The crunch of pads on a chilly Friday night rings out through Davis Field as two opposing defenders attempt to tackle Dylan Parikh (12), whose legs churn as he fights for the extra yardage needed to give the Eagles a first down. He finally falls, brought down by a final hit from a third tackler, but not before he gets to the line needed for the first down. While this play is fairly ordinary in the course of a game, it perfectly encapsulates Dylan’s career as a football player.

Dylan fell in love with football at an early age, playing for Harker’s flag football teams from fourth through eighth grade, and then becoming one of the two four-year varsity football players from his class in high school. During his freshman year, he played the offensive and defensive line, but eventually, he switched to his dream position — running back — and earned the starting position in his junior year. He attributes this to giving full effort all the time, a lesson the game taught him.

“Football has definitely made me put 100% into everything,” Dylan said. “It also built on leadership and teamwork. In football, it’s not an individual sport, where you don’t rely on your other teammates to win. Football works as a machine, and each part of the machine needs to work for the whole machine to work. That definitely allowed for a sense of teamwork and built long-lasting friendships.”

The machine came to its peak this year, as recruiting efforts, led by Dylan and his fellow senior captains, led Harker to a 6-2 record. Harker’s offense finished top 35 in the nation for scoring offense, averaging over 50 points a game. Longtime friend and quarterback Rohan Gorti (12) attributes a large part of the offense’s success to Dylan’s attitude.

“Dylan does a great job in identifying who to hit and what angle he needs to take a hit,” Rohan said. “Whenever we shared the backfield together, although I play quarterback, Dylan admittedly would tell me who to throw the ball to during a play. I’d end up throwing it to them and they’d be wide open. He was a second pair of eyes for me. His decision-making made me a better player.”

Dylan considers his decisiveness as one of his best traits. Specifically, Dylan credits his ability to make decisions to trusting his own intuition and gut, a key factor in his ability to perform on and off the field. 

“Whenever I’ve come to a choice, I’ve always gone with my gut,” Dylan said. “I’m always confident with myself, especially in football. In football, you have to be confident because if you’re not playing 100%, you’re not going to play along. Football allowed me to make those decisions quickly and on the spot, because what you do in certain instances can either endanger you or endanger your teammates.”

The confidence that Dylan carries with him leaves an impact on many. Along with being a decisive leader on the field, he is a leader in the classroom, according to upper school mathematics teacher Bradley Stoll, who taught Dylan in his junior year.

“He used to sit right in the front of his group,” Stoll said. “He didn’t tell people what to do, but when they worked together, he was confident in what he was doing. He wasn’t bragging about it or anything, but he knew he had a lot of common sense about math. He didn’t have to memorize things as much seeing ‘Oh, this just makes sense.’”

Dylan’s confidence is no accident; rather, it is a result of his deliberate efforts to cultivate strength in every aspect of his high school experience, from the classroom to the field to the weight room. Coincidentally, ‘strength’ happens to be his favorite word.

“My favorite word is strength,” Dylan said. “Throughout the past four years, playing football has really developed my strength both mentally and physically. Mental strength is something that is essential for everyone. Especially if you are stressed out, during college applications or any other time you got a big test or even just other personal issues, mental strength is the one thing that you need to keep going.”

Dylan’s emphasis on strength and confidence might paint a picture of a hardened jock. Yet, his friends see the deep care he shows for everybody he meets.

“He always puts other people first,” close friend Anushka Mehrotra (12) said. “If I’m really stressed out about a test, he’ll make sure that I understand the concepts. Even if he needs to study, he’ll make sure that I understood the previous concepts before studying more. He always makes sure that all his friends are okay, and he’ll always be there for support. If someone’s injured, he’ll go to their house and spend time with them.”

While some may view Dylan’s strength and caring nature as separate facets of his personality, Dylan sees them as inextricably linked.

“Strength also combines with care,” Dylan said. “Everyone should be caring towards everyone, no matter what they look like or how they act. After you build relationships, you finally see that [other] people are going through the same things that you’re going through.”