Johnson's Hit Saves Tar Heels From ECU TD

Staff Writer

Once again, North Carolina chose to avoid East Carolina kickoff return man Marvin Townes and his 31-yard average return.

The Tar Heels kicked away from Townes -- and to the Pirates' other returner, Art Brown -- all game.

But this time, Brown, a sophomore from Winston-Salem, was going to foil the strategy and make UNC pay.

"They had been kicking away from Marvin all day," Brown said. "I just wanted to make a play for the team."

With 12:04 remaining in the game, Brown made that play -- almost.

After the Tar Heels took a 21-13 lead, Brown fielded the ensuing short kickoff. He darted down the left sideline, then cut back to the middle of the field to avoid kicker Jeff Reed. Breaking tackles and eluding UNC defenders, Brown was in the clear, and the end zone awaited him.

"(Brown) did a great job of making some people miss," Bunting said. "Obviously, we missed some tackles on that play, but he made a great play."

But UNC's Derrick Johnson wasn't ready to let Brown waltz across the giant blue "CAROLINA" in the east end zone. At least not with the ball.

"After he cut back to the middle of the field, I was pretty sure I could catch him," Johnson said. "Unless he was just a really fast guy."

Brown wasn't fast enough.

Johnson tracked him down and, at the 1-yard line, punched the ball out from behind while wrapping up Brown. The ball tumbled out of bounds through the right side of the end zone for a touchback.

"We practice all the time strip drills in practice on Thursdays before games," Johnson said. "So that was the first thing I was thinking when he was going toward the end zone."

The play might have been the biggest of the day.

The emotional letdown, coupled with the lost six points and the change of possession, proved hard for the Pirates to overcome.

"The game had a lot of different flows," ECU quarterback David Garrard said. "When you give it up like that to the other team, and the defense has to go back out there and play -- it's hard."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.