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Junior quarterback Martha “Smalls” Edwards has started every Harmony Longhorns flag football game since her freshman season. PHOTO/KATIE WILLIAMS
For a third consecutive year, Harmony quarterback Martha “Smalls” Edwards is the Osceola News- Gazette Flag Football Player of the Year.
She earns the honor after throwing for 3,224 yards and 46 touchdowns in leading the Longhorns to a 13-4 record, an Orange Belt Conference championship, and a spot in the state playoffs. This all came during a season when a number of top Longhorns, including super sophomore Ellah Husbands, who missed the entire season, were often out due to injuries.
“Overall, I was little disappointed we didn’t win districts and go a little bit further in the playoffs, but it was still a good season. We lost some good seniors from the year before and the injury situation was tough, but out team came together and won a lot of games,” Edwards noted.
Edwards has led the Longhorns to a 19-1 record in her career against county competition, with the lone loss coming to St. Cloud in this year’s District 2A-9 championship, she says that the competition in the sport gets better and better every year – both in Osceola County and around the state.
“You can tell the coaching is getting a lot better and more schools are taking the sport seriously,” she said. “St. Cloud is always pretty good, but we had two really tough games against Celebration this year. You can feel the games are a lot more intense. Frankly, it’s more fun when the competition is better.”
Edwards, a natural athlete who plays several sports, says she is looking forward to her senior season at St. Cloud, where she has led the team to a school record 44 wins in her first three years.
“We lose some really good seniors again but we have a lot young talent returning,” Edwards noted. “A district title and hopefully an extended run in the state playoffs will be the goal again.”
Unlike Sage Leffew, another decorated Harmony quarterback from a few years back, Edwards is looking for an opportunity to extend her career on the football field. Leffew’s first love was football but ended up playing soccer in college because of no flag opportunities at the college level. In recent years, several NAIA colleges have added girls’ flag football at the varsity level, while many others have highly competitive programs at the club level.
“I definitely want to play in college,” Edwards said. “I am looking for some competitive camps and combines to attend to get noticed by college programs.”
Harmony coach Paul Strauch believes Edwards is more than deserving of POY honors.
“Smalls (she earned that nickname from her brother based on their love of the movie The Sandlot) has started at quarterback every game since her freshman years and keeps getting better and better,” the veteran coach said. “She is a terrific player, a great leader and even a better person.”
Edwards is one of five Longhorns players who earned a bid to the 17-member All-County team. She is joined by Kinzie James, Alexandria Ceballeos Means, Francheska Moreno and Arianna Ross McLaughlin. James, a two-way standout, caught 16 touchdown passes and defended 19 passes to go with four interceptions. Moreno led the Horns with 83 receptions; while Means and Ross were defensive specialists that combined for 123 flag pulls, 27 pass breakups and six interceptions.
St. Cloud (12-4), who ended Harmony’s three-year winning streak against county opposition with a 19-12 victory in the 2A-9 title game, had four players named to the ONG All-County team; as did Celebration, which won a school record 14 games and claimed the 2A-7 championship.
Earning spots from St. Cloud were Kaisley Carswell, Prescilla Rodriguez, Savannah Kroener and Danigzy Mantilla; while the Storm placed Leena Bolejack, Mya Richards, Val Martinez and Nayeli Rivera. Carswell threw for 14 touchdowns, while coach Shawn Beck called Rodriguez “our best player.”
Celebration had a sensational season under Coach of the Year Ethan Fournier, who came over from the Liberty High. Bolejack accounted for 43 total touchdowns (30 passing, 13 rushing). Martinez had five receiving touchdowns and nine interceptions; Richards had 58 flag pulls and an interception to go with five touchdown catches, while Rivera had eight touchdown grabs and seven interceptions.
In his first year as head coach at Celebration, Fournier led the Storm to a 14-3 record after the team had won just 13 games in their previous three seasons.
Gateway (13-5) who also won a district championship (1A-13) placed three players: Malayna Stevenson, Evana Rivera and Shakira Lugo. Stevenson had 13 receiving touchdowns and three interceptions, Rivera had 10 total touchdowns, including two defensive pick-6s, and Lugo led the Panthers in flag pulls (68), had six interceptions, 12 pass defenses and 3 defensive touchdowns.
Rounding out the All-County team is Osceola’s Sofia Antwi Silva. She led the Lady Kowboys in receptions (53) and interceptions (8); while scoring 11 touchdowns.
