Defensive Gem

Brigham Harwell had never played in an organized football game before starting high school, so his reaction the first time he put on the pads was perfectly understandable.

“I was scared,” he said. “I didn’t know what it was going to be like to get hit, and I didn’t know how to hit.”

It didn’t take long for him to learn, and pretty soon opponents began to fear him.

Harwell, a defensive lineman from Hacienda Heights Los Altos, has emerged as one of the premier defensive players in Southern California.

He faced constant double- and triple-teams, yet still managed to wear down his opponents and make game-changing plays. This season, he notched 22 sacks, 112 tackles and 48 tackles for losses.

He also forced seven fumbles and had three fumble recoveries while leading the Conquerors to their second consecutive Southern Section Division VI title.

For his ability to dominate a game from the defensive side of the ball, Harwell is The Times’ 2003 Glenn Davis Award winner as the top football player in Southern California.

“That’s tight,” Harwell said when told of the honor. “That’s really cool.”

The idea of becoming the Southern California player of the year seemed a far-fetched notion four years ago, when Harwell arrived at Los Altos overweight and inexperienced.

He never played youth football because he was always over the weight limit. He weighed 170 pounds in junior high, and the weight limit was 145.

“I was fat,” he said.

Noteworthy, then, that Harwell thought he had a lot to prove this season to college recruiters, who told him that at 6 feet 2, 250 pounds, he was too small to play defensive end at the next level.

“There were people who doubted me,” Harwell said. “I just said I’m going to take it and use it as motivation for the season.”

He finished his career with 68 1/2 sacks -- half a sack shy of the school record held by Shaun Cody, now a USC standout. Of his 293 total tackles, 113 were for losses.

He shined brightest with the most on the line. In the Dec. 13 Division VI title game, Los Altos was in a battle with Orange Lutheran. The first half ended in a 14-14 tie, but Harwell became a menace in the second half.

His continuous pressure forced quarterback Seth Blackmore to make several bad passes, and his crunching fourth-quarter hit took Blackmore out of the game.

Harwell finished the game with 13 tackles, 3 1/2 sacks and a forced fumble.

“Without him, we wouldn’t have won it all, that’s for sure,” Coach Greg Gano said. “We had great players besides Brigham, but he was the cement. He was the dominating guy.”

Harwell has tremendous speed for somebody his size. He has been timed at 4.7 in the 40-yard dash, and when he ran track as a sophomore, he was timed at 11.3 seconds in the 100 meters.

Gano credits defensive line coach John Howing with helping Harwell reach his potential.

“It’s a big surprise to me that I’ve come this far,” Harwell said. “But Coach Howing gave me the chance and gave me hope. He told me one day I’d be better than Shaun Cody, and then he trained me to be the best defensive end in the country.”

Harwell has made a verbal commitment to UCLA, but said he is wavering between the Bruins and Arizona State. UCLA remains the favorite, he said, but either way, Saturday afternoons will be a worthy replacement for Friday nights.

“I’m going to miss high school football,” he said. “But I’m ready to win bigger and better championships.”

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Glenn Davis Award Winners

A look at The Times’ high school football players of the year:

*--* Yr. Player, School Pos. ’02 Whitney Lewis, St. Bonaventure WR ’01 Hershel Dennis, Long Beach Poly RB ’00 Tyler Ebell, Ventura RB ’99 Matt Grootegoed, Mater Dei RB/DB ’98 Chris Lewis, Long Beach Poly QB ’97 DeShaun Foster, Tustin RB/DB ’96 Antoine Harris, Loyola TE/DE ’95 Chris Claiborne, Riverside North LB/RB ’94 Daylon McCutcheon, Bishop Amat RB/DB ’93 Glenn Thompkins, Eisenhower QB/DB ’92 Travis Kirschke, Esperanza DL ’91 Billy Blanton, Mater Dei QB ’90 John Walsh, Carson QB ’89 Kevin Copeland, Dorsey WR ’88 Derek Brown, Servite RB ’87 Russell White, Crespi RB

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THE GLENN DAVIS AWARD

The award is named after the 1946 Heisman Trophy winner from Army, who, before teaming with Felix “Doc” Blanchard to form the famous “Mr. Inside-Mr. Outside” combination, starred at Bonita High. While Davis was at the La Verne school, the Bearcats won the Southern Section title in 1942 by beating Newport Harbor, 39-6, with Davis scoring five touchdowns.