By: J. Daniel Pearson

Martha “Smalls” Edwards accounted for five touchdowns to lead the Harmony Longhorns to a 41-91 come-from-behind win over St. Cloud in the championship game of the 2025 Orange Belt Conference Flag Football Tournament at Austin Tindall Park on Thursday night.

Celebration, who came into the tournament as the top-seed, took the third place game over Gateway; while Osceola (5th place) and Liberty (7th place) also won placement games on Thursday.

It was a terrific effort by Smalls and the Harmony defense as the Longhorns had to come back from a 12-0 deficit for a second straight game. Harmony (6-3) also trailed Celebration (8-1) in Tuesday’s semifinal game before winning 13-12.

“Really proud of this team, especially our defense,” Harmony coach Paul Strauch said. “The overall level of play in this county keeps getting better and better and honestly I was concerned when we fell behind against Celebration and again tonight. The final score tonight is absolutely no indication of how athletic and talented St. Cloud is. “

The Bulldogs (5-2) reached the finals with a 8-6 win over Gateway on Tuesday and came out firing in the championship game – building a 12-0 lead as Vanessa Vohs fired a 26-yard touchdown pass to Priscilla Rodriguez and then took advantage of Arianna Viera interception to hit Chavoria Bell on an 8-yard scoring pass to grab a quick two-score lead.

But Harmony would strike back quickly.

On their second possession, Edwards completed a 20-yard pass to Jada Bloodworth who lateraled to Kinzie James – who ran the final 24 yards for a score. After a defensive stop, Harmony took the lead 14-12 lead on a 6-yard scoring strike from Edwards to James.

St. Cloud briefly came back to take the lead on their next possession, as Vohs led a 68-yard touchdown drive – covering the final eight yards on a scoring pass to Rodriguez.

But the Longhorns would take the lead and all the momentum away with two quick touchdowns right before half.

Edwards would run it in from three-yards out to make it 21-19 and with time running out, Bloodworth would intercept Vohs and score from 15-yards on a pick-six to extend the lead to 27-19 at the half.

It was all Edwards and the Longhorn defense in the second half.
With the senior left-hander tossing touchdown passes to Bloodworth and Yanielyz Santiago-Torres, the Harmony defense was pitching a shutout for the 41-19 final.

“We have a lot of confidence in our offense to score, but I have to give a ton of credit to our defense. After we fell behind by 12 points early in both games, they buckled down and only gave up six points total in both games,” Strauch said. “The interception right before half really put all the momentum on our side.”

For the game, Edwards completed 19 of 25 for 315 yards. A four-year starter, it was Edwards fourth OBC Championship and pushed her career record as a starter to 50-13. She also pushed her career record to 5-1 against the arch-rival Bulldogs, including 4-0 in OBC tournament games and 1-1 record in district playoff games.

But Edwards was not the only standout for the Longhorns. Kinzie James caught 11 for 140 yards, had an interception and scored twice; while Bloodworth had 88 yards on two catches, an interception and two scores. Six different Longhorns players caught passes.

Vohs was 18 of 32 for 199 yards and three scores. Rodriguez finished with seven catches for 85 yards.

A month remains in the regular season before the start of district tournament play and Strauch believes his team will most likely see either Celebration and/or St. Cloud again. “We’re in the same district and it’s a pretty good bet to win a district title, we’ll have to go through one or the other or both.”

2025 Orange Belt Conference
Flag Football Tournament Results
Quarterfinals (3/10)
Harmony 38, Poinciana 0
Celebration 40, Tohopekaliga 0
St. Cloud 28, Liberty 0
Gateway 7, Osceola 6
Semifinals and Placement Games (3/11)
Harmony 13, Celebration 12
St. Cloud 8, Gateway 6
Osceola 20, Liberty 6
Poinciana 12, Tohopekaliga 0
Championship (3-13)
Championship: Harmony 41, St. Cloud 19
3rd Place: Celebration 22, Gateway 7
5th Place: Osceola 20, Poinciana 0
7th Place: Liberty 22, Tohopekaliga 7

Championship Box Score
St. Cloud 12 6 0 0 – 18
Harmony 14 13 7 7—41
SC: Priscilla Rodriguez 26 pass from Vanessa Vohs (Pass Failed), 6-0
SC: Chavoria Bell 8 pass from Vohs (Pass failed), 12-0
H: Kinzie James 24 lateral from Jada Bloodworth (Pass Good), 12-7
H: James 6 pass from Martha Edwards (Pass Good), 12-14
SC: Rodriguez 8 pass from Vohs (Pass Failed), 18-14
H: Edwards 3 run (Pass Good), 18-21
H: Bloodworth 15 pass interception (Pass failed), 18-27
H: Bloodwoth 62 pass from Edwards (Pass good), 18-34
H: Yanielyz Santiago-Torres 5 pass from Edwards (Pass Good), 18-41