Roberts Finally Gets His Man : Edison Linebacker Drops Brown for Loss in Final Seconds

Edison High School linebacker Kevin Roberts had grown tired of chasing Servite running back Derek Brown across football fields for the past five years.

And on Friday night, he finally caught up with him.

Roberts tackled Brown for a four-yard loss with 43 seconds left to preserve a 17-17 tie in the Orange County all-star game at Orange Coast College’s LeBard Stadium. It was only the second tie in the 30-year history of the game; the first was a 0-0 deadlock in 1983.

A crowd 7,500 watched Brown hammer the South defense like a human battering ram. He rushed for 96 of his game-high 121 yards and scored two touchdowns in the second half.

Everyone, including the South’s Roberts, knew who would carry the ball for the North, which was facing a fourth-and-one at the South’s 35.

“I was lookin’ for him,” said Roberts, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 210 pounds.

Roberts has learned by being burned by Brown the past five years, ever since they first faced each other in the eighth grade. Brown attended La Mirada Junior High School and Roberts went to South Huntington Beach.

“He always went outside against me in junior high,” Roberts said. “He did when we played our junior year in high school, too.”

And the all-star game wasn’t any different. But this time, Roberts was waiting for the 5-10, 180-pound back.

“He had been beating me outside all night,” said Roberts, a starter who finished with five tackles. “I had to take his outside away and I did. When he cut inside, I took out his legs. I only got one hand on his leg.

“I knew if I could shut him off outside we could get him. All the help was coming from the inside.”

Normally, a tackle at the 39-yard-line wouldn’t be a game-saving one, but on this night it was. Brown was trying to move the North into field-goal range for kicker Phil Nevin, who had booted a 57-yarder last season.

“We were mainly concerned with Brown,” Roberts said. “We knew he only needed a yard to get them into field-goal range. We had a team huddle (during a timeout) and we said we couldn’t let him get it or it would be all over.”

Brown, who has accepted a scholarship to play at Nebraska, said his final high-school rushing attempt got off to a bad start. He took the pitch from quarterback Albert Razo, headed for the left side, but saw Roberts and tried to cut back.

“The play just wasn’t there,” Brown said. “I really don’t know how to explain it. The whole play got off slow. The quarterback got the ball slow, he came out slow and finally I got the ball. We did the best we could, that’s just the way it ended.”

Roberts couldn’t have asked for a better play to end his high-school career. He’ll play football next year for Orange Coast College.

Although he would have preferred a victory, Roberts said he was still happy with the tie.

“I’m just glad we didn’t let them score on that last possession,” he said.