Edison quarterback Lonesha Howell is Miami-Dade County’s Flag Football Player of the Year
Lonesha Howell plays flag football for her brother, whose own football career was cut short by a gunshot wound, and for an Edison program hellbent on breaking through to finally win a state championship.
She tries to play like Lamar Jackson, whose No. 8 she wears, and uses the sport as “a safe haven.” It’s even something she’s going to keep doing in college.
Now, she’s also the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Flag Football Player of the Year after guiding the Red Raiders to the final four for the fourth time in five seasons.
In her last two seasons as Edison’s starting quarterback, Howell lost just four games total and never lost to another Miami-Dade team.
“What makes Lonesha who she is is the hard work and the dedication to be the best at what she does,” Red Raiders coach Vincent Hall said. “We call practice at 8 o’clock on Sunday morning, Lonesha is there at 7 o’clock. She is so dedicated and she hates to lose. She wants to be first in everything.”
TAKING THE NEXT STEP
Howell is a three-time, first-team All-Dade County selection by the Herald and went 363 of 438 for 2,882 yards, 48 touchdowns and just six interceptions this season, adding 49 carries for 463 yards and 14 more touchdowns, plus a 25-yard touchdown catch. On defense, she even had 39 flag pulls, five sacks and nine interceptions as a safety.
Next year, she’s off to Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens to play flag football at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics level.
Howell started playing football in the same way so many other Miamians do. In her neighborhood, street games were commonplace and she’d tag along with her older brother to play.
Malik Howard, however, never got to play in high school. After he got shot, he poured his focus into helping Howell succeed.
“He pretty much left it all to me. That’s pretty much why I keep going,” Howell said. “He tells me that all the time. He’s kind of like the private coach nobody sees. He’s in my ear, looking at my film, telling me what I can do to do to make things better. He just wants to be the big brother and help me become better.”
As important as the on-field accolades are for Howell, the sport is even more important to her because of what it means off the field.
“A lot of stuff happens in my environment that can make me become a product of my environment,” Howell said, “but football takes me out of all that situation.”