Johnson, Moody decide

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Johnson, Moody decide

Sports

Friday, 11 November 2011 12:12

JohnsonSigning01_111011

News-Gazette Photos/Andrew Sullivan

Poinciana High’s Kadesia Johnson, flanked by her parents, Paul Miranda and Desiree Richardson, signs a basketball grant in aid to Iona College Thursday at the high school. Standing from left are Athletic Director Mal Harpell, Assistant Principals Ivonne Sardinas and Lance Seeright and girls basketball coach Jamerson Jones.

Johnson to Iona; Moody likes FAU

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
Two of Poinciana High’s most talented athletes signed basketball scholarships Thursday at the high school.
Kadesia Johnson, a 5-8 senior guard who helped the Lady Eagles win the district championship last season, signed to Iona College, located near New York City.
Senior Stefan Moody, a 5-9 guard who has a 37-inch vertical leap, will play at Florida Atlantic University after signing his scholarship papers.

Johnson’s coach, Lady Eagles head coach Jamerson Jones, said she should excel at the New York university because of her preparation both academically and athletically.
“She has been a good leader for our team since she’s been here,” Jones said.
Johnson, who averaged 19 points last season, said she liked the city campus.
“Iona was very consistent in recruiting me,” she said. “I like the campus, and I like the family feeling they have there.”
Her father, Paul Miranda, and mother, Desiree Richardson, attended the signing.
The Gaels are coached by Anthony Bozzella and play in the NCAA D-1 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

MoodySigning02_111011

The Eagles Stefan Moody prepares to sign his basketball grant to Florida Atlantic University with his mother, Pam Moody (seated left), his father, Ed Moody, and his brother, Isaiah Moody. Standing from left are Harpell, Roland Rouse, Seeright, Antonia Rouse, Poinciana basketball coach Oliver Simmons and Sardinas.

Moody decided on Florida Atlantic after a spectacular junior season, where he led the Eagles to the team’s first district championship, then followed that up by starring at a series of summer camps and tournaments.
Moody said he didn’t pay much attention to the stir that he created.
“I was just playing basketball,” he said.
Moody will play point guard under Coach Mike Jarvis at FAU, a NCAA D-1 Sun Belt Conference program located in Boca Raton.
Moody said he likes Jarvis and the athletes in the Owls program.
His father, Ed Moody, said Stefan has played basketball since almost the day he was born. It wasn’t long before his gift for athletics became apparent, Ed Moody said.
“He was three, on the ball field with his older brother, and he was throwing the ball over the center field fence. Basketball has always been his sport, though. He tried baseball, but it was never here,” his father said, pointing to his heart. “Basketball is.”
The family was confused when scholarship inquiries halted last summer despite Stefan’s domination at the summer tournaments.
“It came out that he had signed a football scholarship with Florida,” Pam Moody, his mother, said.
The confusion occurred when one of Moody’s summer teammates signed the football scholarship.
Poinciana Coach Oliver Simmons, beginning his first season, said that Moody is an exceptional talent.
“I’ve been working with him since the summer, and he’s probably the most explosive player I’ve ever coached,” Simmons, a former FSU player, said. “He has a dynamic first step, one of the best I’ve seen, and I’ve probably had 12 to 14 players who have signed scholarships.”
Moody left in the third quarter of the Eagles regional playoff game against Leesburg after an ankle sprain. Poinciana was unable to hold a 13-point lead after he went down, and Leesburg went on to win the game and the Class 4A state championship.
“They were lucky,” Moody said.
Not as lucky as Simmons is this season to have Moody in his lineup.