TURNER — Speed and power.

They’re the ingredients, packaged in one form or another, that spell success for almost every football player at every level.

Stir in healthy doses of persistence, vengeance and passion for the game and you probably have something special.

And you’ve described Conor O’Malley to the letter.

If Leavitt is to win its sixth football state championship Saturday night in the Class C final against Winslow at Fitzpatrick Stadium, its leading ground-gainer and primary pass rusher is likely to be involved in a fistful of huge plays on both sides of the line.

“There’s no more do-overs,” O’Malley said. “That’s what we’ve got to remember.”

O’Malley understands the concept of second chances and the importance of opportunities.

He has suffered three significant injuries on the football field. He didn’t become a two-way standout until someone else got hurt. He has stood helplessly watching two state championship losses and another playoff defeat on his home field.

It all has been fuel for a senior season that is the stuff of dreams, or nightmares, depending on what color uniform you’re wearing. O’Malley leads Leavitt’s loaded backfield with 892 yards, at nine per pop. Four of his nine touchdowns have come in the playoffs.

As a defensive end, O’Malley has leveled opposing quarterbacks 11 times, also best among the Hornets.

With or without the football in his hands, when No. 41 builds up a full head of steam, he is a matchup nightmare.

O’Malley is built more like a fullback than the other components of the Hornets’ explosive running game, namely slot receivers Nate Coombs and Adam Poulin, change-of-pace tailback Nate Rousseau and situational quarterback Billy Bedard.

“We’re a pretty good combination back there,” he said.

In that respect, his speed probably is deceptive … at least until defensive backs look through their facemasks and see O’Malley pulling away in the open field.

He has saved some of his longest and most damaging runs for late in the season against top-flight opponents: 70 yards in the rain and mud for the only points in a 6-0 win at Gardiner a year ago; 78 to the end zone in a 21-9 semifinal victory over Cape Elizabeth on Nov. 8.

Leavitt likely won’t have to put Saturday’s game on the shoulders of one relentless runner, as it did with Josh Strickland in the 2009 Class B final against Cape. But it comforts the Hornets’ coaching staff to know that they could, if necessary.

“It’s nice to have that home run threat on offense. He and Rousseau definitely give us two different looks back there,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said.

O’Malley wasn’t even part of the Hornets’ crowded backfield situation until the middle of his junior season.

He missed his freshman year due to an ACL tear, then logged only a few junior varsity carries as a sophomore while Leavitt groomed his defensive skills.

When 2012 starting tailback Josh Faunce went down with an injury in a midseason game against Waterville, though, it was O’Malley who emerged from the committee to replace him.

“We always practice a lot of tailbacks anyway, so we just needed someone to step up after that,” O’Malley said.

That star-crossed journey took another detour when O’Malley suffered a shoulder injury on the first play of the Eastern Maine quarterfinal game against Belfast.

Another pair of two-way starters were sidelined shortly thereafter, and the Hornets suffered a well-documented upset loss on the final play of the game.

“That wasn’t fun,” O’Malley said. “I tried to do my best to help (in the offseason). Me and my friends would go every day lifting, running. It was a group effort.”

Collectivism carried the Hornets when O’Malley suffered another knee scare as the result of a chop block against Wells.

He sat out most of that game and the next week at Spruce Mountain while Leavitt hammered out wins against its two closest rivals in the newly minted Western Class C division.

“It was just a precaution,” O’Malley said. “That’s done now.”

And O’Malley is far from finished, as Winslow surely has learned by watching film and trying to figure out ways to contain him.

Whether he’s running at, through or away from people.

“I think we missed him more on defense than we missed him on offense,” Hathaway said. “He’s so quick off the edge and he’s so strong. He’s tough to handle out there.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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