Edwards Makes the Right Moves : Elusive Tailback Who Relocated to Attend Antelope Valley Has Team Marching Toward Title

Freddie Edwards was an eighth-grader when it came time for him to decide which high school to attend.

Edwards lived in Palmdale, but a newly drawn boundary line allowed him to choose between Palmdale and Quartz Hill highs.

But neither school topped his list. Edwards had his eye on a school a few miles north.

“Antelope Valley always had a good football tradition,” Edwards said. “I always wanted to play for Antelope Valley.”

So Edwards’ mother moved to Lancaster and-- voila --Edwards was an Antelope.

As far as Edwards is concerned, four years later, it looks like the best decision made in the high desert since the 14 Freeway was expanded to three lanes in each direction.

The 6-foot-1, 175-pound senior tailback-safety is at the forefront of Antelope Valley’s run for a Golden League title this year. In seven games as a rusher, receiver and kick returner, he has amassed 1,078 all-purpose yards.

And he figures to be at the forefront tonight when Saugus (5-2, 2-0) visits Antelope Valley (4-3, 2-0) in a game for first place in the league standings.

Ironically, Antelope Valley’s success this year has come after an uncharacteristic two-year drought in the program.

Edwards, 18, attended Antelope Valley primarily to become part of a football tradition that includes University of Washington standout Tommie Smith and Tampa Bay Buccaneer wide receiver Bruce Hill.

Yet he found himself on a below-average varsity team his sophomore and junior years.

Antelope Valley was 3-7 in 1989 and dipped to 2-8 last year and missed the playoffs both seasons. Those were uncharacteristic campaigns for a program that had won Southern Section championships in 1976, 1977, 1981 and 1988 and also reached the championship game in 1985 and 1986.

“It wasn’t the end of the world,” Antelope Valley Coach Brent Newcomb said of the two losing seasons. “But you could see it from where I was standing.”

It was a particularly sharp drop from 1988 when Antelope Valley won a Southern Section championship in Ed--

wards’ freshman year. As a ninth-grader, Edwards played on the freshman team but was called up to the varsity for the playoffs.

From that vantage point, he admired the play of Smith, a running back and safety in high school who many consider the best to come out of Antelope Valley High.

Smith led Antelope Valley to a Southern Section championship that year with a four-touchdown performance in the Antelopes’ 28-22 win over Canyon in the final.

“Just being on the sidelines and watching him play felt good,” said Edwards, who added that he and Smith remain friends. “He had the ability to make something happen--to always come up with a big play. I wanted to be like him.”

While it would be premature to say Edwards is having as big an impact as Smith did, Edwards has turned out to be the heir to Smith’s throne. This ‘Lope can send opponents for a loop.

In last week’s 26-24 win over Canyon, Edwards rushed for 137 yards and scored all four of Antelope Valley’s touchdowns on runs of 31, two and seven yards--and a school-record, 100-yard kickoff return.

The kickoff return was particularly lethal. The game film could be rated NC-17: No player from Canyon was within 17 yards of Edwards once he got past Jim Zopelis at the 35-yard line.

Edwards put a move on Zopelis that deposited one of Canyon’s finest players on his hind-quarters.

Edwards smiled when reminded of the play. “It was just me and Zopelis and I had to do something,” he said. “I just go with the flow and what happens, happens.”

The game also marked a return to health for Edwards, who had been slowed since the third week of the season because of a hip pointer. In two games after the injury, Edwards gained just 67 yards in a loss to Loyola and 69 yards in a win over Palmdale. He gained 107 yards in a win over Rubidoux but lacked explosiveness.

“What he’s proven is that he’s a game-breaker,” Newcomb said. “Like (Canyon Coach) Harry (Welch) said, ‘When he’s on, he’s as good as anybody.’ ”

Newcomb pointed to a wall in his office replete with photographs of former Antelopes who achieved success in college and the professional ranks.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Newcomb said. “He’ll be on that wall next year.”

Edwards carries a 2.5 grade-point average and hopes to land a scholarship from a four-year school. Edwards, who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test for the first time in October and has yet to receive his results, will take recruiting trips to Washington, Washington State and Hawaii.

There is more to Edwards’ abilities than broken-field runs and big hits from the safety position. As a center fielder on Antelope Valley’s Golden League championship baseball team, he struggled with a .242 batting average but attracted professional scouts with his defense.

Antelope Valley baseball Coach Ed T’sas expects Edwards to be drafted in the early rounds of the amateur baseball draft, if he progresses normally next spring.

“The way I look at it, the world is covered two-thirds by water and one-third by Freddie Edwards,” T’sas said.

Newcomb also appreciated Edwards’ baseball abilities.

“He caught about eight balls that no other human being could have caught,” he said. “The thing Freddie Edwards has going for him is his feet.”

And his name. Edwards, whose given name is Frederick, said that no one called him Freddie until Newcomb used the nickname two years ago. The Edwards family refers to him as Frederick.

So how did Newcomb come up with the nickname?

“Fast Freddie,” Newcomb said. “It just fits.”

Edwards, in turn, fits at Antelope Valley. Despite the two losing years, his decision to enroll at Antelope Valley is paying off.

“It’s the talk of the school, like it was my freshman year,” Edwards said. “It feels really good to hear the things I haven’t heard in two years.”

Edwards harks back to those younger years, when he wondered where he would play his high school football.

“I was like, what high school do I want to go to?” Edwards said. “What’s Palmdale like? What’s Quartz Hill like? But Antelope Valley always had a good football team.”

Edwards smiles.

“And I always wanted to play for them.”