is hungry after seeing its junior varsity schedule end nearly a month ago. There’s also little doubt that many of the scout team Ramblers would be starting for several of their Class C rivals.

“If you look at the sizes of some of our freshman guys, they’re pretty healthy,” said Setchell, who is in charge of the scout group. “It’s not fair to the younger guys to put them out there to get them hurt. But it’s good for those guys who are borderline. They’re ‘tweeners.’ They’re above JV but not quite varsity guys, and you want to get them that work against a quality opponent. Some of the best opponents are on our own team.”

Winthrop worries just as much, in fact, about one of its seniors getting nicked by a ninth-grader in a contact drill.

“We play live up front, but if things start to get out of hand we pull back the reins on both sides,” Stoneton said. “Last Thursday the (look) offense was coming at our defense and whacking ’em. Yes, we do take that into consideration to protect those kids, but there’s times that it’s the other way around.”

Stoneton believes that his scout team has a more demanding schedule than his marquee players.

Thanks to Winthrop’s many blowouts, the younger set has played a majority of the second halves on Friday nights or Saturday afternoons this season.

Regular-season Mondays are a double-whammy, juggling the demands of a JV game with the prospect of learning Boothbay’s double wing, Jay’s spread or Livermore Falls’ Wing-T. Then comes three days of respecting, and earning respect from, their elders.

“In practice we play against one of the best teams in Class C. It prepares us for anything we have to face,” said Ryan Conant, a sophomore who plays the role of the other team’s fastest running back. “A lot of our varsity players are some of the best around. That puts a lot of pressure on us to be good. I try to learn from them and do the best I can.”

It’s a task that gives ownership in the team to players not easily identified without a program. If the Gold Ball trophy were an Oscar, Winthrop’s scout team is up for Best Supporting Actor.

“We’ve got a group of kids that really relish that role,” Setchell said. “They know the team is where they are because they really put the varsity guys through the paces.”