In athletics, there are stars and then there are superstars. But on the rare occasion a player will come along so rarely seen they are sometimes called unicorns. When it comes to the sport of flag football, Harmony quarterback Martha “Smalls” Edwards is a unicorn.
For a record third consecutive year, the recently graduated senior is the Osceola News-Gazette Flag Football Player of the Year as she put up mind-boggling numbers during both her senior season and for her career.
In 2025, the four-year Longhorns starter at quarterback had career highs in pass attempts (581), completions (381), completion percentage (65.7), touchdown passes (56), rushing touchdowns (6), extra points scored (40) and total touchdowns accounted for (62) – in leading the Longhorns to a 14-5 record.
Those numbers came against came against a highly-competitive schedule. Along the way, she directed Harmony to a fourth straight OBC Championship and a third district title.
Her career numbers are even more eye-popping. Edwards, a lefty who spins a great ball, finishes with 11,310 passing yards, 172 touchdown passes, 18 rushing touchdowns, and 1,247 total points accounted for. They are all school and county records and like the stolen base mark of Rickey Henderson, the games-played streak of Cal Ripken Jr., or the pitching wins of Cy Young they are so far in front of anything in the past, they may stand a long time.
“About the only thing I can say is we have had some great quarterbacks from Davis-to Horn-to-Leffew-to Herman-to-Richards at Harmony, and they all won a lot of games, won a lot of championships and put up big numbers, yet none of them can really compare to Smalls,” Harmony coach Paul Strauch said. “From her first game as a freshman until her last game as a senior, all I really had to do is call the plays. She has always had a great understanding of our offense, how to read the defense and where the ball needed to go.”
Despite all she has accomplished on the field, Edwards tends to be her biggest critic.
“It’s always tough when you lose the last game of the season. If I had one regret, I felt that we should have won more regional games and as quarterback I felt responsible for us not being able to accomplish that.”
To Edwards, the records, honors and accolades mean little, she said.
“I never really even think about any of that stuff. To me, it was all about the practices and games. I saw each one as a new challenge and a new opportunity to get better,” she said.
Edwards, who also played indoor and beach volleyball for the Longhorns, will enroll at Florida Gateway College and continue playing flag football. Currently the NCAA does not recognize the sport, but many junior colleges do. That is expected to change in the near future, as the NCAA has designated women’s flag football as an emerging sport – the last step before granting varsity status.
“I feel it’s going to happen (NCAA recognition) but it might take a few years,” Edwards said. “I wanted to continue to play and I didn’t want it to be at the club or intramural level and that’s why I picked Florida Gateway. They won the last two junior college national championships in the sport. I know it’s going to be a different level of competition but I am looking forward to it.”
As far as her unusual nickname, Edwards said it came from her brother Matt. It started almost a decade ago when her brother would constantly utter the catch-phrase at her from the movie Sandlot.
“Anytime we were joking around he would say ‘You’re killing me Smalls.’ The rest of the family picked up on it and so did my friends and I have been Smalls ever since,” she said.
All-County Flag Football
Player of Year: Martha Edwards, Sr., Harmony
All-County Team: Harmony — Kloe Cook-Osani, Fr., Jada Bloodworth, Jr.; Kinzie James, Sr.; Avery Jones, So.; Gateway — Ashlynn Day, Fr., Evana Rivera, Jr.; Celebration — Mariann Houck, Sr., Isabel Meadows, Jr., Nayeli Rivera, Jr., Sofia Sterry, Sr.; St. Cloud — Priscilla Rodriguez, Sr.; Vanessa Vohs, Sr.; Liberty — Genesis Rodriguez, Sr.
Coach of Year: Ethan Fournier, Celebration
